When your novel features a ninja assassin as its protagonist, you have to think long and hard about what makes a villain. Ultimately, villainy is usually a matter of perspective. Real villains aren’t the mustache-twirling cardboard cutouts of Saturday-morning cartoon fame. Snidely Whiplash is funny, but not really frightening. Horror villains, like Nightmare on Elm Street’s infamous Freddy Krueger, are scary for a moment but not in a way that…
Erin Blakemore learned to drool over Darcy and cry over Little Women in suburban San Diego, California. These days, her inner heroine loves roller derby, running her own business, and hiking in her adopted hometown of Boulder, Colorado. A testament to inspirational women throughout literature, The Heroine’s Bookshelf explores what classic heroines and their equally admirable authors have to teach today’s women how to best tap into their inner strengths…
When I give publishing advice, I often include at least one bulletpoint that emphasizes the importance of collaboration. This is due to a job I had about seven years ago that taught me more about collaboration than anything before or since. I was an assistant at a production company that developed programming for children. I was hired to assist the general manager of the office, but in a six-person company,…
I thought we’d end this week on a sappy note. Hey, why not: it’s the holidays! If ever there is a time of year for a little schmaltz and heart-warming treacle, it is now. Haul out the holly and all that. So I’ve composed this letter to my mother, my original hero. When I was born, it was “you and me” against the world. A single, unexpected parent at 18,…
Heroes…an interesting theme over which to ponder. I have mixed feelings about the concept of what a hero actually is. I believe that in our society we have a propensity to place on a pedestal people for worship for all the wrong reasons. Not because they’ve done something really heroic, but simply because they’ve done something challenging or compelling or out of the ordinary. I remember several years back there…
