A common critique I got on my stories when I was starting out was, “You bring up this issue, but you don’t say anything about it.” Unlike “too slow” or “too fast” this critique didn’t present an obvious answer. I Read more
This past weekend was Cleveland ConCoction, their first time back from Covid, and my first convention as a Nebula Award Finalist (TM)(R). I had a BLAST. It’s such a wonderful convention and more people need to know about it. There Read more
“The Trunk” is a jargon term in the writing world for, basically, stuff you have already written, waiting to find a home. It can be pejorative – the “Trunk story” sold by a big name writer which is actually quite Read more
I find I need a blog post like this just to keep track, myself, these days. All times are in the US Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise indicated. Tuesday, April 11th I’ll be teaching all about Plot for the Reach Read more
My novelette “We Built This City” was chosen as one of six finalists for the 2022 Novelette Nebula. (For works between 7,500 and 20,000 words long.) (Full list of nominees here.) My first thought is of all the years I Read more
This is really aimed at Clarion attendees, but feel free to extrapolate out to any intense writing workshop you have to apply to get into and re-arrange your life to attend. You got in. Congratulations. Now you’re arranging your work Read more
In Aristotle’s Poetics, he breaks structure into two parts – the Complicating and the Unravelling, and laments that “Many poets tie the knot well, but unravel it ill.” Ancient Greek writers, I sympathize! As a newbie writer, the biggest frustration Read more