Columns

The Bloody New Nostalgia of Splatter Westerns

August 3rd, 2020

When I was a kid, my dad loved westerns. He read Louis L’Amour books until he needed entire shelves just for that author. On Saturday afternoons, much to my chagrin, he would take over the TV and binge the old westerns, many in black and white, on the few channels we had. As a kid, I couldn’t really relate at all. Kids born in the 1970s often had fathers born in the 40s and 50s who grew up on a heavy diet of westerns that became deep-set nostalgia by the 80s. My father was fascinated by crime fiction, science fiction, high fantasy, and to a lesser degree, horror too.

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How Do We Go On Writing Our Little Fictions When Outside The World Is On Fire?

July 29th, 2020

"Fire" by Liz West / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 I’ve never much consi

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Storyville: Tips, Tricks, and Thoughts on Reprints

July 28th, 2020

There are many different reasons that you should try and get your stories reprinted, so let’s talk about the why, the how, and the various ways that reprints can help your writing career.

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How to Purge the Thousand Story Ideas Running Around In Your Head

July 27th, 2020

Original image by Kevin Mueller, via Unsplash Because we make good movie decisions, my girlfriend and I watched The Boy.

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How To Read Between The Lines of Your Rejections

July 24th, 2020

photos by Steve Johnson & Lad Fury Here’s the sad truth: 95% of your submissions will be rejected. Or maybe it’s 98%. Or maybe 99% — what do I know? I’m a writer, not a math…person. 

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A Brilliant Birthday History for the Brilliant Alexandre Dumas

July 24th, 2020

Image via Wikipedia Le Trois Mousquetaires and Le Comte de Monte Cristo, better known to the English reading world as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, were hatched from one of the greatest creative minds of the 19th century. Alexandre Dumas wrote as indulgently as he lived.

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Flip The Script: H. P. Lovecraft

July 23rd, 2020

H.P. Lovecraft's work is immensely influential in the horror genre. Any book that takes a nihilistic, deep dive into the cosmos or mentions tentacles of any sort gets that "Lovecraftian Horror" genre-label, but here's the thing: Some readers of horror fiction haven't read any H. P. Lovecraft. *raising my hand*

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Traditional, Indie, and Self-Publishing: 15 Myths Debunked

July 22nd, 2020

Photo by Stas Knop Writing is the best thing that ever happened to me. Writing is what keeps us alive. Writing is the best gig in the world. Writing is creation, imagination given life. Writing is not publishing. Writing is art; publishing is a business. I'm not here to talk to you about writing. If you're reading this, you already decided you want to be a writer...and you probably decided you want to publish your work.

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10 Gems From 100 Years of 'The Elements of Style'

July 20th, 2020

I can’t keep a pair of pants looking presentable for more than 3 years. My body is well over 20 years old, way under 100, and it’s hit and miss with this damn thing. And somehow the same book has been assisting writers for 100 years?

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Storyville: Advanced Writing Workshop Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

July 16th, 2020

So, if you saw my previous column on Surviving a Workshop, then you have already digested my thoughts on having thick skin, what advice to take, dealing with a consensus, jerks and haters, giving feedback as good as you get, and allowing yourself to create a rough draft without freaking out. That column was written back in 2017, so let’s see what I’ve learned since then, and what advanced advice I can give you here.

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