Columns

Book vs. Film: "Bones and All"

November 29th, 2022

SPOILERS AHEAD It’s been said plenty of times before, but it’s worth repeating: the best cinematic adaptations of novels stay mostly true to their source material while at the same time carving out their own paths. Rigidly faithful adaptations can be great films (think Rosemary’s Baby, though feel free not to think about Roman Polanski, ever), but by and large these movies can feel stale for anyone already familiar with the book. 

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6 Nonfiction Titles For Nonfiction November

November 28th, 2022

Halloween may be over, but that’s no reason to say goodbye to your spooky bookshelf! With the end of the year comes “Nonfiction November,” a yearly initiative where we can—just for a month—take a break from fiction and tuck into some nonfiction reads. Sure, nothing quite beats the comfort of a great story, but nonfiction books can be equally enjoyable—especially for horror readers interested in something on the darker side of the spectrum. Want to know more about why your favorite scary books and film have such an emotional effect?

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7 Super-Satisfying Murder Mysteries to Read in Anticipation of "Glass Onion"

November 25th, 2022

Header illustration by Raúl Gil for Reedsy The 2019 release of Knives Out (starring Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, and Chris Evans) brought murder mysteries back into the mainstream. It’s now followed by Glass Onion, which sees a tech billionaire invite people to his private Greek island for a murder mystery party.

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Storyville: The Symbolism of the Four Seasons

November 23rd, 2022

Have you ever sat down to write a short story (or a novel) and thought about what season you were going to set it in? No? Maybe you should. If you’ve taken my classes or been reading this column for a while you’ve heard me say “all things serve the beam.” This refers to Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. It means your story needs to keep servicing the heart of your story—the internal and external conflicts, the themes, your protagonist, the genre, the plot. And weather, the four seasons, they can do that as well.

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Loving Comic Books, But Not Comic Book Movies

November 22nd, 2022

Let’s say a genie showed up. Hey, you rubbed a lamp, what did you expect? You can’t just go around rubbing on lamps and expect nothing to happen. This genie kind of sucks at his job, or maybe he misunderstood the training, so instead of wishes, he gives you a choice: “You can have one of these two things for the rest of your life, and the other will go away forever: comic books or comic book movies. Now CHOOSE!”

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The Edible Complex: Food-based tips for research and editing

November 21st, 2022

Header image made with Put Words Between Buns by Ian Bogost. Drawings by Roy Christopher. The process of writing is one of those things that eludes even those of us who do it every day. Sometimes sentences just pour out of you. Sometimes you go weeks with nothing. When I'm in the flow of the sentences, I'm always trying to figure out how to make them the best I can.

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The Mad, Bad Royal: 10 Books About Loathsome Monarchs

November 18th, 2022

Everyone has heard the old adage, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Is it even possible for a monarch to be a hero, given the lack of equality in their status versus the rest of the world’s? Some of literature’s most famous villains of the ruling class didn’t bother to find out; or perhaps they were tormented by the blood shed in their attempts to grab the reins of power.

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A Poetry Roundup Both Raw and Alive

November 17th, 2022

“Since you went underground I've wanted to track you down Since you went underground I've wanted to dig you out” "Forest Lawn" / Better Oblivion Community Center Why "Forest Lawn" by Better Oblivion Community Center? Because you know, pain, sadness, death. Or maybe it just came on as I was reading and when it did I felt overwhelmed by it all. What all?

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Storyville: How Grateful, Compassionate Protagonists Can Add Depth to Your Fiction

November 15th, 2022

I hear a lot of talk these days about unlikable protagonists, and how a despicable main character can be hard to read. I get that. So does that mean the opposite is true? If you have a grateful, compassionate, giving protagonist, does that make for a more appealing, layered, and satisfying experience? As we get closer to Thanksgiving, let’s discuss that.

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The AI Novel Is Pointless

November 14th, 2022

Compared to Judgment Day, during which intelligent machines will bomb humanity down to a pile of charred skeletons, I guess an AI writing a novel seems like a pretty benign thing. I mean, what if I have an ugly skeleton? I have no idea what my skeleton looks like, and maybe it looks all weird and all the surviving robots will make fun of it. Unlike Judgment Day, the AI-written novel is coming. Much like the intro to this column, the AI novel will be confusing, silly, and utterly without purpose.

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