Stupid Writing Advice – Write What You Know July 21, 2018

Too true!

Jason's Blog

The gem of a piece of writing advice has been floating around since stylus was first put to clay tablet: write what you know.

So, if you’re a psychologist, write about psychology. If you’re a filmmaker, write about filmmaking. If you’re a teacher, write about teaching.

The problem with writing what you know is the ease with which you can get caught up in writing about the minutia of your subject matter. I wrote a three-hundred-plus page novel about a teacher that was so detailed on the subject of teaching that it bored the pants off of anyone who made the mistake of agreeing to beta read it. It was terrible. I had to abandon the manuscript. Out of all those pages, I managed to salvage one chapter and publish it as a short story. Not a great showing for a year’s work.

Here’s the link to that story, if…

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Top 100 Movie Review: #30 – Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) July 20, 2018

Humphrey Bogart is quite possibly my favorite actor of all time, and this is a favorite among his work for me.

The Top 100 Reviews

The Case Study of Greed

Humphrey Bogart’s character epitomizes what can befall us all: the complete perversion of our sensibilities by unchecked avarice. 

Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), and Howard (Walter Huston).

American Film Institute Ranking: #30/100
Academy Awards: Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Jim Huston and Walter Huston — a father-son combo.
My Rating: 

It was obvious early on what this movie was going to be about: Greed = Bad.

By showing the cards early, I didn’t know if I would be interested, especially if the moral teaching was going to be heavy-handed. My concerns were ungrounded and the movie addressed them with a counterintuitive solution. Instead of using fast-pace or subtlety, Jim Houston takes the approach of a staggered walk, slowly allowing Fred C. Dobbs (played by Humphrey Bogart) descend into is madness over the course of a couple hours.

What this…

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8 Great Superhero Anthologies

The Good Fight series is a good one. I love Ian’s stories, too.

Kristen Brand

I love a good anthology. Getting a dozen stories in one collection, discovering new authors, diving into new worlds—what’s not to like? Fans of superhero fiction are particularly lucky, because there are a lot of good superhero anthologies out there. In honor of the release of Heroes and Villains, the new boxed set that contains Hero Status along with nine other novels, I want to spotlight four of my favorite anthologies and four on my to-read list.

Wild Cards

Back in print after a decade, expanded with new original material, this is the first volume of George R. R. Martin’s Wild cards shared-world series.

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WOLF NOTES: An Uncommon Interview – Samantha Bryant July 16, 2018

I’m so pleased to have been invited to interview with A.L. Kaplan!

alkaplan

 Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.

Samantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her secret superpower is finding lost things. When she’s not writing or teaching, Samantha enjoys time with her family, watching old movies, baking, reading, and going places. Her favorite gift is tickets (to just about anything). 

Wolf: Middle school is a tough age to teach. Thank you for your patience. If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?

Samantha: I’d like to be a large dog, especially if I could be a pet dog…

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Playing God: Tools for Crafting Characters June 24, 2018

Some excellent advice on building compelling characters.

Richie Billing

It’s not an easy skill to come up with interesting and compelling characters. My research article exploring reasons why people stop reading a book revealed weak characterisation to be one of the biggest culprits. This article will first consider what makes a character interesting before going on to explore some tools to help you craft your own.

What makes a character interesting?

Many ingredients go into the broth of making character. Here are just a few:

• A character who experiences conflicted morals, such as those forced to choose between right or wrong, or the lesser of two evils.
• A character that can do something that no one else can. Only Frodo, with his untainted soul, can take the ring to Mordor. Only Daenerys Targaryen can withstand raging flames.
• A character that is out of their depth makes for an interesting read. So, for example, Prince Yarvi in Joe Abercrombie’s

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Sorting Out Your Social Media Use During Your Writing Career: Reflections and Tips November 21, 2017

Some excellent advice in here, and some straight talk about how it works.

The Practice of Creativity

Recently the amazing publicist who works for my publisher, Book Smugglers, asked me to consider using a new social media platform—Instagram. She was putting together a cool campaign on Instagram to promote myself and the other authors with novellas by BSP. Instagram is a social media platform where you can share photos and videos. You can create geotags and hashtags. Instagram is visually driven. The Pew Research Center’s study, conducted a few years ago, notes that it tends to draw in a millennial audience.

And, I should note that the publicist wasn’t adamant that I start using Instagram—she was willing to post my content that I sent her. I’m pretty open to using social media, but I was reticent to add yet one more item on my already densely packed list of social media activities. Still, when your publicist asks you to consider something that they feel will be…

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October Discounts and Events October 3, 2017

Hey that’s me! Looking forward to our spooky stories night.

Friends' Matters

As an incentive for our members, we are pleased to announce two discounts at local merchants for Friends members only in October.

On Thursday evenings–October 5, 12, and 26–Antonia’s in downtown Hillsborough will offer a 10 percent discount to all diners who present a Friends membership card. And throughout the month, the Hillsborough Wine Company will offer a 15 percent discount on all items except sale items to customers with a Friends membership card. If you have joined or renewed your membership for 2017 but have not received your membership card, contact Susan Vreeland (susanvreeland@gmail.com). Please come out and support these great local businesses all month long.

Also on Friday, October 27, the Friends will host Real-Life Ghost Stories. This special event will be held on the front lawn of the Burwell School Historic Site, 319 N Churton St, Hillsborough, from 7-8 p.m. Local authors, including John Claude Bemis…

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