Category: fiction
-
A Defense of Pokémon Go
Three multi-millionaires. A father of four. A PhD in agricultural science. An Oscar winner. A crowd of twelve-year-olds outside a custard joint in St. Louis. A retiree. A CTO. A teen who hadn’t seen the sun in months. Professional artists — a filmmaker, a novelist, a painter, a stylist, a musician. All of these…
-
Succeeding for Others
Chapter twelve in a series on Book and Art Business 101 wherein I show how the solid logic of art business sold me on self-publishing. If you’re too busy for the whole series, download your copy of my Cheat Sheet for Book and Art Business 101. If you want to succeed as a writer, you must take the path that’s…
-
Where and How to Sell What You Write
Chapter four in a series on Book and Art Business 101 wherein I show how the solid logic of art business sold me on self-publishing. If you’re too busy for the whole series, download your copy of my Cheat Sheet for Book and Art Business 101. When I went to college, I found myself loaded down with logic and rhetoric…
-
The Gateway Drug: Poetry
Chapter two in a series on Book and Art Business 101 wherein I show how the solid logic of art business sold me on self-publishing. If you’re too busy for the whole series, download your copy of my Cheat Sheet for Book and Art Business 101. Let me tell you the way of things: I fell into this gig.…
-
Dead Guest Post :: The Fantastic Imagination
Today’s dead guest post is “The Fantastic Imagination.” In this piece, George MacDonald shows how the point of fantasy and science fiction is to change the physical laws of our world so that the spiritual — or moral or ethical — laws behind all worlds come to a sharper point. It’s one of my favorite pieces on…
-
Adapting Your Novel to Television is like Entrusting Your Daughter to Her First Date…
The process [of turning my novel into a TV series] that began with Sam Raimi, ended up in the hands of producers and writers that took things in a very different direction. The best way I can describe it (without the gory details); it’s something like letting your daughter go out on her first date.…
-
A Life of Learning :: Striving for the Striver’s Life
“When am I ever going to use this in real life?” Remember asking that in sophomore Algebra? Here’s the best-kept secret in education: this inevitable question pokes a hole not only in algebra but also in every other subject. Through that hole, a light leaks in from a land much deeper and higher: from a…
-
Can a Pastor Write Fiction?
Often in person or in emails I will get a pretty heartfelt question from some pastors. They want to know if it’s kosher for them to write mainstream fiction and still do pastoral ministry in the local church. “Can I be a pastor and still write fiction under my real name?” I received one of…
-
On the Perfection Practice Makes • Artistic Craftsmanship
Confession time: I have a problem. A dialog problem. If there’s anything I learned early on, it’s that the professional discovers his weaknesses as quickly as possible and moves to mend them. That’s why they tell you to never tell a poker pro if you discover their tell — they’ll correct it at the first opportunity.…
-
Contra Graham :: the War to Define YA Meaning and Maturity
Often in literary circles people will “punch down,” as critics of Charlie Hebdo have claimed. But sometimes it’s worse. Sometimes we kick the kids and even the young adult readership. As any family, the literary community is messy. We have a great many flaws to work through. But one issue that can wait no longer…
-
My Commentary on the Slice of Life Ballad
The following comes from the original email in which I delivered my manuscript to Ellie for the Slice of Life ballad. I knew that my work can be kind of dense at times, so I used the postscript of the document to write her an explanation. It explains the major thrust of the poem :: Hey sister, Though…
-
50 Reads for Writers
Often I get questions like: If you didn’t go to school for writing, how did you learn? How do I improve as an editor? Are there any good books out there for writers? What’s wrong with this story? …among others. A long while back I shared twenty-three books. I’ve since expanded that list to a nice, round fifty. If…