Made-to-order creepy

I can’t help myself sometimes.  Even when I think I’m in the middle of writing a “normal” story, the weird has a way of creeping in.  Most of the time, however, I invite it. The challenge is to hit upon the right degree of creepy, the right disturbing element without going over the edge into [...]

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A Modern Maupassant-style Switcheroo

Truth wasn’t always stranger than fiction.  Or at any rate, fiction wasn’t always required to be more believable than truth.  O. Henry and Guy de Maupassant were once allowed to tell stories with coincidences and turn-abouts that defy modern readers’ credulity. Fiction has changed, but true life continues to deliver the goods. A German couple, [...]

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Who writes for the Insiders?

Arriving home from the library, I came to this realization: of the twelve books I’d picked out, ten of them were written around themes of Otherness.  Not surprisingly, nine of those ten were young adult books.  I don’t typically read that much YA, but I’ve come to the conclusion that my new writing project is [...]

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