If you want to write a novel that captures your readers’ attention—and your future literary agent’s interest—then you need to write a first chapter that purposefully sets up expectations for the story’s big picture and contains an interesting story event on the scene level. Of course, a strong first chapter is only one step in… Read more »
Do I have a recommendation for you today, folks! If you’ve been looking for a violent, vulgar, and oh-so-satisfying story of a group of badass broads and revenge against the men who wronged them, do I have the book for you! Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn, written by Ryan Heshka and released in 2018, was… Read more »
Part 2 of my journey through Jane Austen mysteries includes a possible explanation of Austen’s death, Charlotte Collins and Mary Bennet as detectives, a Mansfield Park mystery, a chick-lit cozy mystery, and a series where Darcy and Elizabeth investigate together. I discovered that I prefer the pastiche involving Austen’s characters or Austen herself rather than… Read more »
Today I begin a series about a subgenre (possibly a sub-sub-genre) of mystery I find delightful. I’m talking about mysteries concerning the life, cultural impact, and characters of Jane Austen, one of the most respected and best-loved writers ever. On this list, you will find sequels, alternate universe retellings, modern retellings, crossovers containing all the… Read more »
Happy Autumn, word nerds! Fall has officially arrived and in just a few days, we will be entering perhaps the most magical month of the year: October. Can you feel the sparkle in the air? My cat and I certainly can (see bio). While not everyone celebrates Halloween, October is a particularly special month for… Read more »
Notes of a Desolate Man by Chu T’ien-wen was translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin. In my search for gay Asian literature, specifically, I discovered several compelling texts, translated to English from writers of Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other nationalities. Notes of a Desolate Man is Taiwanese, which I thought an appropriate place… Read more »
Something about the back-to-school season gets me thinking about big projects for myself. And, like many word nerds, the way I prep for a big project is to read about it. I’ve found it useful to create a syllabus, a list of required reading, for my writing project to keep me on track and to… Read more »
Well, it took me a couple of years, but I found more author sleuths for you! This time, however, I mixed in some sleuths who, while famous, aren’t authors or at least aren’t famous because of any books they wrote. It turns out I used up most of the author sleuths in my first installment,… Read more »
Welcome back, poets! In my last post, I talked about confessional poetry—a brief history, defining characteristics, and a couple exercises to get you started writing some confessional poetry of your own. Today, I’d like to talk about poetry of witness, a mode that I’d argue is a close cousin of the confessional (with some key… Read more »
Today I present to you an interesting challenge: what if you only kept thirty books? I recently moved and it was exhausting. I had plenty of time before the move took place to go through things and get rid of stuff I didn’t want to bring. And I certainly availed myself of this opportunity. But… Read more »
