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The Texture of Tense
I’ve been working with the present tense a lot lately. I went browsing to see what other authors said about the use of present tense, and I found a lot of writers who were “down” on present tense, saying it was limited in scope, or that it was too alienating for readers, or too self […]
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Visiting the Precipice
I just got back from a play in which a mother kills her child and then kills herself. I found the conclusion satisfying. It made sense for the character’s arc. But most of all I found the “perversion” of such acts deeply satisfying. I enjoy the “fucked up shit”. There is a reason I surgically […]
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It’s Just the Hours He’s Been Keepin’
It’s hard to pen criticism of a TV series which has had only one episode. Yet that is precisely what I will be doing with Prodigal Son. On the surface it seems like a novel idea: a TV series about the son of a serial killer, who is a gifted yet haunted profiler. The problems are […]
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Recipe for a Work of Art
I was going through my old journals and I found this. It was written in June of 2001, by a then seventeen year old me. I took the liberty of editing some of it simply because it was a bit bloated. A Recipe for a Work of Art Ingredients: First and last parts inspiration Enumerable […]
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In Want of a Husband?
I just finished watching Becoming Jane, and while I was glad to have done so, I found parts of the story hollow. In some parts they teased us with a Pride and Prejudice Darcy/Bennett like budding romance between Jane Austen (Anne Hatheway) and the dashing Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy). When the characters finally surrender to their affections, the […]
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Ssssh (Very Top Secret)
Four years ago, I started and then shelved a manuscript about a folk hero. The primary action of the story was set during the Regency, an era I adore. At the time it was too daunting for me to take on, which is why I put it away. But now I am a stronger, better […]
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Interview with A. K. Lee
Recently my friend A. K. Lee, who is a wonderful fantasy novelist, interviewed me. It was quite a thoughtful interview, and you can read it here: Write as You Are.
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A Slice of the Murdering Pie
I recently rediscovered a short story I had written a few years ago, featuring an absolutely wicked queer couple. It is the antithesis of what I usually write, which is quaint domestic character studies. And I thought the story was fantastic. A fun, murderous romp. I remember writing it and believing “no-one will ever publish […]
J. S. Kuiken
wordsmith
J. S. Kuiken 