Fiction – Vintage City Publishing

February 25, 2019February 25, 2019

On Jonathan Franzen’s Rules for Novelists

In November, Lithub republished a list of ten rules for novelists by Jonathan Franzen that had originally appeared in the Guardian in 2010. It apparently raised a stink on the Internet. Reading the list now, I see why it was divisive. Some of his rules are obvious. Some are preposterous or pretentious. Overall, it’s just not a helpful list.

All of this is in my humble opinion, of course (this is my blog after all). Franzen has accomplished far more in his writing career than I probably ever will, but I see reflections of some broader issues in the literary community here that I feel the need to comment on.

To be clear, this isn’t really about Franzen’s list. This is about the impetus of some of his ideas. And admittedly, it probably reveals more about my own philosophies than Franzen’s, so take it for what it’s worth

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019

My Thoughts on Nick’s Villains Never Die

The first thing you should know about Villains Never Die is it’s going to be familiar. The second thing you should know about Villains Never Die is it’s going to be completely foreign.

That might seem like an oxymoron, but it isn’t. If the superhero story is a classic Mustang, Nick DeWolf brought it into his shop, tore out all of the old junk that engineers have improved in the last half century, replaced it with new technology, gave it a real good wash and wax, and then sent it out to the showroom floor.

January 28, 2019January 29, 2019

Confidence in Writing

Last week, a young writer asked if I had any insecurities about my writing. My initial response was, yes, of course I have insecurities. I wouldn’t be a writer if I wasn’t on some level insecure about my writing (and in general about everything for always and forever).

However, after some retrospection, I realized I’m in a much better place than I was when I started.

October 24, 2018

The Path

Everyone works differently. I’m going to focus on writing, here. Not that it’s what I do best (that would be eating cookies while singing in the shower), but because it’s something I put a lot of thought and thinking time into. As a note, it would be better if I used that time for actual writing, but that’s hard and I’m tired and stop telling me what to do.

One thing most writers do is talk to other writers. We discuss the craft, the process, the joys and the pains. Well, just the pains. There are no joys. No, there are, but they’re not really joys. They’re just the absence of pain. Important thing to keep in mind.

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October 7, 2018October 8, 2018

Dark Fiction, Author Anxiety, and Personal Judgment

The lady and I recently watched Netflix’s The Staircase, a docu-series about the novelist Michael Peterson who was charged with murdering his wife in 2001. Similar to Making a Murderer, it’s another fascinating investigation of the American justice system. I highly recommend both of them.

A bit of a disclaimer, though: these are not mystery stories. They are not about whether the suspects did or did not murder the victim (I realize the marketing image I chose to plop down to the right of these words poses that very question, but it’s the most compelling way Netflix could find to sell you on it).

These docu-series put the American justice system on full display, exposing its flaws. They will make you question your faith in the fundamental tenet of American justice that a defendant should be considered innocent until proven guilty, and they will make you question our very humanity, especially given the context of the cruel times in which we live. If you watch them, they will anger and sadden you because the reality they portray is not one we confront often, or maybe because it’s one which we are increasingly forced to come to terms with.

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