Judgmental

I grew up in the U.S. deep south as a preacher's kid,  and one of the things I realized as an adult is this: the definition of a "r...

Criticism of the Constructive Kind

When I was 16, I attended a New Orleans writing class where two of the three teachers criticized me for not speaking up more in critique cir...

The Cost of Typos

When a self-published book has a typo on the very first page, that's two strikes. When it has errors regularly on the next few pages, t...

On Writing Sex as a Christian

When I was sixteen, I stopped reading a story for a writing class because of the word "hardon." I got in trouble for it later w...

W. T. Meadows on Developing a Readership

Author W. T. Meadows, a dear friend from college, was kind enough to answer my questions about how he developed a readership for his work. T...

Triggered Readers

This story is abusive. This story is transphobic. This story is racist. These are all accusations I've seen leveled at writers....

Great Stories

A great story doesn't have to be widely beloved. What makes it great is that it resonates profoundly with certain individuals, not ...

Character Conflict: The Subjectivity of Goodness

A pet peeve of mine is when all of the nice characters approve of each other, when they all have a similar set of values and understandin...

Toy Bingo

Real Life Spotlight: "Rapture" by Fauster Kent

Real Life Spotlight is where I recommend works by friends and family in my real life. These are not guaranteed to be works in the same genr...

Don't Assume

I do not accept, and will never accept, that writers or readers of a problematic, troubling, or controversial work are automatically terr...