Columns

Career Writing in Three Steps

April 5th, 2012

It was roughly ten years ago when I made the decision to write. I was the angry, young author archetype pounding away on his keyboard, totally wired on cigarettes and booze and this passion for the written word. Nothing could stop me. Yet, like most people starting out, I had no direction whatsoever. I approached the craft guns blazing, paying little mind to things like agents and query letters and lit mags. Even if I had a book ready I wouldn’t have known what to do with it.

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App-tacular: Writing on Phones, Smart Phones, and Tablets

April 4th, 2012

Pen and paper, typewriter, computer: these are the typical tools most of us use when we sit down to write. These implements are traditional and comfortable and produce a predictable result. At least that’s how we feel about them now. Think back when each of these items came into the mainstream market, how much they revolutionized the process. Pen and paper, in some form or another, have been around a VERY long time, but before people had these things readily available to them, stories were literally written in stone, or passed along orally.

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Path to Publication Part 4: Mea Culpa

April 4th, 2012

Photo by Rob Hart Recap: This is a monthly column about trying to publish my crime/noir/literary novel, New Yorked. Click here for previous installments.

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Book vs. Film: The Hunger Games

April 3rd, 2012

Since this is my first Book Vs. Film, I feel I should preface it with my personal feelings on adaptations.

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Guess The Plot, Episode I: "May Contain Runts"

April 3rd, 2012

Perhaps more than any other genre, science-fiction embodies that old saying about not judging a book by its cover. Many classic titles feature covers that are, at best, anodyne and, at worst, completely misleading. Indeed, publishers a generation ago would hire designers to create covers for books they had never read, or even commission stories after the cover design had been finished. We sci-fi fans must become amateur semioticians, decoding the covers of perspective purchases in a desperate effort to figure out what the hell they are actually about.

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New Release Roundup: Recommendations for April 2012

April 2nd, 2012

Every month I'll be toiling in the dank, dark mines of literary obscurity, scouring the catalogues of every major publisher to bring the LitReactor faithful a few choice titles hitting the shelves. The following is a brief look at what's worth checking out in April. Full disclosure: unless otherwise noted, none of the below books have been reviewed by myself or other LitReactor staff. These are just a few recommendations based on publisher's notes and my own opinions. Without further ado:

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Ask The Lit Coach: "What Is The Ideal Length For A Nonfiction Book Proposal?" and More

April 2nd, 2012

How long should a book proposal be to capture the attention of the publishing world? Is it okay to mention your previously published skeletons to an agent when querying? These are the burning topics this week on Q&A with The Lit Coach. Question from Jill S. from Los Angeles What is the ideal length for a nonfiction book proposal? 

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LURID: Location, Location, Location - Haunted House Stories

March 30th, 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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A Recap Of... Game Of Thrones

March 30th, 2012

With Season 2 of Game of Thrones bearing down on us like a rampant direwolf, what better time to refresh your memory about the first book in George R. R. Martin's mighty epic saga? A whole year has passed since the first HBO series glued our eyes to the screens and left us in no doubt that bridesmaids at Dothraki weddings have more fun than bridesmaids are generally supposed to.

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Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children?

March 29th, 2012

A friend of mine, who produces films in Los Angeles, once used the phrase “wolves in sheep’s clothing” to describe the power of genre films. Essentially, he was arguing that the most effective stories, even those that are considered outside the realm of “high art”, bury deeply powerful themes within the artifice of something that might be considered a little less transcendent.

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