Columns

Hurts So Good: Why We Love YA Dystopias

March 21st, 2014

With the holiday release of Catching Fire, the second installment in the Hunger Games franchise, it's clear that YA dystopias still rule not only the bookshelves, but the box office, too. Up next is Divergent, another series seeking to cash in while the gravy—er, gruel?—train is still in town.

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Footnotes: The Bearable Lightness of the Extraterrestrial Being

March 20th, 2014

The idea of little green men absconding off into the cosmos with our physical body in tow formed right about now, as you were reading this, if we're looking at time according to Neil deGrasse Tyson's cosmic calendar.  That is to say: the idea of being abducted by cognizant beings from another planet or another dimension is still very new, even by our own ordinary yearly calendar.

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Facebook Advertising: Is It Worth It?

March 20th, 2014

At this point, pretty much every writer/author out there has some kind of social media presence: Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, Wordpress, and hopefully, an official website...and we're all trying to crack this code of getting more "likes", more followers, more subscribers. We're all trying to widen our audience and get more eyes on our posts. We're all fighting for attention, and because most working class authors aren't brimming at the pockets, we're trying to do this in the most cost-effective way possible.

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Telling Tales on the Publishing Industry

March 19th, 2014

Okay, this is all about fiction writing, so let me tell you a story:

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How to Become a Freelance Writer in 900 Simple Steps – Part 2: The Existential Crisis

March 19th, 2014

Now that I have to decided to go freelance (no matter how long it takes me), I find myself parsing a slew of chicken/egg scenarios:

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Path to Publication 2.1: Readings, Book Trailers, and Why I Loved AWP So Much It Hurt

March 18th, 2014

My debut novel, New Yorked, will be published by Exhibit A Books in January 2015. Until then, I'll be writing about the path to getting that book published... My original plan for this installment was to address the daunting task of writing a follow-up to New Yorked. That feeling of, "Oh shit, I have to do this again." But also my unbridled excitement at revisiting the world of my protagonist, Ashley McKenna, as he struggles to find his moral compass.

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The Best Book Adaptation I've Seen Is...'Catching Fire'!?!

March 17th, 2014

The adaptation of The Hunger Games was okay. It wasn’t a bad film, but it wasn’t the kind that inspires article writing — even though I <cough> did write one. But I wrote that article because I pitched it before I’d seen the film. I was obligated. This one I pitched after seeing the film (repeatedly) and re-reading the book (twice).

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Drunk Dubliners and Other Irish Writers Worth Reading

March 17th, 2014

Two years ago, I went on a month-long tour of Ireland. During that trek, I reviewed the famous Irish writers, spending time with their work and the famous places associated with them. I was taken aback by just how many talented Irish writers there are, especially given that half as many people live in Ireland as live in New York City. Something about the Emerald Isle yields a disproportionately high number of talented writers.

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When It's Time to say "F*** It"

March 14th, 2014

There is going to come a time when you have to say: Fuck it.

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The Eternal Duel: A History of Commas

March 14th, 2014

Commas are a touchy subject, having divided writers of the English language into two distinct camps for many years. On one side of the battlefield are those in favor the Oxford or “serial” comma, which is endorsed by Oxford University Press and the Chicago Manual of Style. In the other corner of the ring are the Associated Press and New York Times, ever skeptical of any unnecessary punctuation.

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