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Why the F*ck Do People Love Jane Austen So Much? A Primer
May 20th, 2013
Confession: I am a contrarian. My nature causes me to avoid any and all things deemed good by popular opinion. While I do trust the tastes of a few people, I generally approach all things loved by a large group of people with skepticism.
Read Column →The Blagger's Guide to F Scott Fitzgerald
May 17th, 2013
To blag (v): to sound like you know what you’re talking about when you don’t The Blagger’s Guide to Literature (n): an invaluable resource for those who wish to blag about books without actually reading them. Do I get a blag-point for already knowing Fitzgerald was a lush and had a mad wife called Zelda? No. Everyone knows that about Fitzgerald. Null blag-points.
Read Column →The 10 Best Star Trek Villains Ever (Besides Khan)
May 16th, 2013
As the release of the latest Star Trek sequel draws near, discussion and debate of the classic franchise’s pantheon of villains has reached an all-time high. This sudden enthusiasm for antagonists has no doubt been fuelled by the storm of speculation surrounding the identity of the vaguely teased but explicitly menacing villain portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. Is he John Harrison? Possibly Gary Mitchell? The legendary fan fave Khan?
Read Column →Three Books About... Machines
May 15th, 2013
Inspire your own writing by seeing how three authors take the same material and come up with three entirely different results. "Crash" by JG Ballard It didn’t start well. The reader’s report was short and to the point: ‘This author is beyond psychiatric help.’
Read Column →Do or Dialect: 6 Tips for Building a Believable Voice
May 15th, 2013
The image above is based on a promotional poster I saw while in Edinburgh. It was for an event titled Scotland at the Cinema, and each poster featured a different movie quote translated into the Scottish dialect, as with the Star Wars reference above or with "Frankly hen, I dinnae gie a damn." For me, these "translations" were a reminder of how important a person's dialect is to who they are. A Walt Whitman quote comes to mind:
Read Column →Storyville: Ten Ways to Evaluate Fiction Markets
May 14th, 2013
So you’ve finally got a few short stories finished and you’re dying to send them out into the world. How do you know if a market is “good”? Here are ten tips for evaluating fiction markets—the very traits I look for when trying to decide whether or not I should send a website, journal, magazine, or anthology my writing.
Read Column →5 Dramatists as Novelists: The Joy of Reading Plays
May 14th, 2013
Image by Michael Beckwith via Wikipedia Commons Ever been to a really bad play? More specifically, have you seen a production of a play that, while clearly well-written, comes off either bland or way over-the-top in performance? This happens all the time, from high-school or university productions with little or no budget to Broadway spectacles of wealth. And for some of the greatest dramatic writers in history, this happens to their work more often than not.
Read Column →Recap: Game of Thrones 3.07 - The Bear and the Maiden Fair
May 13th, 2013
This is going to contain spoilers for this episode, and also for the books. Deal with it. The Bear and the Maiden Fair was a very sexy episode of Game of Thrones. At least until Theon got castrated. Unless you're into that. Which, if you are, let's not be friends.
Read Column →Ask The Agent: 20 Insights Into a Successful Agent/Client Relationship
May 13th, 2013
Navigating the rough terrain of today’s publishing industry shouldn’t be a solo event. This week in Ask the Agent, I’ll explore and dissect one of the industry’s mysteries, straight from the shoulder. Question from David When you think of your best clients, what qualities do they all have in common? I love this question… so I ran with it.
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