As I have mentioned here many times before, I’m teaching a Narrative Writing class this semester that is presently winding down. In addition to requiring students to write the first 50 pages of a novel as well as the outline, they will have an essay final. One of the questions on the final I have … More Can you believe it?
The following is the original short story that my new book “The Kiss of Night” is based on. If you like it, you can find the book here. A jolt of electricity slapped the dozing student between the shoulder blades, and he jerked in his seat. He shook himself, turned his head and looked … More “Extreme Measures”
Statistically speaking, I doubt there are more than a thousand or two successful full-time writers out there in the U.S. I heard a statistic once upon a time a long, long time ago that there were only a few hundred. But a lot of that depends on what one considers “successful,” I would guess. From … More Mind Games 7: The Writer’s Jekyll and Hyde
I’m the type of author that infuriates publishers. Hence I am publishing my own stuff these days. What I’m talking about it the whole concept of genre. I don’t know who invented the concept, but it didn’t take long for a lot of people to buy into the idea. The intent was to label stories … More Genre? What genre?
I am teaching a class called Drama Writing this fall, and once again it will be a first for me. I will be teaching both stage writing and screenwriting in that class. Today I had the opportunity to read through the introduction of my textbook for stage writing. The author tells of a rejection slip … More Compelling Evidence
Maybe the title is a little bit misleading. Maybe not. I am one of those people who love–absolutely love–the creative process of writing. I enjoy the ability to create characters and even worlds that did not exist before I created them. I love spending time with these characters during the writing process. And I am … More Bad Medicine
Launching this new venture called Prevail Publications and sailing out on the stormy seas of independent publishing has introduced Matt and I to a vehicle that is both fun and infuriating. They’re called book trailers. Book trailers are just like movie trailers; you know, the previews of upcoming movies you see if you rent a … More “So what’s your trailer carrying?”
I’ve always been a square peg in a round hole. When I was in elementary school and high school, I was one of the outsiders. (Of course, I have learned since then that pretty much everyone considers themselves an outsider when it comes to high school.) I had creative tendencies back then, but being a … More Underground Novelist
A year ago or so I read a book series entitled Coyote, which was a retelling of the Mayflower story in science fiction terms. Some political dissidents steal a space ship intended to start a colony on a distant planet and start their own colony. The story develops from there in many different, interesting ways. … More Novels that Are Short Stories
I’m an old dog, and it’s hard for me to learn new tricks. I tell my class I was privileged to start my career on a newspaper that still used linotypes. They stare at me as if I was using stone flints and talked about the invention of fire. I won’t go into all the … More This thingy called social networks
The Great Adventure 