Brent's Brain

I’ve traditionally published nine books with major publishers (with more forthcoming), and I’m often asked by aspiring writers, “What can I do to make sure my book is a success?” There’s certainly a lot an author can do, especially in this Internet Age. But will it necessarily make your book a success? That’s a whole [...]

An acquaintance, who happens to be a film critic, recently told me how much she enjoyed Albert Nobbs, the new movie set in the past where Glenn Close’s character has to pretend to be a man. I hated the movie. I thought it was a total failure on almost every level (except, perhaps, Close’s show-y, [...]

Truthfully? I was dubious about e-publishing. Not as a reader. I love my e-reader — in fact, I now much prefer to read books electronically. But I’ve been a full-time writer of fiction for well over ten years now (with another ten years of “paying my dues” before that), and let’s just say: I’m used [...]

Some of you may remember how, in my recent editorial writing gig as Associate Editor at AfterElton.com, I wrote an advice column, Dear Pigeon Guts (I also wrote another Q&A column on entertainment, called Ask the Flying Monkey). They both turned out to be quite popular. Who knew? Turns out I kinda miss offering up [...]

I recently re-read the third book in the Russel Middlebrook series, Double Feature: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (previously published in print with the overall title, Split Screen), and this scene jumped out at me. It got a fair bit of attention when it was first published, and I [...]

I participated in a pretty interesting and rousing panel yesterday at the Kidlitosphere Conference (with Justina Chen, Sarah Ryan, Lee Wind, and Sarah Stevenson) on the subject of “diversity” — racial and otherwise — in YA fiction. Here are some of my thoughts: Talk is cheap. Everyone says, “I’m all for diversity!” But being in [...]

My third novel The Order of the Poison Oak (the sequel to Geography Club) never came out in a Kindle edition. Why? Well, it’s too complicated to explain — and will just sound like me bitching anyway, and I hate it when authors bitch about publishing; those of us who are published and make our living writing novels are [...]

Received a ridiculously nice review today for my latest book, Shadow Walkers, on NPR’s All Things Considered. Which has 13 million listeners! It’s not exactly Oprah, but it’s the closest I’ve come so far. Couldn’t be happier! “Sometimes you pick up a novel that hits a narrative sweet spot, and Shadow Walkers is one of those. … [...]

If you’re an author, how do make and keep your main character sympathetic?You could write a whole book on this very topic – in fact, many have. I confess, I find it a fascinating one, mostly because it was exactly this idea of “likable” protagonists that made me start writing fiction in the first place. [...]

I’ve been saying for years that if you want to know what’s going to be on television in five or ten years, look at what’s happening in books today. Like clockwork, we authors always predict exactly where the mass culture is heading. Okay, so maybe we didn’t predict the outrageous, depressing mess that so much [...]