Matthew Arnold Stern's Blog, page 57
May 19, 2014
Do trolls have any value?
“Don’t feed the trolls,” is an Internet author’s mantra. The best thing to do when confronted with some racist, sexist, homophobic, or just hate-filled nonsense gushed out of some attention-seeking jerk is to ignore it. Or do you? Even some YouTube commentators are unsure about what to do with them. But if trolls are going …
May 10, 2014
When do you become an adult?
Today marks the 39th anniversary of my bar mitzvah ceremony. Technically, I became a bar mitzvah ten months earlier when I turned 13. When boys reach the age of bar mitzvah (and girls reach the age of bat mitzvah at 12), they are considered adults in the Jewish community. They receive all the rights and …
May 2, 2014
“I’m sorry, Anne, but I have to let you go.”
We can learn valuable lessons from Anne Frank. One thing I learned is that anything in a manuscript is fair game for editing. I wanted to include quotes from Anne Frank’s diary in The Ghosts of Reseda High, so I sought permission to use them. I wrote to the appropriate foundation, who referred me to …
April 27, 2014
Editing tips (from someone who doesn’t edit himself well)
I have a hard time editing my own writing. Most people do. I can edit other people’s work well. I’m very good at catching their typos, unclear passages, and wordy text. As for editing my own stuff, after the 100th time reading the same paragraph, it looks correct to me — never mind the typos …
April 21, 2014
Why conspiracy theorists are great storytellers
Why do conspiracy theories hold sway over the popular imagination? Why do people still believe the Apollo 11 lunar landing was a hoax despite all of the evidence that it actually happened? One reason is that conspiracy theorists are great storytellers. I’m not making light of conspiracy theories and theorists. Conspiracy theories have led to …
April 12, 2014
How to be angry
Sorry, Suey Park, but your fifteen minutes of fame have almost expired. Not only did you fail to #CancelColbert, he got promoted. Besides, when has creating Twitter hashtags become an effective agent for social change? Anyone can create hashtags (#masteringtabletopics). Real social change happens when people step away from their laptops or put away their …
April 5, 2014
Cosmos and Inherit the Wind
I’m enjoying the new Cosmos series. However, Neil deGrasse Tyson seems to spend a lot of time attacking young earth creationism, and the creationists have been fighting back. I find this puzzling. I grew up in the 1960s when we thought this was all settled. Evolution and creationism fought as we saw in Inherit the …
March 30, 2014
“Fighting the last war”
What can the Maginot Line in France teach us about problem solving? It helped me discover a flaw in my thinking, an error in the way I’ve been dealing with an important issue in my life. It showed me the danger of “fighting the last war.” The Maginot Line was France’s response to the rising …
March 23, 2014
“…Then, why are you looking for an agent for your next book?”
Matthew, you say you like independent publishing. Then, why are you looking for an agent and publisher for your new novel, The Ghosts of Reseda High? Because, why not? I don’t see a conflict between independent and traditional publishing. One doesn’t eliminate the other, and a growing number of authors are learning to use both …
March 17, 2014
What Chopped can teach you about writing
One of my favorite TV shows is Chopped. I love the thrill of the competition, and I love learning about new food and ways to prepare it. (When I was at the WritersUA conference, I was one of the few people who recognized the dragon’s fruit on the buffet table.) Chopped also provides great lessons …
