Columns

Books Without Borders: Life after Liquidation

October 20th, 2011

Though many true book enthusiasts, particularly in the Northwest where locally owned retailers are more common than paperback novels with Fabio on the cover, would never have set foot in a mega-chain bookstore like Borders, plenty of people did each day--right up until the company shuttered each of its stores in July. Which also meant that, until that time, plenty of publishers and booksellers, authors and editors, baristas, retailers, and representatives worked with Borders to stock the shelves, sign books, make deals and jerk lattes. So what now?

Read Column →

Storyville: Finding Your Voice

October 19th, 2011

It’s tough out here in the trenches. The written word is dying, nobody is buying books, presses aren’t paying authors, and it’s impossible to get published or land an agent. All lies.

Read Column →

Philip Roth: A Primer

October 19th, 2011

Roth image via Wikipedia Commons — Flag image by Karolina Grabowska via Pexels I've been asked to write about Philip Roth. According to the editorial guidelines, this should be neither a simple “review” of any one of his novels nor a cold, general overview of his work. That suits me.

Read Column →

Don't Leave Me Hanging...

October 17th, 2011

Image by Mariano Ruffa via Pexels Maybe you've had this experience too, but at some point during my literary education I learned what a hanging ending was, and I remember thinking it was genius—why bother to write a decent ending when you could just STOP writing and let the reader do all the work?

Read Column →

The Top 10 Scenes In Literature To Bring You Terrorsleep: Part 1

October 17th, 2011

Header image by Ricardo Esquivel For whatever reason--and step near any literature major, and you'll hear every possible one of them--scary, gory, and downright mean stuff is some of the most invigorating and dreadfully fun to read. You know from the jump that you are going to see some shit, alright! Crack the spine. Awake now, eh? Got your attention? Can you imagine for a while? You might regret it, 'cause there is no unknowing.

Read Column →

Cavalcade Of Literary Jerks: Part 2

October 14th, 2011

Original Shakespeare portrait via Wikipedia Commons, public domain All author photos via Wikipedia Commons, public domain Aaaaaaand we're back. If you're just joining us, we are counting down the top 10 jerk authors of all time. You can bring yourself up to speed HERE with jerks six through ten.

Read Column →

Sitting In On Chuck Palahniuk & Friend's Writer's Workshop

October 14th, 2011

Author photo by John Gress, used with permission. So the main course of my trip to Portland was to interview Chuck Palahniuk for the release of Damned (tune in next week for that).  But the dessert was being invited to sit in on one of the most coveted writing groups in the country, if not the planet.  Yes, THAT writing group.  The one that has given us Chuck, Lidia Yuknavitch, Monica Drake, Chelsea Cain, etc… all published and polished authors who have the collective insight, experience, and divergent POVs to make any noob w

Read Column →

An Exquisite Corpse: Tips for Brainstorming your National Novel Writing Month Plot

October 13th, 2011

Photo by hisks When I sit down to write, several things can happen: 1) A brilliant idea I've been holding on to with a mental death grip slips away the moment I set my fingers on the keyboard, and I’m left wondering what was so great about the idea in the first place. 2) I furiously whip out five or six ideas that I have been cooking up, but they all come out unfinished, still soft in the middle.

Read Column →

Neglected Books: "On Moral Fiction", "The Mismeasure of Man" and "The Man Who Died"

October 12th, 2011

Original photo via Free Images Every month I'm going to talk about obscure books. Neglected books. Novels not enough people have read, for instance, or books that were once popular but have fallen out of critical favor. I'm not going to pretend to be objective here; the point is to get a dialogue going about books we just don't talk about anymore.

Read Column →

Which P.O.V Is Right For Your Story?

October 12th, 2011

Given this is a column about writing craft, it’s inevitable that sooner or later we’re going to have to discuss point of view. At its core, P.O.V. is an issue of perspectives. The mode of narration you choose fundamentally alters how your story will be received.

Read Column →