Columns

5 Spiritual Bookstores for Discovery and Enlightenment

June 5th, 2017

Header image via Paradise Found One of the things I love about the arts is how ridiculously hierarchical they are. Is this art music or popular music? Fine art or street art? Literary fiction or genre fiction? Every single field in the arts has something its snobs turn their noses up at. And if you're like me, it may have taken some time to embrace the fact that you like that thing. Like a lot! Or maybe you continue to read your YA vampire dramas in secret. Your choice. In either case, enter the genre bookstore, your local, highly curated emporium of stuff you like.

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The Leftovers Pilot: Television Turns Literary

June 2nd, 2017

I won't mince words here—The Leftovers is the best show on television, and I'm sad that it's suddenly departing from our lives when the series wraps up this month. Before we pour one out, let's look back at the pilot from a craft perspective, and examine the techniques that contributed to the show's brilliance from the very start.

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10 Things I Did Right As a Debut Novelist

June 1st, 2017

Image via Unsplash Last month, dear reader, I shared 10 Mistakes I Made as a Debut Novelist, to spare you from doing the same. 

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Temporary Illiteracy: Life Without Books

May 31st, 2017

If you are currently viewing this article, chances are you enjoy reading. You probably do it every day, for both work and pleasure. You might have documents and emails to peruse while at your job, and perhaps you spend your free time reading blog posts and articles on the internet, maybe even thumbing through the yellowed pages of a well-loved novel before bed. Reading is a vitally important skill, yet easily taken for granted until a very special episode of your favorite sitcom reminds you not everyone can do it.

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Storyville: Are You Unique or Just Difficult with Your Fiction?

May 31st, 2017

I often look at a new story as an opportunity to do something different—maybe I should set this new tale someplace exotic, or what about a split-personality? Maybe I should tell the story backward, or use language totally of my own invention? I want to stand out, but I don't want to alienate my audience, either. So today we’re going to talk about whether or not your story or novel is unique, innovative and fresh, or merely complicated, vague and difficult.

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These 4 Popular Reading Spots Are Actually Awful

May 30th, 2017

Header: via Pexels Close your eyes and imagine your ideal reading spot.  You know, the place you most want to go and cozy up with a book on your day off.  Picturing it? I bet it’s an awful place to read. 

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10 Things About Writing I (Re)Learned From Graphic Novels

May 26th, 2017

Image: Mortadelo y Filemon, created by Francisco Ibáñez As a kid spending my summers in a dilapidated old house by the traintracks in a tiny town in Northern Spain, comic books were very important to me because they were the only non-running-around form of entertainment I had. I devoured comics, mostly by Spanish comic maestro Francisco Ibañez. Mortadelo y Filemón, El Botones Sacarino, and 13, Rue del Percebe were all favorites.

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Community Spotlight: Summer 2017 Edition

May 26th, 2017

Why do people love the summer so damn much? Whoops, hang on. Whenever I make curmudgeonly statements like that, my eyebrows grow out to Andy Rooney lengths and I have to comb them back so I can see the keyboard. All this affection for summer, I think it's left over from school days. As a kid, summer was the best. But it had nothing to do with the distance between the earth and the sun. It had to do with the distance between me and the classroom. 

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Want a Masterclass in Character Development? Better Call Saul!

May 25th, 2017

Crafting a successful spinoff series is one of the toughest tricks in television. It feels like the ghost of Joey haunts every current attempt to extend or expand a successful show's existing universe. Want an even bigger challenge? Tackle a spinoff of Breaking Bad, a nearly perfect, almost universally adored drama that contained one of the best slow-burn character arcs in TV history.

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How Do You Know When Your Writing Career Is Over?

May 24th, 2017

This dark question is one I’m willing to bet most of us have asked ourselves at least once, if not much more regularly. I’m raising it here not to be discouraging. In fact, my motive is quite the opposite. This column is meant to be more of a pep talk, believe it or not. The only folks who will come away from this column too depressed to move are those who have been lying to themselves for a very long time.

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