Columns

Dressing the Part: A Look at Literary Halloween Costumes for the Family

October 28th, 2014

Image via Lake Interlochen (Editor's note: NOT Leah's family.) This was supposed to be a very different column. 

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8 Ways to Outline a Novel

October 28th, 2014

There are countless ways to outline a novel. Ultimately, the "right way to outline" is whatever way works best for you.To give you a few options to explore, this article will introduce you to a few of my favorite outlining methods. But first ... Why bother outlining? Outlining isn't a moral imperative, and it doesn't work for everyone. But even if you are a “pantser” (a.k.a. “a discovery writer”), there are some noteworthy advantages worth exploring.

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Product Review: GoodNotes

October 27th, 2014

My very first column here at LitReactor, Paperless Writer: Five Steps To A Successful Digital Rewrite, covered the basics of using tablets, styluses, and PDF reading/editing apps for longhand proofing of your various manuscript drafts.

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For the Love of Monsters: Werewolves

October 27th, 2014

There is a scene in An American Werewolf in London where David confronts the corpses of those he’s murdered in a porno theater. Before this scene, the film is mostly played as a straight horror story. The porno scene, however, is a fantastic turning point for the film. It’s the pivotal moment that multiple genres smash together and transform into one super-genre. Here, David is a newly bred werewolf, having a conversation with a bunch of ghouls while a non-stop orgy plays in front of them on the big screen.

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That Time I Read With Chuck Palahniuk

October 25th, 2014

I just did a live reading with Chuck Palahniuk. It still feels weird saying it, probably because after thirteen years of reading the guy's stuff...I never thought the first meeting was going to take place on stage. I figured it'd be in a bookstore or some local Q&A in which I'd be just another audience member...not on stage in front of 700+ people. Not a part of the circus.

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How to Assemble an Ensemble: Team-Building for Writers

October 24th, 2014

Somebody much smarter than me once said that the essence of drama is just putting characters in a room and watching what happens when they bounce off of each other. Maybe they’ll fall in love, maybe they’ll kill each other—possibly both. But sometimes if you mix the right elements the literary chemistry will create something special: an ensemble, a group of characters working together to tell a story more interesting than any protagonist can alone.

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The Pleasures Of Writing At Night

October 24th, 2014

Believe me, if anybody has a job and starts at 9, there's no reason why they can't get up at 4:30 or 5 and write for a couple of hours, and give their employers their second-best effort of the day—which is what I did. -Mary Oliver Yeah, totally do that, but in reverse. Write at night. -Peter Derk

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The 5 Scariest Grammar Issues: Your Guide to Fearless Writing

October 24th, 2014

Whether you're an accomplished author with dozens of titles under your belt or a starry-eyed newbie with a couple half-finished drafts in a drawer, if you're reading this column, you are, most likely, an elite reader—and by that I mean, one who has consumed at least a couple times your body weight in books. 

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5 Creepy Comics To Suit Every Predilection

October 23rd, 2014

Most of us like a little bit of creepy in the month of October, but what kind of creepy tends to vary greatly. Some of us prefer true crime while others prefer fairy tales. Here are five excellent October books for a variety of predilections. Make sure to check out last year’s list as well, all comics I still heartily recommend.

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Self-Publishing is Basically the YouTube of Literature

October 22nd, 2014

I remember the first time I saw a Jenna Marbles video. It was that one where she talks about how to trick people into thinking you're good looking. Keep in mind, I wasn't actively looking for it. It was all over Facebook and the media couldn't shut up about this chick. Even my friends were like, "You gotta check this video out," and then they'd proceed to pull up Jenna on YouTube. The amount of buzz she had was massive.

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