Columns

Reading With Purpose: Four Reasons Every Writer Should Join a Book Club

April 16th, 2013

About a year ago, my friend decided to start a book club, and he asked me to join. It seemed like a logical move on my part: I've always been an avid reader, consuming books either as meals for intellectual sustenance or desserts for joy and entertainment. It was for this reason, however, that I had serious reservations about becoming a member. I always have a significant stack of novels that I'm trying to work through.

Read Column →

Republishing A Lost American Classic or Why I Love My Job

April 16th, 2013

There are a lot of things I love about being the associate publisher for MysteriousPress.com. I love publishing the digital backlist for authors like James M. Cain and James Ellroy.

Read Column →

Ask the Agent: Exploring the Nonfiction Book Proposal

April 15th, 2013

Navigating the rough terrain of today’s publishing industry shouldn’t be a solo event. This week in Ask the Agent, I’ll explore & dissect the particulars of writing a nonfiction book proposal. I promised in the last ASK THE AGENT column that I would discuss the nonfiction book proposal. We have discussed the query letter and when to query an agent for fiction but we have not talked about nonfiction. So I want to dedicate this post to nonfiction and the rules of querying nonfiction.

Read Column →

Recap: Game of Thrones 3.03 - Walk of Punishment

April 15th, 2013

This is going to contain spoilers for this episode, and also for the books. I won't tell you what happens in the fifth book, or what I think is going to happen in the next episode, but I will talk about differences between the book and the show thus far. Deal with it. There were two scenes in last night's episode, Walk of Punishment, that really got to the heart of why I love this show. 

Read Column →

Interactive Storytelling In Video Games: How Much is Enough?

April 12th, 2013

With the triumphant debut of BioShock Infinite, storytelling in video games is once again a trending topic of discussion. It is a subject LitReactor has covered in the past—our own John Jarzemsky wrote about the various story possibilities presented by videogames not too long ago. The one unique thing the format can do that even the best novels or movies can only mimic is allow the audience to not just participate, but directly interact with the story.

Read Column →

Library Love: Five Libraries In Film You'll Never Forget

April 12th, 2013

Libraries are a popular setting for so many things. Fashion shoots, sex videos, TV commercials—you name it. I’m probably biased, but I find library scenes in film to be unusually memorable. Sometimes, they are the most memorable part of a film. Who can forget Robbie and Cecilia’s library tryst in Atonement? Film excels at conveying atmosphere, and the library serves as a blank slate on which to project a mood. Libraries can be creepy, intimidating, warm, inviting, or simply mundane.

Read Column →

There is No Bottom, There is Only The Abyss: A Hubert Selby Jr. Primer

April 11th, 2013

Transgressive Fiction: “A literary genre that graphically explores such topics as incest and other aberrant sexual practices, mutilation, the sprouting of sexual organs in various places on the human body, urban violence and violence against women, drug use, and highly dysfunctional family relationships, and that is based on the premise that knowledge is to be found at the edge of experience and that the body is the site for gaining knowledge.” —Rene Chun

Read Column →

Storyville: Ten Ways to Avoid Cliches and Stereotypes

April 11th, 2013

One of the ways that you can stand out as an author is to write original fiction, to have original ideas. There are a lot of different genres that have traditions rooted in certain content and form, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick with them. Here are ten suggestions for how you can avoid stereotypical stories, characters, plots, formats and other aspects of great fiction.

Read Column →

Talk It Out: How To Punctuate Dialogue In Your Prose

April 10th, 2013

Punctuating Dialogue Dialogue is one of my favorite things to write, and I wish that my job as a technical writer offered more (or any) opportunities for writing it. In prose, dialogue can be a great way to get inside your characters. However, some writers find punctuating dialogue confusing: How do I use quotation marks? What is a dialogue tag? Where do the commas go? How come I see writers who don't even use quotation marks? Wait, is that an em dash?!

Read Column →

Workshop Tips For Mobile Users: How To Critique on Tablets and Smartphones

April 9th, 2013

In case you didn’t know, LitReactor offers a pretty excellent Writer’s Workshop, a place you can go for critiques and advice from fellow writers. Just upload your flash, short, or long form fiction and wait for other members to submit their reviews. I won’t get into the finer points of how it works, so if you’re not familiar with this side of the site, definitely go check it out.

Read Column →