Phraseology: Groups of Words with a Lot of Jobs

Column by Taylor Houston January 29, 2013 2 comments
In:

Phraseology: Groups of Words with a Lot of Jobs

image/jpeg iconwords-at-work.jpg

If you read my articles fairly often, you've probably heard me go on and on about sentences and clauses, but noticed I’ve dodged the topic of phrases…until now.

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

LURID: Slaughterhouse Blues - The Abattoir in Horror

Column by Karina Wilson January 29, 2013 3 comments
In:

LURID: Slaughterhouse Blues - The Abattoir in Horror

image/jpeg iconlurid-abattoir.jpg

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.

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

10 Questions with Erotica Writer Averil Dean

Interview by Rob Hart January 28, 2013 1 comment
In:

10 Questions with Erotica Writer Averil Dean

image/jpeg iconbetween-the-sheets-clean_copy.jpg

Averil Dean writes erotica. Now, a lot of writers may turn their nose up at that—after all, the genre isn't known for its wordplay. But there are shining stars in every genre, and damn, can Averil write. Next year her erotic psychological thriller, Tapestry of Scars, will be released by MIRA, with a second novel due out in January 2015. She's poised for big things. 

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

Book vs. Film: Kiss Me Judas vs. Fractured

Column by Joshua Chaplinsky January 25, 2013 7 comments
In:

Book vs. Film: Kiss Me Judas vs. Fractured

image/jpeg iconkiss-me-judas-vs-fractured.jpg

It all started with a comment from jacks_username. The topic of discussion was film adaptations:

I'd love to see the Phineas Poe books adapted into movies as well.

Fun fact: a film maker actually adapted Kiss Me Judas into a film without permission from the author or publisher. Rumor is that the film is still floating around.

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

Judge A Book By Its Cover

Column by Meredith Borders January 25, 2013 7 comments
In:

Judge A Book By Its Cover

image/jpeg iconjudge-book-by-cover.jpg

I'm not a huge fan of the aphorism "don't judge a book by its cover." Well, actually, I think in the case of Young Adult fiction you should follow that adage, because all YA covers are dirt and some of the books are quite good. But in general, I say go ahead and judge 'em. In this day and age as publishers spend more and more money on art design, the best books have the best covers, and the worst books have covers like this. 

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

5 Childhood Books Still on my Shelf

Column by Cath Murphy January 24, 2013 9 comments
In:

5 Childhood Books Still on my Shelf

image/jpeg iconsam_0561.jpg

When my family moved to Norway from Scotland, we took the opportunity to dejunk our lives. We hired a skip. We filled it. We hired another one and filled that too. We visited the charity shops with bags full of clothes and wedding presents we had never used. We went to the local rubbish dump with the things which wouldn’t fit in the second skip. We went to the charity shop with bags of toys, more clothes, our artificial Christmas tree (we were on first name terms by then). Anything we could sell – cars, furniture - we sold. Anything we could give away, we gave away.

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

9 Modern Tools Every Writer Should Use

Column by Rob Blair Young January 24, 2013 12 comments
In:

9 Modern Tools Every Writer Should Use

image/jpeg icon9-modern-tools.jpg

I have a friend who types only on typewriters. His study is full of them; he and his girlfriend, he told me, feel bad for these dying symbols of the writing craft. Any time they see one in a shop window they have to "adopt it." There's a romance to this notion, but my own approach takes the opposite route: As soon as a modern tool proves it can make me more effective, I sink my teeth into it.

Here are nine tools I've found to be especially useful to both my creative writing and my freelance career.

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

Library Love : The Sexy Librarian And Our Collective Imagination

Column by Stephanie Bonjack January 23, 2013 8 comments
In:

Library Love : The Sexy Librarian And Our Collective Imagination

image/jpeg iconsexy-librarian-vs-frump.jpg

There’s no use denying it: men and women alike are familiar with the image of the sexy librarian. If you’d like to conduct some research on the subject, I recommend you start with two arenas: fashion and porn. In my view, nowhere else can you get such a clearly defined image of the stereotype.

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.

Adventures in Self-Publishing Part 6: Fare Thee Well

Column by Rob Hart January 23, 2013 3 comments
In:

Adventures in Self-Publishing Part 6: Fare Thee Well

image/jpeg iconlitreactor-selfpub.jpg

There are a lot of things I wish I did better. One of those things is: Maintain a more rigorous writing schedule, something I've never been very good at (I have the attention span of oh my god I just saw something shiny).

One of the things that keeps me from writing is that I spend an awful lot of time writing about writing. And it's a gas. I love doing it. It ain't like I'm never going to do it again. But I think I need to cut back a bit.

To leave a comment Login with Facebook or create a free account.