Columns

Ask The Grammarian With Taylor Houston—Now Taking Your Questions

August 7th, 2013

One of the most exciting and helpful features we offer in the LitReactor Magazine is our series of columns geared at answering reader questions. As you know, Erin Reel-—publishing and editorial consultant, writing coach, columnist and blog host—led this feature with her masterly 'Ask The Lit Coach' series of columns.

Read Column →

Why The F*ck Aren't You Reading David Peace?

August 6th, 2013

Why The F*ck Aren't You Reading? is a feature where the columnist spotlights a writer who has a dedicated following and is well known within the writing community, but hasn't achieved the elephant-in-the-room style success of a Stephen King or Gillian Flynn—But they deserve to, dammit! Hopefully the column will help gain the author featured a few more well deserved readers.

Read Column →

Priming The Pump: Selling Your eBook On Amazon Isn't As Easy As It Seems

August 5th, 2013

The current wisdom states that right now there has never been a better time to become an indie author by publishing eBooks for the Kindle and other devices. While I firmly believe this to be true, there is another reality which is also true and should sober the wide-eyed naïveté of any would be author. In truth, many more books are being released on Amazon than actually sell. When an author releases a book, they are more likely to simply watch their book's ranking plummet each day as no one buys it than they are to become a successful eBook author.

Read Column →

Peeling Back the Onion: 5 Books That Subvert Narrative Expectation

August 5th, 2013

All great stories incorporate some level of suspense, even when they're not conventional mysteries or thrillers. Authors pose the audience questions about the characters' actions and the overall development of the plot. Often, these questions are the same for any given genre. So in love stories, for instance, we wonder whether the couple will get together/stay together/get back together.

Read Column →

10 Stories by Ray Bradbury That Would Make Great Movies

August 2nd, 2013

Okay, I know what you’re thinking... it’s not like there have been a lack of motion picture adaptations of Ray Bradbury stories. But it’s hard to argue that the handful that have been made (Rod Steiger’s The Illustrated Man) are good adaptations (Francois Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451), or even all around decent films (the abominable A Sound Of Thunder). I think most Bradbury fans will agree that, at best, these films have, thus far, been interesting footnotes to the original written works.

Read Column →

Five Legal Issues All Writers Need To Be Aware Of

August 2nd, 2013

Header image via Wikipedia Commons Have you wondered whether your work is protected by copyright? Or whether you can write a story based on people you know? This article delves into five legal issues frequently encountered by writers.

Read Column →

Storyville: What is Literary Fiction?

August 1st, 2013

Disclaimer: Some of these statements will be generalizations, and their definitions are subjective and not exhaustive. These are my opinions, based on research and personal experience. There are always exceptions to the rule.

Read Column →

UPDATED WITH WINNER: LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: July Edition

July 31st, 2013

Flash Fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity - Dante Edition Welcome to LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown, a monthly bout of writing prowess. How It Works We give you inspiration in the form of a picture, poem, video, or similar. You write a flash fiction piece, using the inspiration we gave you. Put your entry in the comments section. One winner will be picked and awarded a prize.

Read Column →

Is it the Fourth or the 4th of July?: Formatting Numbers in Your Writing

July 30th, 2013

Header via FreeImages Is it July Fourth? Or is it July 4th? Is it The Roaring Twenties? Or is it The Roaring 20s? Is your apartment on the first or the 1st floor? Am I thirty-one or 31? When should I spell out a number and when should I use the numerals?

Read Column →

5 Things You Shouldn't Say to Authors

July 30th, 2013

When I released my first novel back in 2008, I noticed a definitive shift in my conversations, now that I had gone from aspiring writer to published author. Having a book out was considered cool...certainly cooler than some office job or taking customer service calls. To write and publish a book was viewed as an accomplishment, so naturally, there were some instances in which said accomplishment was coveted by others...some even going as far as to trivialize it.

Read Column →