#WritersLife was the first thought I had when I woke. But I couldn't shake the deep depression taking control of me. I felt an immense sadness. It felt like I was so inadequate that I didn't matter to anyone. My life was so pointless and meaningless that no one would ever want to connect with [...]
Tag: Writers
When the Community has a Voice
Let's say you're in the office and you're telling a story about someone. First you talk about what the person did. Maybe it's something juicy, like a secret infidelity with a prison inmate, or maybe it's something subtle, like they moved away from home. Then you go on to tell about something more recent, like, "Just [...]
Seeing through Layers like Blankets on a Cold Night
My father was am immigrant from Mexico. My mother a full blood Kiowa/Cherokee from Oklahoma. They worked the peanut and cotton fields when my sisters and I were young. I remember ducking the large rolling water sprayers in the fields; I remember the heat coming from the dirt onto my bare feet; and I remember living [...]
Arachnid Vs Reptilian: The Thirst for Brutality in Controversial Topics
The fangs of a snake might seem to overpower the fangs of a spider, and on the surface it can appear as though the match is uneven. But we can't forget the impulsiveness of the snake and the patience of the spider. And we must remember a black widow sits nicely on the tongue of [...]
#1 Writing Rule: Be Teachable
We writers area equal parts ego and vulnerable. The cliché is to develop a "tough skin" over the years and be able to take criticism. But we all think we're geniuses, and we are. Brilliant beasts who are magical at hiding our softest parts behind a shield of "I already know" and "You just don't understand [...]
Biting the Hand that Feeds Us: Handling Controversial Topics in Fiction, Art, and Life
If you're going to write you might as well write something that'll potentially change the lives of your readers. Otherwise, shelve your words and save them for someone who needs affirmation. When I sit down to write I don't want to say things that will safely get me sales. In fact, I care about sales [...]
Proximity’s Unfortunate Consequence for Peripherals to the Writer’s Gaze
There you are enjoying the advantages of not being accountable and then a writer moves in next door. At first you think, "Oh, this will be interesting...to have an artist type in the community," and then you realize writers write. More importantly, writers stand up for the weak, abused, and disadvantaged. Suddenly, you start to [...]
Drama Triangle: Enhancing Victimhood with Vengeance and Sacrifice
I don't denounce structuralism. Every time I watch a Disney or Pixar movie with my daughters and tears start welling up in my eyes by simple structural tactics, like music and camera angles, I'm reminded there is a reason it works. But I'm a literary writer and we are defiant bastards and we like to [...]
Gossip: Weapon of the Weak
So what do you do when a character is powerless? The first thing I tend to do when I'm looking to solve problems in my storylines is to turn to my immediate surroundings. For some reason, and I'm not sure where I got this from (possibly through reflection in the early mornings as I sip [...]
Impetus for Creative Spawn
Like angels and devils breading hordes of bastard monstrosities, the impetus for the type of stories I like to write comes out of the comingling of two polar opposite ideologies. One is quite happy frolicking with idealism and innocence, while the other takes great pleasure in torturing countless victims. Together they make for unpleasant friends. The type to [...]
Price Vs. Cost: What We Pay to be Published, What We Lose to be Successful
The publication game is a beast with a big appetite. You've been there. You submit to this journal and then to that journal or a whole list of journals. Maybe you're like me and you create tiers of journals and cycle your short stories through rejection after rejection. What's the price we're paying? No, I [...]
Mojo in the Groove: The Ebb and Flow of Creative Writing
The most dangerous thing you're going to do is drive. Because of the frequency in which we drive and the comfort we get from believing we've mastered techniques to maintain proper focus, we get into that "conscious incompetence" space where we increase our likelihood of being in an accident. Similarly, I seem to find myself doing [...]
