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A Taxonomy of the Strangest and Most Unexpected Goodreads Groups
July 22nd, 2013
The best part of the Internet is that there’s a place for any interest. It doesn’t matter if you’re into succulent pine needle recipes or horseback minesweeping, there’s a site somewhere that caters to you.
Read Column →Iron Giants: A Big Robot Top 10
July 19th, 2013
As mentioned in one of my previous columns, this month sees the release of Pacific Rim, the movie about giant robots versus giant monsters. Over on the Fantasy side of things I looked at some of the best giant monsters in popular culture. Here, however, on the Science Fiction side of things, we’re going to look at Giant Robots.
Read Column →Dystropia: Examining the Trope of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl
July 19th, 2013
Somewhere situated between Easter Island and Papua New Guinea, perfectly pinned on a straight line between the Great Pyramid and the Nazca Lines lies the Isle of Dystropia, the place where every cliché and worn-out convention sticks out like rubble in the sand. Pawing through the debris, you'll find the trope that may just make or break your story. Each installment, we'll explore a different literary platitude, examining it for its various strengths and weaknesses. Set sail for Dystropia, where you might just learn something about your writing and yourself.
Read Column →Why Is The Rolling Stone Cover Controversy Even A Controversy?
July 18th, 2013
The internet lost its collective shit yesterday after the cover for the latest issue of Rolling Stone was released. It features Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, to accompany a story written by Janet Reitman. This is what it says at the bottom of the cover: The Bomber: How a Popular, Promising Student Was Failed by His Family, Fell Into Radical Islam and Became a Monster
Read Column →Storyville: Dramatic Structure and Freytag's Triangle
July 18th, 2013
Quite often people ask me about the essential elements of a short story (or novel)—what are they missing, why does it feel incomplete, is there a reason it doesn’t resonate when it’s done? Most likely, they are missing one or more of the essential dramatic elements. So let’s discuss them in detail and see what we can do to improve your writing. I’ll be talking about short stories here, but you can apply all of this to novels as well.
Read Column →8 Predictions On the Future of Digital Publishing
July 17th, 2013
We've reached the digital frontier of book publishing, but the implications of living in this new territory are not yet fully understood. If anything's certain it's that the next couple decades will see major changes in how we think of books, publishing, marketing, and maybe even writing itself. Here are eight of my predictions about the future of digital publishing.
Read Column →TripLit: Drinkin’ At The Drive-in
July 16th, 2013
A column reviving car trip games with a literary twist. Bust out your map app, it's time to go on a trip.
Read Column →10 Places We Read (and Why We Read There)
July 16th, 2013
Hi there, my name’s Ben. I’m one of the new guys here at LitReactor. For my first article I wanted to conjure up a subject that’d aim for the personal, but also strike up a great conversation within the community here, as it pertains to all of us readers. The subject in focus herein is one I’ve often thought about, occasionally talked about, and never once written about.
Read Column →Why The F*ck Aren't You Reading Sara Gran?
July 15th, 2013
Why The F*ck Aren't You Reading? is a new 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. Let’s get a quick show of hands: How many of you read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys growing up?
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