“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 flawed and should have been revised, the “We don’t want Read more
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 stared blankly at my manuscript. I wanted an issue, say Read more
I primarily write science fiction, but I have long read fantasy and enjoyed it. You would think I’d be able to write fantasy as easily as science fiction – just turn the spaceship into a unicorn, right? The robot into a dwarf? Turns out, it’s not so easy. I started Read more
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
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