Loglines v. Tag Lines

Mpepper/ October 26, 2022/ Writing, Writing Advice

I read a tweet a little while ago about “high-concept stories” and how they can be distilled into a single sentence. This is, generally speaking, true. But then the example given was… Well, I’m not going to post it, but it was not a high-concept logline. It was more of a tag line. You know, the kind of thing you’d

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AMC’s IWTV Eps 2 & 3

Mpepper/ October 14, 2022/ Reviews

All right, it seems only fair to update my thoughts after having watched two more episodes of Interview with the Vampire. I very much appreciate that Lestat’s true character is being slowly revealed. OR… it could be that he is trying and failing to change. That much is not entirely clear, but I suppose that’s kind of the point. I

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AMC’s Interview with the Vampire

Mpepper/ October 11, 2022/ Reviews

I have only watched the first episode of AMC’s take on Anne Rice’s vampires, but I have some mixed feelings. And yes, I understand why some changes were made, and I don’t have a problem with those. I don’t think Louis needs to run a slave-owning plantation in order to tell this particular story. His being a person of color

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Unpopular Opinion

Mpepper/ September 19, 2022/ Think Pieces, Writing

One of many, to be sure. But I have to admit, I’m struggling. I love me some Stranger Things, so much so that I wrote a story loosely based on Steve and Eddie (#steddie) that has since become my most popular work. (The sequel is due out in November, so go pre-order “One Night in Wyland High.”) All this to

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Barnes & Noble vs. the Browse/Discovery Model

Mpepper/ August 19, 2022/ Think Pieces

I have never, to my knowledge, had any of my books stocked in a Barnes & Noble. Not for lack of trying; I have contacted my local bookstores multiple times in hopes they would at least consider putting one of my books in a “local authors” section. (This is true of local indie stores, too.) I usually get very kind

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#Drayze Fanart!

Mpepper/ August 6, 2022/ Uncategorized

Much thanks and love to angel_the_starkid for these!

One Night in Wildcat Woods

Mpepper/ August 5, 2022/ Announcements, Writing

My #steddie-inspired story about two teen boys lost in the woods behind their high school is now up on Amazon, so I’ve had to remove the PDF. To be clear, this isn’t directly fan fiction; it’s fanfic adjacent. And not explicit in its steamy scenes. 1989. Though Drew and Rayze were friends in childhood, they’ve long since grown apart–until the

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Agents Are Browsers

Mpepper/ April 12, 2022/ Think Pieces, Writing Advice

Lately on Twitter, I’ve seen many hopeful authors announcing they’ve finally gotten some kind of request from a query. Though the most excitement stems from “full requests” (meaning an agent has requested to read the full manuscript), even partial requests are a cause for celebration. And… Yeah. I think authors need to embrace even small victories. But I fear, based

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The Shift of Publishing Towards the Writer

Mpepper/ March 9, 2022/ Think Pieces

I was thinking… Well, I was feeling a little bit irritated, really, about the way a few things had turned out. But that’s neither here nor there, except that these musings brought a certain clarity to me about how the publishing industry has shifted the bulk of the work onto authors. These thoughts came about, as many often do, during

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