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Showing 3562 Columns
Showing 3562 Columns
January 15th, 2013
Just the facts ma’am Sylvia Plath was born in Boston on October 27, 1932, and was raised in Winthrop, Massachussets, with her mother, Aurelia; German-American father Otto; and younger brother, Warren. Plath’s maternal grandparents lived a short distance from her family home and the young Sylvia spent much time in their house, built so close to the sea that she once remarked how after storms they would find the bodies of dead sharks washed up in the garden.
Read Column →January 14th, 2013
There are many components that go into a great story. You need to have a layered, vivid setting. You need to create a narrative hook that pulls your audience in and a story that keeps them interested. You need characters that are complex, flawed, and realistic. And you need dialogue that rings true.
Read Column →January 11th, 2013
Last year brought some brilliant new comics that I hope all of you read and will continue reading – gems like Saga, Hawkeye, Stumptown Volume 2, The Massive, Conan The Barbarian, and even intriguing new runs on books like Journey Into Mystery -- but if you’re curious what great ALL NEW comics to look out for in 2013, this is the list to get you started.
Read Column →January 11th, 2013
Back in the day, the original Star Wars movies were a big hit at my primary school, except with the girls at recess. As the boys galloped onto the playground eager to re-enact the destruction of the Death Star or the defeat of the Imperial forces on Endor, they had a plethora of roles to pick from, male characters of varying ages, colors and body types.
Read Column →January 10th, 2013
By now most of us have heard the saying, “Winter is Coming”, from George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. In the book and television show, it is the motto of House Stark, the guardians of the northern part of the kingdom, and those who are positioned in one of the worst places for that winter. Winters in Westeros, we’re led to believe, are bigger than just a winter on Earth, more severe, longer, lasting years. Summer at the beginning of the series has lasted nine years.
Read Column →January 10th, 2013
Let’s just get one thing straight—I am not a film critic, but I enjoy the storytelling process so much that I like to watch movies that place the act of making fiction at the center of the story.
Read Column →January 9th, 2013
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about some of the more predictable stories that show up in fiction workshops. This week I’d like to do something similar: I want to discuss a few popular plot devices that cause our work more harm than good.
Read Column →January 9th, 2013
Are you familiar with jokes at the expense of artists? Here's one: Q: What is the difference between a large pizza and a writer? A: The pizza can feed a family. Ha! But as with any profession that's been around long enough, you don't need to look very far if you want jokes. They're often called "case studies" and they can go like this: "This person or company did this and got these results. Let's look at what happened and learn something from it."
Read Column →January 8th, 2013
Many writers approach their text with the intent of keeping out every particle of shit. There are two drawbacks: First, this perfectionism inhibits creativity and the writing process; and second, writing that lacks the flaws naturally found in language will feel artificial. For many of us, our stories and the writing process improve when we embrace organic word-crafting, using the shit of our first draft to fertilize the drafts yet to come.
Read Column →January 7th, 2013
Towards the end of 2012, Publishers Weekly named E L James as its Publishing Person of the Year. This nugget prompted a minor rant from me on the subsequent Unprintable podcast. My beef was that all James had done to earn the accolade was sell a lot of books. What about those, like Hilary Mantel, who stood out from the crowd because of the quality of their work?
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