Writers, put down those red pens, because I have bad news for you. We’ve all seen the lists of words to weed from your prose, phrases editors hate, little pet peeves that get on other writers’ nerves, and even those of a few readers. If you are a dutiful and Good™ writer, you went through… Continue reading Writing Is the Least Important Part of Your Book
I’m one of those authors who likes to write to music. Every book I write has a theme song, and beyond that, each character has their own special songs. More may be employed for writing certain scenes or locations, but those two things always exist above all. The overarching song for What Boys Are Made… Continue reading Music in Writing Part 1: What Boys Are Made Of
The name of this blog is “Under-Paid, Over-Enthused.” That started out as its tag-line, but really, that’s what this blog is an expression of. Me, bouncing off the walls with energy, talking about everything under the sun, for no other reason than to do it. Well over a year later, I’m still under-paid, but the… Continue reading The Writing I Haven’t Been Doing
Want to learn how to drive me up the wall? Insist that every time two characters make out, that the novel has a romance. Argh. Here in publishing, romance is a very specific genre that basically means the plot revolves around the characters being or falling in love with each other. There must be an… Continue reading Actually, People Can Screw Without Romance
Everyone who has been around violence in an intimate way will tell you this: not everyone can kill. And so in my book What Boys Are Made Of, I decided to ask what would happen if you took someone who couldn’t, and made their first kill both deliberate and a complete accident. Cue chapter one,… Continue reading If You Give a Boy a Gun: The Psychology of Violence, Up Close
Banned Books Week: the week trade publishers who have already made a butt-load off a certain book try to make a little more by pretending to be oppressed. Call me cynical. What is this week? It’s the week we talk about books that regularly get banned from schools, libraries, and even entire towns. Texts… Continue reading Why I Stopped Caring About Banned Books Week
Among those who write, you get some who love starting new manuscripts, adore it beyond anything—the freshness of the prose, the chance to put new words down, the excitement of creating characters. And then there’s the other kind, who hates it beyond anything. I’m in the latter group. It’s never that I’m not looking forward… Continue reading If You’re a Writer, You’re a Gambler
You haven’t heard much about my writing lately. I’ve been concentrating on release stuff—and that makes sense, I’ve had another release! Buzz, buzz, look at my new book, I’m so thrilled to show it to you! Actually, truth be told, by the time you actually have that book, any book, I’m a little sick… Continue reading Not as Done As I Thought
Every book has a back-story, a where-did-it-come-from. Some are obscure, others a crystal clear moment. Some, on the other hand, come from a feeling. An exploration of uncertainty. I promised I’d tell all of you the back-story for why I wrote All Roads Lead to Hell. I’m a little hesitant to, because it’s weirdly personal.… Continue reading That Time My High School Made National News For All the Wrong Reasons: The Backstory of All Roads Lead to Hell
“More showing, less telling” is the battle cry of the the beta reader. But what does it actually mean? First of all, let’s start by saying that showing and telling are both okay techniques when used properly. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either. What’s wrong is using them exclusively. A book entirely told is boring.… Continue reading Show vs. Tell: The Definitive Run-Down
Under-Paid, Over-Enthused 