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
I’ve gotten into the terrible habit of reading the reviews my books get. This is an awful idea for many reasons. First of all, while reviews on my books tend to be positive, they aren’t all. This means that if I read a bad one, my day is sent into a spiral of ever more… Continue reading Reading My Own Reviews Is Basically the Worst Idea Ever
Let’s kick off October with something scary–every author’s worst nightmare. It’s not that we’re afraid you won’t like what we like; disliking it is fine. What kills authors is if you don’t read our books at all. Think of a great recipe sampled only by one person, a sofa sat on by two or… Continue reading What Every Author Fears the Most
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
