Columns

Storyville: Letting Film Unblock, Inspire, and Add Depth to Your Fiction

August 20th, 2019

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what can you possibly absorb from watching television and motion pictures? A lot, I tell you. Stephen King says that in order to write, you must read. And I agree 100%. It’s a great way to study plot, story, voice, setting, structure and so many other things. But I also feel film can help you as an author see things you never could in the real world. Help you safely experience intense moments, and fill your head with imagery and knowledge as you get ready to write a new short story, novella, or novel.

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Ask Nick: Publishing 201 — Can I Break Out?

August 16th, 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, a short question generates a long answer.

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How to Approach the Second Draft of Your Novel-in-Making

August 15th, 2019

Say you’ve reached the other end of a long tunnel. It’s been a hard and difficult slog until now, but you see a dawning light as you reach the last few pages of your story and can finally type “THE END.” Is it time to pop open the champagne? Yes. Grab that bottle of Veuve Clicquot, kick up your feet, and celebrate the fact that you now have a first draft. Just don’t get too comfortable, as you’ve got a mountain of editing ahead of you.

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Beat the Heat of the Dog Days of Summer with These Five Dog Novels

August 14th, 2019

Header image via Pexels Ah, the Dog Days of Summer. When I was a kid, I thought this the perfect label for those sweltering, stifling days of August when it was so hot that even the dogs could do nothing but dig holes in the cool dirt beneath the porch and wait it out. I’ve since come to know the Dog Days as a reference to Sirius, the Dog Star, and its position rising in the night sky.

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8 Signs You Are Afraid of Writing

August 13th, 2019

If you want to become a writer, you must become comfortable with fear. It’s easy to dismiss the fear of writing. Easier to not recognize fear and writing are infinitely conjoined. You didn’t become a writer for the adrenaline thrill, after all. Writing is not like being a Navy SEAL or a firefighter. You are not risking your life when you write, so you believe. You imagine your fear of showing up to the blank page is silly and unfounded.

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Book vs. Film: Very Bore-y Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark

August 12th, 2019

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books were the highlight of the Scholastic Book Fair. Bless you, Scholastic, for sneaking in a book that depicted a woman with spiders exploding out of her face. Bless you for tricking my mom into thinking these stories of people eating sausage made from humans were remotely appropriate. Scholastic, you once sold me a book I can only describe as a sub-Go-Bots-quality Transformers knockoff, but I forgive you.

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How Is Magical Realism Different From Fantasy?

August 9th, 2019

If you're a book reader and a fan of literature in general, you've probably already heard the term magical realism. You might also know that the term originally applied to a particular brand of fiction coming out of Latin America in the 20th century—primarily from writers Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Laura Esquivel, Isabel Allende, and numerous others—but has now become a subgenre all its own, with authors around the world contributing works that fit the mold.

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Defining Upmarket Fiction and the Role it Plays in Today’s Market

August 8th, 2019

Center photo via Unsplash So, you’ve received your first rejection letter from an agent, and the response reads something like this: “Great manuscript, but our office prefers material we can sell as upmarket fiction.” After your head stops spinning, the next response may be—What the heck is upmarket fiction?

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Requests, Not Demands: How to Get Your Books into Libraries

August 7th, 2019

A few months back there was this author who, in trying to get his book stocked in libraries, acted like kind of a dunderhead and pissed off a lot of library people. He wrote a bit in Publishers Weekly about it, which opened like this:

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Beyond the Comfort Zone: Writing Outside Your Box

August 6th, 2019

Original photo by Chad Littlejohn In writing, as well as life, it can be easy to settle into a groove once you’ve found something that works. You might even get a little comfortable. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a lot less arduous to do good work when you’re not learning something new or worrying about a dozen other things. But once you set up camp in your comfort zone, it becomes much more tempting to stay there, careful not to wander too far.

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