Columns

The 7 Cardinal Virtues of Successful Writers

June 19th, 2013

While the seven deadly sins are generally agreed upon, there are many lists of life's most important virtues. Today I will bring you another such list: Here are the seven cardinal virtues of successful writers. 1) DILIGENCE for regular writing I've said it before and I will keep saying it until it gets stuck on loop in your own head: To be a writer, what you have to do is write. Everything else you need to know can be picked up along the way.

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Wasteland Gems: Fiction's Post-Apocalyptic Top 10

June 18th, 2013

This month sees the release of two post-apocalyptic films: the thriller World War Z and the comedy This is the End, proving that audiences still have an appetite for end-of-the-world fare. If anything, its popularity seems to be increasing. Television shows like Revolution, Falling Skies, and Defiance are all recent productions. Games like Fallout and Borderlands continue to sell well.

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Digital Longhand: 4 Handwriting Tips for Tablets

June 17th, 2013

Some may argue that the ascension of the almighty word processor has rendered the longhand writer a near-extinct specimen, a dinosaur clinging to old ways, stubbornly refusing to get with the times. However, writing longhand can provide a deeper connection to your work—it may be a slower method, but for me that means it's more deliberate. My stories run less of a risk of becoming stream-of-consciousness, nonsensical journeys into the wholly unleashed imagination when writing by hand.

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Father Figures: Father-Child Relationships in Fantasy Fiction

June 14th, 2013

[Father of the Year image via Sherri Osborn]

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Storyville: 3 Essential Books You Should Read in Every Major Genre

June 14th, 2013

This list is entirely subjective, based on books that I’ve read over the years. But what they all have in common is that they’ve stayed with me. Many of these titles I’ve read over and over again. Some are touchstones, lodestones that I reference when I get blocked, bowing at the feet of masters that have taught me everything I’ve ever learned about what makes compelling fiction. I’m hoping that you’ve read most of these and will spend much of this column nodding your head in agreement.

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The Blagger's Guide to Kathy Acker

June 13th, 2013

To blag (v): to sound like you know what you’re talking about when you don’t. The Blagger’s Guide to Literature (n): an invaluable resource for those who wish to blag about books without actually reading them.

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Cum for Bigfoot: A Sexy Self Publishing Success Story

June 12th, 2013

When I decided to write a silly camping story with a vacuous teenage girl as the protagonist, I thought it would be pretty cool to have her kidnapped by Bigfoot. Porsche was rather slutty to begin with, having already slept with Mr. Vandekamp, who was the stepdad of one of the teen boys on the trip, the night before. Luckily, this story was written in the erotica genre, which allowed me to describe all the ins and outs in glorious, mostly raunchy, detail.

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...and ACTION!: The Who, What, When, and Why of Verb Conjugation

June 12th, 2013

Verbs are action words. Yep, you remember that from grade school, but then there was all that other stuff about conjugating verbs for tenses, moods, and forms…and, well…you don’t remember all that so well.

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LURID: Boss Prophets - the Cult Narrative in Fact and Fiction

June 11th, 2013

LURID: vivid in shocking detail; sensational, horrible in savagery or violence, or, a guide to the merits of the kind of Bad Books you never want your co-workers to know you're reading.

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Questions Every Writer Should Be Asking But Isn't

June 10th, 2013

Despite the overwhelming amount of information available to writers online and on the shelf about how to land an agent and how to publish, despite the many exciting and not so thrilling changes we’ve faced in the industry these last few years, despite the many new technological developments affecting how we read and spread the word about great books, emerging writers are still coming to author, writing and professional trade publishing events with the same goal in mind – how can I get my work in front of a decision maker?

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