Taking a Lesson from Moonlight
A few weeks ago, when I walked out of the theater after seeing Moonlight, I experienced a feeling akin to what I felt three days ago when I closed the cover of Zadie Smith’s Swing Time and sat back and…
Category: Genre
YA Wednesday: Embracing and Escaping Trump
Try as I might, I cannot stop thinking about the consequences of a Trump presidency. And clearly many of us are in the same boat, what with all the drum-beating, march-planning, and blooming activism in all corners of the country….
Writers’ Original Sin: Control
We all know that exhilarating feeling of banging out a first draft when the ideas are flowing, the characters are talking and pages are filling of our their own volition as we put our vision into words. There’s no better…
YA Wednesday: Thoughts, Feels, and Burning Questions from Gilmore Girls: A Year in The Life
I recently binge-watched Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life with my daughter. We’d watched Gilmore Girls together many times in the past and it was wonderful to get lost again in Stars Hollow. At one point the cat joined…
For the Not-so-Brave Girls
When I was a girl, my literary idols were Anne Shirley, Jo March, and Lyra Belacqua. They were imaginative. They flouted convention. They were lovably outspoken. They always stood up for what they believed in, even when their convictions were…
YA Wednesday: YA Villains That Will Rock Your World, A Villain-Themed YA Anthology, 10 Ways To Create Dangerously Nuanced Antagonists, Which YA Book Villain Are You?
I recently saw the new Marvel movie, Dr. Strange. I enjoyed its dazzling dreamlike special effects but also found it helpful to me as writer. I’ve been struggling with how to make the villain in my novel into a fully…