Category for all my writer-related stuff
When I was packing for the Clarion Writing Workshop in 2013, I picked a book to bring. I knew that, even with as busy I would be, I’d want a nice long one to last the six weeks, so I chose The Heptaméron of Marguerite of Navarre which I had Read more
Blog topic suggested by CuMhara O’Holyhead I remember as a new writer being afraid of using character archetypes. I mean not just stereotypes, but the wider, gentler tropes. The typical whatever. Hard Boiled Detective, Sexy Cat Burglar, Laconic Wise Man, Sassy Friend. I spent a lot of time coming up Read more
blog topic suggested by Nyla Bright. “Everyone says the writing in romance novels is bad but in my experience it’s no worse than a lot of genre fiction. The people it bothers the most are those not engaged— Or better yet, what not liking most romance novels has taught you Read more
Topic suggested by Tod Detre Many fiction writers assume they’ll be a good dungeon master. “That adventure we just played had such a simple plot! An old man sends us into an abandoned labyrinth for a lost gem? Where’s the twist? I can do muuuch better.” I was one such Read more
Blog post idea suggested by Steven Doyle She shrugged, modestly, and we marveled at a list of random things. “An old man with a toothache, daughter and son argue about lemons, sisters lost in a department store.” It was a warm day toward the end of the semester. The classroom Read more
Blog post topic suggested by Shelli Snyder A fun way to make your science fiction future world feel aged-into is to include skills your characters have that they can’t use anymore. Maureen McHugh once confessed to me that she was a wizard at hand-focusing microscopes. With an elegant twirl of Read more
Another requested topic! If there’s one thing a writer does more than write, it’s get rejected! … I really wish it were the other way around… Anyway, it can be hard to tell by looking at me now, when I proudly show off hundreds of rejections in my statistics, but Read more