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The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end; this is what you need to think about when writing a short story or novel. Whether you plot out your stories in excruciating detail or start with an idea and just run with it, the way you end your story will help people determine whether it's a good one or a bad one. Endings need to be fulfilling, they need to resonate—they need to stay with the reader long after the story is over. But how do you do that? That’s what we’re talking about this week, endings that matter—twisted and otherwise.

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One area of reoccurring obsession for writers — and the source of a lot of accompanying anxiety— is the issue of voice. A quick Google search shows it’s one of the most discussed craft-related topics on the Web, with a deluge of self-help articles and online workshops promising  (“in ten easy steps!”) to help writers develop their own unique style and tone.

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Don't Write Comics is a multi-part essay about writing comics, understanding what your options are, finding the right artist, and everything you need to do to get a strong comic book pitch package together.

So, you've made it this far. Good for you! Or something!

Now comes the hard part. Because now you have to find someone way more talented than yourself to invest emotionally, mentally, and physically in your project.

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The path to excess leads to the path to wisdom.

-William Blake

Bull fucking shit it does

-Me, at age 38 upon reading William Blake's famous quote

So who wants to commit some literary blasphemy with me?

Well of course you do!

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At the very beginning of the recently released Total Recall, a graphic recognizes the company behind the movie, producer Neal H. Moritz's Original Films. The unintentional irony of the word "original" being attached to a remake caused the audience at my screening to chuckle knowingly. What the people in that theater may have missed in their gentle mockery was another card, deep in the credits, that acknowledged another layer of inspiration: Science Fiction legend Philip K.