Villain as Hero
Because of a huge backlash by consumers and politicians against horror and crime comics, the four-color publishers got together in 1953...
Kids' Stuff
"You have to write the book that wants to be written," stated Madeleine L'Engle. "And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups,...
Grab Hold of Your Tale
I'm a man of my word. Or words, actually, because I'm a writer. My preference is for putting English-language scribbles down on paper and...
The Past is What You Make of It
If you read the post What I Don't Know Could Fill a Book, you probably inferred that I'm partial to stories set in the past, and you...
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
The title question is something writers hear a lot. When I was a kid and let my friends and classmates read my stories, they'd often...
Saviors of a Lost Art
Until now, all of my blog posts have been done with zero research, only what was already in my head. That's one of the great things about...
Words' Worth
"A picture's worth a thousand words." A very famous saying, and quite true. It's one of the major reasons I love comic books: their...
Building a House of Words
When I taught English to middle schoolers, every unit (or quarter) involved several writing pieces, usually essays but also a couple of...
What I Don't Know Could Fill a Book
Wasn't there a mention in one of my earlier posts about my plan to write a story featuring Sherlock Holmes' alter ego Altamont? There was...
These Movies Deserve Justice
Yesterday, I saw the new Justice League movie, which I'm not going to review here. I mention it because it more or less inspired this...
