Surviving the writer’s apocalypse. What do I mean when I say that? Mostly, it’s supposed to be a clever line that correlates to the fact that I write dystopian, horror, and fantasy fiction. It’s also supposed to correlate to the fact that not everyone that aspires to be a writer actually can be successful as a... Continue Reading →
Blog
Being Thankful (revised)
You might be wondering what I meant in the title when I said revised in parenthesis. I started writing this rant with the purpose of discussing what I’m thankful for due to it being so close to Thanksgiving. By the way, I call all of my weekly columns "rants." If you regularly read them over... Continue Reading →
Looking for lost magic
Pumpkin Spice Lattes, pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, the onset of chillier weather, and scary movies. Those are just a few reasons why October is my favorite month. When I was growing up, before my parents divorced, we would all help decorate our big two-story house for Halloween. We went all out. Cobwebs were strung like tinsel... Continue Reading →
The waiting game…
I hate waiting. I know, I know. You’re probably saying, “but Jim, you should never hate something because hate’s a strong word.” And you’re completely correct. Hate is a strong, harsh, and deplorable word that should only be used in the most extreme of circumstances. For example, I finished a James Patterson novel the other... Continue Reading →
My top influences
I’m not sure if I’ve covered this topic and if I have then I apologize. I was filling out questions for an interview for another website and one of the questions asked about what book and/or author had influenced me the most. Surprisingly, it’s not really a question that I get asked. Yet, it’s one... Continue Reading →
Healthy Writing 101
When I was a kid, I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. Of course, it would change constantly. First I wanted to be an archeologist because I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Then I wanted to be a paleontologist because I watched Jurassic Park (1993). It should only... Continue Reading →
Review of “Twilight of the Living Dead”
Peanut butter and jelly, cookies and milk, ice cream and chocolate syrup. Combinations as classic as those are things of legend. Think of some more, come on, I’ll wait. Did you? Great, but there’s probably one combination you may have overlooked. Nazis and zombies. Unless you’re a fan of horror and/or zompoc fiction. The Third... Continue Reading →
Can your bad guys be… “good?”
Good and evil, night and day, black and white, chess and checkers, Stephen King and James Patterson, and chutes and ladders. Everything in life has an opposite. Since authors write stories that model real life, even stories have that opposition inside of them. One such example is the good guy/bad guy relationship. I guess technically... Continue Reading →
Step Three: Add just a pinch of detail and description
Now that I’ve covered the meat and potatoes of a “good story” let’s talk about what kind of seasoning you should add to your meal. When you eat your dinner, have you ever tried it and thought that it lacked a certain seasoning or condiment? Have you ever cooked something and watched people ruin it... Continue Reading →
Step Two: Bring your conflict to a rolling boil
For some unknown reason, this series about how to write a “good story” has sort of developed into a writing as a recipe type of thing. That wasn’t really how I was intending to do, but sometimes as a writer you just have to roll with it and see what it turns into. So without... Continue Reading →
