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One of my favorite sub-genres, next to neo-noir and transgressive, is the grotesque. It’s actually quite similar. Let’s talk about what this style of writing is all about, and how it can help you to write better fiction and tap into your veiled weirdness.

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This month brought the premieres of Jack the Giant Slayer and Oz The Great and Powerful to our silver screens, and with them a reminder that we, as an audience, love twisted fairy tales.

We want to draw back the curtain and see our most classic yarns spun from a different perspective. We want to root for the villain, blame the hero, grow to know that quirky little tertiary character who only darted across the page the first time we met him.

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...does that mean you can’t enjoy his work? A lot of comic book fans are asking themselves this question since the controversial news broke that Card was tapped by DC to write a two-part story in its forthcoming Superman Anthology - The Adventures of Superman.

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A great character can propel a story into the minds, emotions, and memories of your readers; a lackluster character can make your prose read like the average Nic Cage film. To avoid that disastrous fate, it's important to develop a strong concept of who your character is.

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Josh Chaplinsky started it. On the Unprintable podcast, the accusations flew: Cath never likes anything experimental.

Well, clearly Josh knows nothing about what I used to do to my teddy bears when I was small. Or the lost University years. But I’m never one to take an insult to my adventurous side lying down.

Okay, Chaplinsky, I thought. Challenge accepted.