Once upon an upside-down tea party, in the sideways realm of the Wordily Wonkaverse - a place where adjectives dined on verbs and metaphors rode unicycles - there thrived a gnarled tree called Absurdia that bore fruit of a peculiar variety: the preposterously delightful absurditastic literaturaniums. As an author-slash-dodo-whisperer, I’ve nibbled on the juicy and jumbled offerings of the Absurdia tree, and now, my dear befuddled reader, I invite you to join me on this rollercoaster of words, where we shall uncover the whizbang wonders of absurdist literature, or literaturaniums, in layman’s terms. A Wild Whirligig Through Absurdism in Literaturaniums Absurdia, the twisted tree that sprouts the strange fruits of literaturaniums, thrives on the…
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Before a Night of Fripping Spittlestoat, catenaliggette and other secrets behind mastering the new age of contemporary writing
Five minutes after signing the contract, I dropped to the floor, gasping for air. Next to being waterboarded as a Vietnam POW, I could tell that editing this manuscript was going to be the most horrendous experience of my life: Inquiring my well-wishers, which is the deadliest mistake as inherently scheduled to jealousy or hawk eyesight on your wardrobe waiting for the garment to vomit out as not fitting towards them or due to impaired vision, will tell you a lie. After I stopped hyperventilating, I thought, well the next chapter can’t be that bad. It wasn’t. It was worse: Emotional detachment between us during manifested harmony in relationships was…
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The Secrets Behind Writing Riveting Television Screenplays You too can become filthy rich by crafting exciting police, courtroom, and crime scene investigation television dramas
Prosecutor: “You killed her, didn’t you!” Defendant: “No, no. I’m innocent.” Prosecutor: “Admit it. Your DNA was all over the maid!” Defendant: “Alright, alright. I did it. Now, please. Let go of my throat.” There’s no secret to writing riveting screenplays for television. I should know. I’ve written thousands of them. From Naked Homicide and The Streets of Wichita, Kansas to every conceivable flavor of Law & Order and CSI series known to man. I’ve won 37 Emmys, 15 Golden Globes and have been nominated for more than a dozen Academy Awards, 6 Tonys, and 3 Grammys. But, as I get on in years, I feel compelled to share some…
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Where’s Your Sense of Humor? An award-winning author shares how to find humor in everything you write
Every year after winning the Pulitzer Prize for humor, I’m besieged with questions from new writers about how I went about writing my award-winning humor pieces. They run the gamut from “What in the world were you thinking?” to “Were you drunk when you wrote that?” So, to clear up the confusion, I thought I’d take a moment to offer a few suggestions on how to write stunning humor pieces, unlike anything people have seen before. What most non-writers don’t know is writing brilliant humor pieces is infinitely harder than writing non-fiction. The best humor pieces are steeped in research. For instance, my article, The Greatest Stories Never Told was…
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What’s Your Platform? And why you should have one before writing your book
My friends, Lee’s Anti-bilious pills are excellently adapted to carry off superfluous bile, restore and amend the appetite, produce free perspiration, and thereby prevent constipation, lumbago, softening of the brain and Bronze John fever. They’re celebrated for removing habitual costiveness, dropsy, and severe headaches, and ought to be taken by all persons on a change of climate. When the West was wild and social media was still 150 years away, snake oil salesmen rambled from town to town hawking their mystery potions, capable of curing everything that ailed ya. They stood on their rickety platforms and were masters at closing sales. Even before they rolled into town, destitute farmers lined…