Columns

The Blagger's Guide to Victor Hugo

February 6th, 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. Wait! The guy who wrote Les Mis was called Ewgo, not Hugo. And this is why the Blagger’s Guide is the best and only way to avoid literary embarrassment. Hugo was French and that’s how you pronounce his name in his native tongue.

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Storyville: Researching The Best American Short Stories Anthology

February 5th, 2013

NOTE: Everything I say about this anthology can probably be applied to other anthologies, annual and irregular, such as The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best American Non-required Reading, and others.

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Ask The Agent: Lots of Rejections From Editors... Should You Look for A New Agent? and More

February 4th, 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 and dissect two of the industry’s mysteries, straight from the shoulder.

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Watch Out For That First Step – It’s A Doozy: The Top 10 Time Loop Stories

February 1st, 2013

Happy Groundhog Day! It’s a day steeped in tradition, a Pennsylvania German custom going back centuries to ancient weather lore, and even sharing conventions with the age-old Pagan festival of Saint Brighid’s Day. It’s the day we turn to our mighty groundhog and ask him if we must suffer six more weeks of harsh, bleak winter. If the groundhog sees his shadow, we’re screwed. If not, we can celebrate the early arrival of spring!

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Watching out for Reiterations: Eliminating Redundancy in Your Writing

February 1st, 2013

Ah, Groundhog Day—my favorite movie. Let’s celebrate Bill Murray’s thousand-something February 2nds in Punxsutawney, PA by talking about redundancy. Redundancy in writing is when you reiterate a repetitive expression or when you repeat a reiteration, which is to say that you said it more than once and in more than one way. (Ha!)

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Think Through Twitter: Questions for the Social Media Artist

January 31st, 2013

Remember when Jennifer Egan wrote an entire short story that she posted one tweet at a time? There was a curious kind of reaction at the time from the mainstream media. It was a mix of excitement, skepticism, ass-kissing, ass-kicking and opinionated comments from online goblins. On a Guardian article about Egan's upcoming story at the time, you could read the kinds of brilliantly thought-out, constructive comments everyone expects from everyone else on the internet:

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LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown: January Edition - Updated with Winner

January 31st, 2013

Flash fiction: A style of fictional literature marked by extreme brevity. Welcome to LitReactor's Flash Fiction Smackdown, a monthly bout of writing prowess, in which you're challenged to thrill us in 250 words or less. How It Works We give you a picture. You write a flash fiction piece, using the picture we gave you as inspiration. Put your entry in the comments section. One winner will be picked, and awarded a prize.

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‘Good Sex, Great Prayers’: A Journey in Publication (Part 3: Art & Stuff)

January 31st, 2013

Click HERE for previous installments.

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Info Dumps Aren't Evil

January 30th, 2013

Soon after a new writer dares to reveal their intentions to write a novel, they start to get advice. "Don't do it! You can't make any money as a writer," says the serious minded business person. (As if a writer had the qualities necessary to make money elseways.) To newly minted writers, self-appointed literary stylists will often quote such axioms as, "You must strictly avoid –ly words," and "The passive voice is never used by a professional writer."

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Kill Those Modifiers!

January 30th, 2013

One hallmark of bad writing can be found in descriptive passages that rely heavily on modifiers. Adverbs and adjectives are necessary in language — I’ve already used both, in the first two sentences of this column — but used too often, they contribute to uninspired sentences and an overall sense of descriptive flatness. They don’t convey the specificity or immediacy that’s needed in storytelling. As such, you should kill them whenever you can.

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