Category for all my writer-related stuff
A lot of books and blog posts I’ve read to understand plot and story structure talk about the Three Act Structure, and the thing is, the more I read … the more I’m convinced they don’t know what they mean. I searched in vain for an honest definition of what Read more
A friend complimented my novelette “We Built This City” and I told her, “It started in a Literary Cleveland class – when was that?” So I went to my journals to find out – and it actually started long before the class! And it’s a long, long journey: January 1, Read more
I saw an article going around about how some one submitted a published New Yorker story to several magazines, including the New Yorker, and it got rejected by all of them. I didn’t read the article, I don’t have to. This is an experiment I’ve heard about many times in Read more
This blog topic was suggested by Maura Yzmore. Specifically, she asked what I felt the pros and cons were of publishing everything under my real name, if I felt it interfered with my professional life? Pro: My Day Job is Not Tied to Name Recognition I’m a computer programmer. I Read more
Blog topic suggested by Maura Yzmore So, I am not good at this, and have never successfully queried, but I’ll let you know what I’ve learned so far. Don’t Bury the Lede I was quite a ways into a timed pitch session when I said, “now that I’m a Hugo Read more
Blog topic suggested by Maura Yzmore First, I would not read any books or blog posts about how to write a query letter. I would not fill out worksheets that required me to think of my story as having only one main character and start with “In a world”. Galactic Read more
Blog topic suggested by Maura Yzmore I have never enjoyed writing craft books. There is perhaps something wrong with me. Or I’m just too opinionated. But I have treasured and memorized some jewels from my mentors. Here they are, with very bad drawings of them. You can tell which drawings Read more