Columns

You’ll Never Write In This Town (Or Any Other Town) Again! 5 Ways To Survive and Overcome Creative Burnout.

May 10th, 2012

In November of 2010, I was laid off from my job of six years along with one thousand of my former co-workers. The layoff didn’t exactly come as a shock. I’d been living with the specter of possible job loss for over a year; my immediate supervisors made sure to remind everyone that if we didn’t work harder than we ever had before, the company would have no choice but to start looking for ways to cut costs. And as with most American corporations, it wouldn’t be management who would take a pay cut in order to save jobs.

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Can Joss Whedon Save The Superheroine?

May 8th, 2012

With any other director at the helm of The Avengers, Black Widow could have been lost amongst the larger-than-life power profiles of characters like Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, and Captain America. But we aren't talking about any other director, we're talking about Joss Whedon. And Joss Whedon has always been interested in female characters, and seems particularly compelled by women as superheroes. He is, of course, the creator of one of the most powerful female superheroines in the history of media – Buffy Summers, aka Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

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Through A Touchscreen Darkly: What Technology Can Do For The Novel

May 8th, 2012

The book remains the same. From scratched wax tablets to scrawled parchments to leather-bound beauties to airport paperbacks, the novel has largely been experienced in a uniform way: you open the front cover and commence reading. Close when finished. Experience flood of words and ideas and emotions if you’re lucky. Experience mild diversion if you’re not. Still, the medium has barely altered. Few authors strive to make their books anything beyond a staid vessel for the linear text within. A wad of paper leaves stuck between two flaps of cards, glued up and shelved.

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Lady, Go Die!: A Behind The Scenes Look At Completing Mickey Spillane's Lost 'Mike Hammer' Novels

May 7th, 2012

In the final week of his life, Mickey Spillane said to his wife Jane, “When I’m gone, there’ll be a treasure hunt around here.  Take everything you find and give it to Max.  He’ll know what to do.” Mickey had already called me, a week before, asking me to finish the final Mike Hammer novel, The Goliath Bone, if he was unable to.

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Guess The Plot, Episode II: Plumb Away!

May 7th, 2012

Guys, we did it. We really did it. Last month, in Guess The Plot's debut, I offered up four classic science-fiction covers and asked for LitReactor's help figuring out what the novels inside could possibly be about. And you all didn't just show up, you killed it. Go back and check out the hilarious comment section in that link. Gold, people, hot bubbling gold! So I'm back, with just one cover this time. One amazing cover. 

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White Whale, Holy Grail: Moby Dick and Mastodon's Leviathan

May 4th, 2012

Writing about the White Whale has become my white whale.

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Assembling the Avengers: An Essential Reading List

May 4th, 2012

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born—to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand!

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Figurative Language, and Stuff Like That

May 3rd, 2012

I ought to start by defining Metaphoric Construct, but I’m hesitant to do so—namely, because I’m pretty sure I made the whole thing up. I’ve been bandying the term Metaphoric Construct about like an unfortunate hobo at a ritzy party lobs into his first game of badminton, using a dust-broom as a racquet, hoping no one will notice. But, whatever we call it, Metaphoric Construct is not only a consistent source of figurative-language, it’s the well we can depend on when it comes time to draw water to a thirsting story.

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LURID: Autopsy Moxie

May 3rd, 2012

LURID: vivid in shocking detail; sensational, horrible in savagery or violence, or, a twice-monthly 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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Storyville: Dissection of "Twenty Reasons to Stay and One to Leave"

May 2nd, 2012

I wanted to do something a little different with this column. I wanted to let you inside my warped little mind as I break down one of my stories. I want to talk about the various aspects of what went into the story, why I did what I did, and show you the end result, and my thoughts on how it all turned out. I hope that by dissecting this story it may provide some insight into what I go through in the process of writing, editing, and finalizing a short story.

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