Columns

The Period Part 1—Lots o' dots: How frequent and deliberate use of the humble period can create maximum impact.

January 18th, 2012

Header image by Aleksandar Pasaric via Pexels First, I’ll tell you what we are not going to discuss in this article—when to use a period according to the rules of usage for the English language. While that's important (although not as intuitive as one might think), this article will instead focus on using the period deliberately and selectively to enhance your writing and your story.

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Storyville: Research and Duotrope

January 17th, 2012

You have a voice now, and you can write a cover letter, you’ve seen the horrors and the joy of the submission process, but let’s take a step back for a second. Where are you sending your stories? How in the hell do you decide on the right journal or magazine or website for your epic genius? If only there was one place to go, one source for all of your questions, complete with links and statistics and pretty pictures. There is. If you haven’t discovered Duotrope.com yet, then you, my friend, are in for an awakening.

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Q&A with The Lit Coach - Issue 8 Announcement

January 16th, 2012

It's that time again - The Lit Coach is accepting your burning questions relating to writing, agents, editors, publishing, and the writing life for the eighth issue of Q&A with The Lit Coach. Submit ONE clearly crafted question to Erin Reel, The Lit Coach, by Saturday, January 21st. She'll choose a few of the best or the most frequently asked questions to answer, Monday, January 23rd. Submit your question to The Lit Coach!

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Can't Everyone In The Publishing Industry Just Get Along?

January 16th, 2012

The level of discourse in this country really sucks.  It's not enough to be right anymore. In order to be in favor of something you must also wish death and destruction upon the opposing side. This kind of attitude used to be relegated to sports, religion and politics. Now we're seeing the Fox-Newsification of everything, from nerd culture (if I told y'all how I felt about Star Wars you'd publicly crucify me) to the publishing industry.  Why can't we all just get along? 

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The Lure of Celebrity: Why Literary Agents Represent Stars (And Not You)

January 16th, 2012

About a year ago, news broke that Jersey Shore "star" (?) Nicole "Snooki" Polizi, who is famous mostly for being short, tan, and publicly maligned, was penning a memoir entitled A Shore Thing.  This prompted a collective eye-roll among those in the writing and publishing world. Authors who had been shopping books around for years were crushed. English majors with hopes of being the next Annie Dillard retreated to their hometowns to weep and look for jobs serving coffee.

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Craig Clevenger Asks Crime Fiction Instructor, David Corbett, Three Questions!

January 13th, 2012

On January 23rd we're unveiling our largest class to date; an 8-week super-intensive crime writing master class with award-winning crime novelist David Corbett. In anticipation of this class, friend and fellow author Craig Clevenger sat down with Corbett and fired three very good questions his way on the subject of crime fiction. Sign Up For The Class

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ATTACKED! One Writer's Response to Criticism

January 13th, 2012

It’s not all fan mail and beer, my dear. There’s a foul fraction of writers – I among them - who read what other writers sweat blood to create and by some miracle manage to publish, and not only react as if we’ve been poisoned by bad crab meat, but then insist on farting our responses into print.  We are a nasty crew - part junkie, part cannibal. The objects of our essentially erotic wrath are those whose work we despise and those who are simply assholes who deserve to be publicly disgraced. I’ve done it, I feel no shame, and I’ll do it again.

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Book Brawl: To Kill A Mockingbird vs. In Cold Blood

January 13th, 2012

Each month I throw two books, related in some way, into the Book Brawl ring to fight it out for the coveted title of literary champion. Two books enter; one book leaves. This month the pugilistic tomes are by childhood besties Truman Capote (In Cold Blood, 1965) and Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird, 1960). How could we be so cruel as to turn lifelong friends against each other? Well, Book Brawl is a vicious beast, dear readers.

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The Path To Publication Part 1: Delusions of Grandeur

January 12th, 2012

Photo courtesy of author You know those people who show up to audition for American Idol that are utterly convinced they are great singers, but sound like a raccoon getting stomped on with golf shoes?  The thing that's sad isn't their lack of talent. It's that they're so oblivious to their lack of talent.  That's a very real fear I have: That I'm not really that good of a writer, and eventually someone's going to call me on it.

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“Scuse me while I kiss this guy.”: Malaprops, Puns, Spoonerisms, Eggcorns, and other hilarity-inducing word mix-ups

January 12th, 2012

Image: 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy by Gavin Edwards, art by Chris Kale About a million years ago, I was in the bookstore with my dad (a favorite haunt for us both) when I came upon a book titled ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy: And Other Misheard Lyrics.  I was 14 at the time, I had no idea to what song the author was referring to, but my dad sure thought it was funny.

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