The phrase “lying through your teeth” takes on a whole new meaning in Sara E. Johnson’s The Hungry Bones. Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy to review.
Tag Archives: fiction
Showing vs. Telling (or, When to Creatively Beat around the Bush)
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but how many words does it actually take to paint said picture? Showing rather than telling can make a few go quite a long way.
Man or Monster: Unmasking Villains
The fairy-tale villain is dead. Long live the character with many different faces lurking behind their most sinister mask.
Writing Contests (and Why They Make Us Want to Hurl)
Writing contests are great avenues for exposure and constructive criticism. So why does the prospect of entering them make us feel physically ill?
Writing and Implementing Character Backstories
Everyone has history, even if nobody reads about it. Character backstories are the writer’s inspiration, cheat sheets, psychological evaluations, and vindication, all rolled into one.
Writing Action Sequences
Actions speak louder than words―until they don’t. Contrary to their more obvious nature, writing action sequences is a delicate art.
When She Was Me by Marlee Bush: a Book Review
In Marlee Bush’s When She Was Me, twin sisters must unravel the tangled web of their identities and piece together the past, one step at a time.
Finding Your Groove: Music and the Creative Writing Process
The sound of silence doesn’t inspire everyone; sometimes writers have to learn to march to the beat of their own (or someone else’s very talented) drum.
Setting the Scene
World-building is an ongoing, tedious, compulsory process that enables a writer’s control freak habits while we set scenes that readers can really dive into.
How to Appreciate the First (Sucky) Draft
Lesson the first for every writer everywhere: the first draft almost always sucks. But that’s okay. In fact, sometimes that works to your advantage.
K. Watkins 