6 Ways to Fall in Love with Writing

Column by Rob Blair Young February 15, 2013 5 comments
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6 Ways to Fall in Love with Writing

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It's February, and love is in the air—visible if you squint through the thick fog of resentment. Sadly, the same combination you'll see throughout the month (naïve infatuation, forced affection, and bitter isolation) are common in writing. You started writing because you loved it! So how can you fall in love with writing again? Here are six strategies.

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Sequel Status: ‘This Book Is Full Of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don’t Touch It’

Column by Meredith Borders February 15, 2013 3 comments
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Sequel Status: ‘This Book Is Full Of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don’t Touch It’

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You know how sometimes when you're drifting off to sleep you feel that jolt, like you were falling and caught yourself at the last second? It's nothing to be concerned about - it's usually just the parasite adjusting its grip.

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Five Unconventional Fantasy Relationships

Column by Rajan Khanna February 14, 2013 14 comments
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Five Unconventional Fantasy Relationships

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It's Valentine's Day, the day of romance, relationships and the randy. I could do a nice conventional list about the great relationships in fantasy, epic lovers like Beren and Luthien of The Silmarillion, tragic romances like Buffy and Angel, or steamy human/god matchups like Yeine and Nahadoth from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. But fantasy is about the unusual, the unexpected, the extraordinary. In keeping with that idea, here are five great unconventional relationships in fantasy:

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LURID: Dead Sexy Valentine - Necrophilia In Fiction

Column by Karina Wilson February 14, 2013 3 comments
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LURID: Dead Sexy Valentine - Necrophilia In Fiction

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LURID: vivid in shocking detail; sensational, horrible in savagery or violence, or, a guide to the merits of the kind of Bad Books you never want your co-workers to know you're reading.

Necrophilia. From the Greek, of course: ‘Necros’, meaning ‘dead’, and ‘philia’ – the verb ‘to fill’.

—The Doug Anthony Allstars, Dead & Alive

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Neglected Authors: Seth Morgan

Column by Craig Clevenger February 13, 2013 3 comments
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Neglected Authors: Seth Morgan

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“A book is a protean thing, mercurial, capricious. Its pure and piercing grace notes are struck only in the quickening of its own creation.”
–Seth Morgan

“This book is pure filth”
–Anonymous, written in the copy of Homeboy at the San Francisco Public Library

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Paperless Writer: Five Steps To A Successful Digital Rewrite

Column by Christopher Shultz February 13, 2013 4 comments
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Paperless Writer: Five Steps To A Successful Digital Rewrite

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With the advent of laptop computers, I think it's safe to say most writers have moved away from the traditional typewriter. I'm sure there's a band of rebels out there who still prefer the feel and smell of inked typesets, the smart little ding the machine makes at the end of margins, the clicking and clacking of the keys. LitReactor's own Kimberly Turner even pitted typewriters against computers in a recent column.

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Storyville: Breaking Hearts

Column by Richard Thomas February 12, 2013 3 comments
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Storyville: Breaking Hearts

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Chuck Palahniuk once said about fiction, “Teach me something, make me laugh, and then break my heart.” It’s good advice. While I don’t always make my readers laugh, you could probably insert “scare me to death” and get a similar result. How do you get your audience to have a visceral reaction to your stories, how do you get them to feel the power of the thoughts, emotions and histories of your characters on the page? It’s not easy, but here are a few tips, some ways to engage your readers.

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Unprintable: The LitReactor Podcast Episode 7 - Stories We Never Need To See Again (Guest: Joshua Mohr)

Podcast by Joshua Chaplinsky February 12, 2013
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Unprintable: The LitReactor Podcast Episode 7 - Stories We Never Need To See Again (Guest: Joshua Mohr)

Every month, Unprintable will take an irreverent look at books, the publishing industry, reading, writing, and more; featuring the know-it-all geekery of LitReactor columnist Cath Murphy, Education Director Rob W. Hart, and Managing Editor Joshua Chaplinsky.

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10 Questions with Fight Song Author Joshua Mohr

Interview by Joshua Chaplinsky February 12, 2013 2 comments
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10 Questions with Fight Song Author Joshua Mohr

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I don't think it's any secret that we love Joshua Mohr 'round these parts. He's written some excellent books—such as Some Things That Meant The World To Me, Termite Parade and Damascus—and he also helps others write excellent books, teaching in the MFA program at the University of San Francisco and here, at LitReactor. So of course we are excited about the release of his latest novel, a satirical take on the midlife crisis called Fight Song.

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