Columns

7 Podcast Adaptations You Should Know About

September 5th, 2019

You probably already know that not all television shows and feature films are entirely original. Indeed, many are adapted from existing material — most commonly, well, books. (Game of Thrones, anyone?) But now that we're in 2019, technology’s given rise to another source of inspiration: podcasts.

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In Honor Of Back To School, Let’s Talk About Romeo And Juliet’s Idiocy

September 3rd, 2019

Junior highs and high schools across America go back into session in August, and that means millions of teens will get their first taste of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the story of "star-crossed lovers" from two warring families who would rather die than be apart. If students these days are anything like kids back in my day, some members of this new class will likely think it’s really romantic that Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, and some of their teachers might very well echo this sentiment.

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#FollowFriday and #WritersLift: Don’t Just Follow, Engage!

August 30th, 2019

If you follow members of the writing community, odds are you’ve noticed #FollowFriday or #ff trending at the end of every workweek. The tradition started with a tweet from entrepreneur Micah Baldwin back in 2009 and, even though Twitter has grown exponentially and its landscape has changed dramatically over the last ten years, it’s still going strong.

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Donald Maas and The Emotional Craft of Fiction Writing

August 29th, 2019

In The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface, Donald Mass reminds us that our writing puts readers on an emotional journey. We all know about showing versus telling, but sometimes there are important things a writer needs to tell their readers. As writers, we have to move the story along, and sometimes this includes cueing the reader in to what the characters are feeling, and developing an environment that will allow the reader to share those feelings, without explicitly stating what those feelings are. 

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Snitches, Gangsters, and Private Dicks: Why We Love and Hate Them

August 29th, 2019

Photo by Vijay Putra When I ask my friends why we like to watch and read about private investigators, the answer is pretty consistent: because they’re fucking awesome. They are, right? They work outside the law—or, rather, adjacent to the law—but they think like criminals. Many of them WERE criminals, maintaining a connection to the underworld via confidential informants.

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Comics vs. Television: "The Boys"

August 28th, 2019

I have written quite a few of these articles over the years, and it's still uncommon for me to encounter a perfect adaptation—that rare show or movie that not only seamlessly translates a story from page to screen, but also improves upon its source material on every level. Amazon’s The Boys is one such triumph. The show is more than just another dark and violent take on superheroes—it is also a withering satire of the genre’s tropes and philosophy. The tone often vacillates between absurdly serious and seriously absurd.

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Tales From the Crust: Pizza My Skull

August 27th, 2019

Photos courtesy of David James Keaton Is it just me or is turbulence getting worse? It was inevitable that Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème Pies shrunk from hubcap to half-dollar size and taste more like sugary ashtrays every day, and any boomboxes still around sound like cell phone speakers in mayonnaise jars.

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Access Your Subconscious for Better Writing

August 26th, 2019

Photo by Jenny Frenzel Throw away all preconceptions that you've got what it takes to make a great story by following a formula. It doesn't matter how smart you are, how high you scored on the SAT, or how prestigious your creative writing program was. Your conscious mind and your intellect cannot create a great story alone. If there's a mathematical formula for learning how to write fiction, it's probably too complicated for humans to quantify.

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Indie Comics Review: 'Serious Creatures'

August 25th, 2019

Images courtesy of Tony McMillen “Would you review my indie comic,” might be the scariest request a book reviewer gets. Comics are tough. Before you even think about matters of taste, there are the very basic questions about whether the book is read-able, whether the art is comprehensible, and whether the two can not only co-exist, but enhance each other. It’s like reviewing an art installation that boasts some visual art, some soundtrack, and a book of poems you’re meant to read in conjunction with certain pieces.

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What Reviewing Nonfiction Taught Me About Writing Fiction

August 23rd, 2019

Image via Pixabay Fiction was my first love and I was loyal to it for many years. Crime and horror made up the largest percentage of my literary diet. Then, once I started college, nonfiction crept into my life. I had never been a fan of reading historical accounts or long biographies, but then I discovered a world of amazing stories that had actually happened, and that captured my attention. 

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