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"Pennyworth" is Worth a Watch
September 25th, 2019
The very premise of Pennyworth sounds like a punchline. An origin story for Batman’s butler? Seriously? When the rumors started to surface in the midst of Gotham’s first season, I immediately dismissed them as a joke, an idea too ludicrous to exist. But I should have known better. If Alfred can star in his own comic series, he is certainly capable of carrying a TV show. And while it has its share of shortcomings, Pennyworth is surprisingly compelling and a lot of fun.
Read Column →Putting in the Time: How Taking Creative Control Helps All Aspects of My Life
September 25th, 2019
Original image by Andrey Grushnikov Life is hard. Writing is hard. Writing and having an entire life outside of writing? Extra hard. A couple of months ago, I wrote about the tools I’ve developed to make it possible for writing to be more of a priority in my life. Since then, it has not been the easiest of things for me to actually...do those things.
Read Column →Tackling the Issue of Consent in Fiction
September 23rd, 2019
Original image by Cliff Booth Sex in fiction often falls into the historical notion of men as conquerors taking what they want without asking and women tolerating whatever they’re given. Naturally, this is a gross generalization, but one key to rectifying this societal imbalance, at least in part, is to make consent in fiction explicit. Explicit consent is clear and direct.
Read Column →Ask Nick: Publishing 201 — What Do Editors Do All Day?
September 20th, 2019
Hello, and welcome to Publishing 201—an occasional column in which I'll answer your questions about writing and publishing, so long as they haven't been asked and answered a million times already. There is plenty of 101-level advice out there, and thousands of writers who can repeat it, but very little has been written for writers further along in their careers or aesthetic development. If you have a 201-level question you'd like me to answer, reach out! This week, we have a question from a newly successful author:
Read Column →What Does It Really Take to Get a Book Published?
September 19th, 2019
Photo by Laura Kapfer via Unsplash Writing and publishing a book is a bucket-list item for a whole lot of us. Yet many don't succeed. More people than you’d think have a manuscript just sitting there on their hard drive, because, somewhere along the line, they came to an unfortunate conclusion: Getting a book published is hard. Really hard.
Read Column →8 Writing and Researching Tools You Might be Ignoring
September 18th, 2019
Image via rawpixel.com You sit down to write and—usually, at some point—you have to stop and do some research because you don't know what comes next. Similarly, I know a lot of writers enjoy writing prompts because they can help get the creative juices flowing. Whatever the case, there are tools out there that can help you improve your writing, put ideas in your head, or help you get out of a mental slump. Here are some of my favorites.
Read Column →Storyville: Pacing and Depth in Short Fiction vs. Novels
September 17th, 2019
I’m teaching a few different classes right now, and one of the biggest issues I see with authors that switch from short stories to novels is pacing and depth. If you’ve written flash fiction you may already understand the difference between telling a story in 1,000 words (or less) and doing the same with 5,000 words (or more). As you go from a story that is less than 7,500 words long (the maximum word count for a short story) to a novel, you are going to have to expand up to TEN TIMES that length. So let’s dig in and address that expansion.
Read Column →Book vs. Minisieries vs. Films: It - The Special Beverly Edition
September 16th, 2019
It: Chapter Two hit theaters on September 6th, 2019, debuting at number one at the box office, demonstrating once again the timeless appeal of a deranged clown/multidimensional being stalking and murdering children. Based on the 1986 novel It by Stephen King, Chapter Two—as you might expect from the title—is the continuation of It: Chapter One, released in 2017.
Read Column →Be Childish Because It’s Robert McCloskey’s Birthday
September 13th, 2019
Hook them while they’re young! That’s the unofficial motto of children’s literature and should be sung by every author. Young readers grow up to be adult book lovers. Sure, some bibliophiles are late bloomers, but keeping in touch with my inner child prevents this writer from turning into the crusty, hateful stereotypes that are not only outdated, but inaccurate.
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