Young Adult Fiction Round-Up
With so much change for the better happening out there in the world – the #MeToo movement, the March for our Lives gun control rallies, the rise in LGBTQ+ books and authors of color in YA literature, to name a…
Category: Genre
Making Magic: 6 Steps for Creating A Magical System
Conjure, enchant, shape-shift, or summon—endless possibilities exist in the world of magic. Cast a spell, fight a dragon, wave a magic wand, but don’t forget the ruby slipper, the mermaid, and the unicorn. And then there’s time travel and scrying…
Homegrown Books: Reading from my Local Literature Shed
My high school best friend, Jen, and I were discussing books recently. She started telling me, with great enthusiasm, about a novel she had just read that she thought I would like. But she stopped mid-sentence and said, “Oh, never…
It’s Okay to Not Write Sometimes, or How I Spent the Last Two Weeks
It is a fact that this author, upon completing a book, faced with the challenge of writing another book in short order, will stare into the abyss and say, “Not today, Satan.” There are always these moments of resistance, of…
Common Health Conditions for Writers
Writers are alarmingly susceptible to certain overlooked and under-reported maladies. But early detection is key, and as a fellow author concerned about the well-being of his community, I implore you to take two minutes out of your day to review…
It’s Not the End of the World: Rethinking How We Tell Stories About Climate Change
Apocalyptic stories of rising sea levels and choking dust storms come to mind when most people think about climate fiction, the emerging genre often referred to as cli-fi. Dystopian anarchy where nations battle over water resources appear in books and…