Writing the Uncanny
How do we write a truly scary story? What unsettled us in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House? What tension building secrets did Stephen King employ when drafting the locker room shower scene in Carrie? It wasn’t…
Category: Fiction
An Interview with Juliette Fay, author of The Tumbling Turner Sisters
Juliette Fay’s fourth book, The Tumbling Turner Sisters, is the story of four girls who try their hand as an acrobatic act in 1919 vaudeville, in an effort to save their poverty stricken family (Gallery Books 2016). Ultimately it is a…
So, Tell Me About This Novel You’re Writing!
I’m at a dinner party. My partner gestures to me and says to the man we’re making small talk with: “Rose is a writer. In fact, she’s writing a novel!” “Well, isn’t that something!” he begins. I take a sip…
YA Wednesday: Why We Shouldn’t Joke About Suicide, Suicide & Depression in YA, Teens Spreading a Suicide Prevention Message, The Original Ending to Thirteen Reasons Why
Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death in people ages 12-18, and many people have been touched by this heart-breaking issue. There are a lot of resources available to teens struggling with suicidal feelings. There is also some debate about…
Killing my Patronus
If I had a patronus it would definitely be a bear. I know this because a bear I conjured up in mind—and wrote into my novel—crawled off the page and intervened in my real life. But yesterday, that bear died….
Friday Feast: The Luke Cage Syllabus, Money Talk in MFA Programs, How to Become a Novelist in Ten Easy Steps, Boomers Take to Bookselling, and the National Book Award Finalists
I haven’t had a chance to binge-watch Luke Cage yet. I’m still binge-watching Smash to take my mind off revising my latest shitty first draft while waiting for my I-hope-it’s-not-shitty-please-let-it-be-final draft from my editor. Life motto: hope for the best, expect the worst….