We live in an age of newness. Everything must constantly be new. We must supply our readers with new books, new blog posts, new articles, and new tweets, every moment of every day, or we become irrelevant. We must reinvent ourselves daily in order to hold attention. We must bring new subjects to new people…
Read MoreAll articles filed in Publishing
2013 — A Great Year to be a Reader
Wow! It’s seriously a thrill to see The Sowing included on a list like this. I can’t believe I’m seeing my name alongside names like Hugh Howey and Brandon Sanderson. Thanks to Will Swardstrom for including me, and for taking a chance on The Sowing. I can’t wait to check out his work in 2014.…
Read MoreBook Review: “The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making” By Catherynne Valente
Fairies, golems, wyverns, magical swords, talking furniture, flying cats, and evil sorceresses. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making has all of these and more, critical elements of a soon-to-be childhood favorite that, I hope, will stand among the classics of the genre. The Girl Who… seems to me best described by elements…
Read MoreOn The Block
No, I’m not talking about heads. Thank goodness. That would be gruesome. No, my subject today is worse, my friends, worse by half. I’m talking about good old fashioned writer’s block, that fearsome dragon whose ugly head rears at the best of times and the worst of times, forcing you to resort to trite cliches…
Read MoreNaNoWriMo: Seven Things To Avoid When Writing A Novel
In honor of NaNoWriMo, here are seven lessons I learned when writing The Sowing about what NOT to do when you’re writing the first draft of a novel. These are rules I’m trying (and sometimes failing) to keep in mind as I write The Reaping as well, so this post is partially to remind myself…
Read MoreA Five-Step Plan To Writing Great Characters
In my short career as an editor, I’ve found that one thing a lot of writers struggle with is building characters. I’ve always loved character development and found that one of the most beautiful things about reading is getting to know characters the way you know your friends. But as I started reading and editing…
Read MoreWhat’s The Deal With Genres?
Genres are incredibly important things. The best books, of course, will transcend genres – I think of my favorites Catch-22 or the Brothers Karamazov when I think of books that transcend genres and become simply ‘great books’. But when we as writers or publishers are in the process of writing and marketing our works, it’s…
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The Z-Axis 