Jack Campbell Jr.

Author: jack

  • A Friendly Reminder to Kill Your Darlings

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    As far as writing advice goes, “Kill your darlings” (and its variants) is one of the classics. It’s been attributed to Ginsberg, Chekov, Wilde, Faulkner…Stephen King swears by it in On Writing, and according to an article on Slate, it was originated by Arthur Quiller-Couch’s 1914 Cambridge lecture. I’ve seen similar quotes attributed to a variety of writers. You…

  • A Confabulator Cafe Review of John Hornor Jacobs’s Fierce as the Grave

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      After a bit of a hiatus due to other demands on my time, I have posted a new review at The Confabulator Cafe. This week, I review John Horner Jacobs’s Fierce as the Grave: A Quartet of Horror Stories, a collection  from the author of Southern Gods and This Dark Earth. You can find the review here.  

  • Sound the Retreat!

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    Sara and I have been talking about going to a writer’s retreat for quite awhile now. It would be fun to take a vacation and get some writing done at the same time. Despite the solitary nature of the work, writing is really a social craft. You learn a lot just from being around other…

  • Post-ConQuest Wrap-up

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    Sara and I had a great time at ConQuest last weekend. Sara bought me the Shadows over Innsmouth anthology for my birthday, which is full of stories based on Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” I picked up a Miskatonic University School of Library Science shirt, and we got a bunch of good stuff from the charity auction…

  • ConQuest approaches!

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    ConQuest, the science fiction and fantasy convention, is hitting Kansas City this weekend. Sara and I go every year. It is generally a birthday celebration for me. This year, my birthday lands on Memorial Day–otherwise known as ConQuest recovery day. Every year, it seems that I have more and more friends that I look forward to seeing.…

  • What the Finale of How I Met Your Mother Can Teach Us about Writing

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    How I Met Your Mother’s series finale aired last night, and I have some thoughts up at The Confabulator Cafe about what the finale and how the series developed can teach us about writing organically. Head on over and check it out. **WARNING** There will be spoilers! http://www.confabulatorcafe.com/2014/04/finale-met-mother-can-teach-us-writing/

  • Confabulator Review of The Least of My Scars

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    This week at The Confabulator Cafe, I reviewed Stephen Graham Jones’s amazing and disturbing novel The Least of My Scars. You can find my review here. It’s an excellent book, and I hope anyone who is a fan of dark, DARK psychological horror checks it out. I had a great time at Planet Comicon this weekend. I…

  • Are Writers Role Models? (Confabulator Cafe)

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    This week at The Confabulator Cafe, I go on a bit of a rant regarding the idea of writers as role models. This is in direct response to a letter to the editor in the Lawrence Journal World about William S. Burroughs’s notes and journals being donated to the University of Kansas. Go check it…

  • “Old Devil Moon” at The Confabulator Cafe

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    I have a new story up at The Confabulator Cafe. A werewolf on a broken-down cruise ship in the middle of the ocean on the night before the full moon dreads what tomorrow night may bring. You can check it out at http://www.confabulatorcafe.com/2014/02/old-devil-moon-flash-fiction/

  • The Evolution of an Idea: Murph’s Law is up at The Confabulator Cafe

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    One of the most common questions for writers is where they get their ideas and how they develop them. I think every writer does it a bit differently. The way I write isn’t the way my local colleagues write. I improvise a lot at the keyboard. Other writers outline vigorously and essentially know the story…