On Beowulf, Brian Wilson and Improving One’s Writing Skills

By A. Yamina Collins  |  May 9, 2013
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In my weird mind I suddenly want to be female literary version of the very musically gifted Brian Wilson, minus the lost years. Wilson amazes me, astounds me, but he obviously knew what he was doing, too. His musical tool box, in other words, was pretty full.

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Can You Learn Creative Writing Or Is It Only for the Naturally Gifted?

By A. Yamina Collins  |  April 4, 2013
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By Pam Johnson

Clearly, creative writing is not a field that is resigned only to those who are natural gift. Like many skills in life, people can absolutely learn how to participate in this discipline.

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Rabble Reads: For Only $ 1 You Can Change the Publishing Industry! #rabblereads

By Terri Giuliano Long  |  March 22, 2013
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“Books used to die by being ignored, but now they can be killed — and perhaps unjustly killed,” said Trevor Pinch, a Cornell sociologist who has studied Amazon reviews. “In theory, a very good book could be killed by a group of people for malicious reasons.”

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My (Ungorgeous/Non-Pretty Boy) Male Romantic Lead! What Do You Think?

By A. Yamina Collins  |  March 15, 2013
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In so many books I look through lately, the romantic lead is always super drop-dead handsome. I was about to follow suit in my book, until I realized two things. First, one my favorite literary characters of all time, Mr. Rochester, is actually described as ugly in Jane Eyre (and look how women swoon over him), and secondly, calling a man handsome from the get go can be a lazy way to catch a reader’s hearts.

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Music I Enjoy While I Write

By A. Yamina Collins  |  February 19, 2013
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Okay, while I am hard at work on my novel Glitch (due out sometime this year) I must admit I have been listening to a lot of great music, and one such song is “A Thousand Years” from Twilight

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Do I Have To Chose A Genre?

By Isaac Marion  |  February 7, 2013
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“Genre fiction is a strange place to live as a writer. Genres in general are unfortunate inventions that limit creativity and put ceilings on innovation for the sake of easy organization.”

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