Blog Posts

Making (Fake) Death Matter

There are several characters in pop culture who died and left us feeling…well, nothing. So how exactly do you make a character’s death matter?

Don't Say Dumb Stuff

I’m not sure if firing James Gunn was the right decision by Disney, but there is a lesson to be learned from this episode: Don’t say dumb stuff.

Murder in Print: The Pen as the Sword

There really is a perverse pleasure in killing a character you’ve created, but death in fiction needs to mean more than just death for death’s sake.

"Blessed Are the Dead"

Hushed murmurs were the order of the pre-ceremony conversation with farmers and teachers and salt-of-the-earth Americans from rural Kansas struggling for words of casual civility in the midst of such somber proceedings. Reverend Zachariah had called them all in that evening with the once-dormant church bells, and those who remained knew why they were coming together.

The Rule of "One Thing"

One of the most maligned rules of writing fiction is this idea that you can only have one thing – one single thing – that was changed about your fictitious world if you want to tell a good story.

When the Words are Missing

A writer who can’t write is, by definition, useless.