Here’s actor Jeremy Renner on a recent episode of the Smartless podcast. “I don’t really believe in hobbies. Either you do something or you don’t, right? I don’t have time to just dip my toe in the water. I’m not taking a ******* bath here in life.” Where do you categorize your writing? If you’re…
One of my college English professors told the story of a British Shakespeare expert who carried a copy of The Riverside Shakespeare onto a plane. The plane was hijacked by a terrorist with a gun. The terrorist shot at the professor, who shielded his chest with the 1,923-page volume of Shakespeare. The bullet lodged in…
In my MFA program, I learned about hybrid forms as a common technique in experimental literary fiction and poetry, but lately I’ve noticed it more often in the genre fiction I read. In his most recent novel, Horror Movie, Paul Tremblay interweaves scenes from a fictional screenplay with traditional prose. Brian McAuley uses the same…
My fellow customer arches his bushy eyebrows, the left one forming a tent top.
The adage “write what you know” has been a cornerstone of writing advice for decades. It encourages writers to draw from their own experiences, lending authenticity and depth to their work. But this approach can also be limiting. Confining yourself to only what you know can stifle your creativity and lead to repetitive themes and…