The controversy over Sony’s film The Interview and the hacking attack the company endured in response to it illustrates a principle I teach every day as a literature professor—the Power of Story. It shows how a fictional narrative that on the surface does no harm to anyone can still be perceived as such a threat that people will go to …
Will Novels, Movies and Video Games All Blend Into One?
Is the day soon coming, or has it already arrived, when consumers won’t see much difference between reading a novel, watching a movie, and playing a video game? Over the past year, I have seen lots of evidence that the boundaries that used to separate these and other categories are breaking down. For example, until recently, if you planned to …
Why the Cell Phone May Save the Novel
I like to watch people’s reading habits when I’m at airports and on airplanes. During several recent flights, which included some lengthy layovers and delays, I noticed that not very many people were reading novels, at least not ones in the form of books made of paper. I didn’t see all that many people reading on tablets, e-readers, or laptop …
OJ Simpson? Never Heard of Him, Or Johnny Carson Either
When I started seeing the headlines and news segments marking the 20th anniversary of the OJ Simpson murder trial, my first thought was that the whole tawdry saga still felt too recent to be wrapped in nostalgia. My next thought was that, as a college professor, I have seen a big shift over those twenty years in how students perceive …
The Best Five Answers: If You Could Improve Your Life in One Way, What Would It Be?
What one thing would most improve your life? More money? Better health? More sleep? A dog? Two brains? More motivation? More exercise? More time? Better relationships? Those were among the answers I received to this week’s question. Other people focused on things they would like to delete from their lives rather than on anything they might add. They wanted to …
The Best Five Answers: What Time Period Do You Wish You Had Been Born In, and Why?
I have always felt that I was born in the wrong era. Like the main character in the film, Midnight in Paris, I always felt I would have fit in better in the era of some of the literary geniuses I admire from the 1920s and ‘30s—writers like Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. This week’s …
The Best Five Answers: What is the Best Way You Have Found to Handle Disappointment?
Let’s get one thing settled from the start. According to the answers I received this week, can you guess which treat was mentioned most often as disappointment comfort food? Ice cream. I am happy to launch the first post in a new blog feature called “The Best Five Answers.” Each week (for now) I plan to ask a question and …
Quit Griping that “Everybody Gets a Trophy”
I’m tired of hearing about the “Everybody Gets a Trophy” generation. When I recently heard someone use that phrase again, I wondered, was it just my imagination, or were people constantly using that cliché to describe today’s generation in their teens and twenties? I Googled “everybody gets a trophy” and came up with nearly a million articles, blogs, news stories …
What I Wish Someone Had Taught Me About Writing
What is the best way to approach a writing task, whether as a professional writer or a student? Do you procrastinate until the last minute and then start writing on page one and hope for the best? Or is there a better approach? My friend and APU colleague, Tom Allbaugh, confronts that problem in a very helpful guest post this …
Pretending to Be Moses: Why Writing Biblical Fiction is Hard
Who am I to take on the voice of Moses, or Joseph, or Joshua, or other people whose stories are told in the Bible? That question was foremost in my mind when I was asked to write six chapters for an innovative small group curriculum series that brings to life significant figures from the Bible by telling their stories through …