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
No, I am not writing about myself. This is, as are most of my blogs, about writing books. Spring break is over <heavy sigh> and my Narrative Writing class has turned the corner from writing short stories to writing the first 50 pages of a novel. Some are falling into a panic, while others are … More The Complete Package
