I try to keep this site strictly about writing-related matters, but today warrants a break from that mode. Today is Prematurity Awareness day.
When my wife first told me it was Prematurity Awareness day, I thought she was trying to drop a non-so-subtle hint. “But honey, it’s because you’re so attractive,” I was going to say. [...]
Note: I’m picking on poetry here because of all forms, it is the most elusive. But my following comments could be applied to art in general.
Maybe because I was looking for a reason to give up on what had already proven to be an unfortunate read, but this section of The Book of Lazarus frothed [...]
There still exists a romanticized version of The Bar, one whose sparse patrons restrain rich histories with liquor and silence. But by the aid of free rounds and a free ear, those histories spill. The romanticized bar is a smoky place of bonds melded by story.
It has been my experience that more often the romantic [...]
Recently, I mentioned my obsession with RSS to a writer friend, and he was surprised by its capabilities. Maybe I’m too much of a salesman when it comes to nerdy tech things, but nonetheless, I piqued his interest. That got me thinking: what writer tools do I use and unintentionally keep to myself?
Selfishly-kept secret #1: [...]
When Sideshow Fables creator Paul Eckert approached a group of writers (to which Paul and I belong) about creating a magazine of circus themed tales, I said a silent thank you on the behalf of all readers. He’s got it right, I think. Going about fanbase-building and marketing in the way that independent record companies [...]
Metafiction (see: “intertextual fiction”): self-referential fiction. A simple definition but one open to great possibilities. Think of the infinite mirror effect in that when two similar subjects are forced to reflect each other, self-commentary snowballs.
For me, the pull started with Jorge Louis Borges’s story, “The Garden of Forking Paths”:
“In all fictional works, each time a [...]
Everybody seems to want something to shake dust and mold from assumed stagnant foundations. Ask any independent literary webzine editor what she wants and the words “original” and “new” will inevitably nestle into the response. This original and new work may come by way of various splintered isms, for better or worse.
Literary isms sprout often, [...]
