Of all of the subjects that inspire incessant waves of hatred across the internet, few are so bizarre in the amount of disdain that they receive as fanfiction. Haters Gonna Hate Often laughed at and sneered upon by writers and readers alike, fanfiction (fiction written openly using character and story elements belonging to an already…
Don’t read suspicious emails, don’t try to win a free iPod from that banner ad, and beware of traumatizing fanfiction. These are the sorts of things you learn when you spend your formative years lurking in the darkest corners of the internet. I certainly did, and as such, I have watched the culture of fandoms…
Boost Your Word Bank Burning the midnight oil to memorize new words as many as you can in the dictionary? That’s not wise, pal. How about installing a new habit that requires little effort, instead? Pay a visit to wordsmith.org and get a free subscription of A.Word.A.Day. Memorizing a word a day is a piece of…
There are often many moments while reading when you wonder “How did the writer come up with this?” or “How can they handle killing off this character?” (ahem, Mr. Martin). Learning to Love the Villain Have you ever been so terrified of an antagonist that you’ve thought “How did you dream up such an evil…
When the inspiration hits, it hits like a bolt of lighting. Bam! Characters, locations, plot devices, and love interests all come at you faster than a melting snow cone in Mount Doom. It’s a hard life, being a creative, but we deal. What’s really difficult is finding the time to actually sit and bang out…