‘Telling the reader’ means giving the reader the conclusion they would draw, without giving them any of the actions or thoughts or descriptions that would lead them to that conclusion.
Yeah, Patricia C Wrede knows how it is. And should be writing writing books for a living. In addition to her fantasy, of course. But, failing that, we’ve got her blog to turn to. Read More
Why did my story get rejected?
This is a forum thread in the form of an AMA by an (ex-)Clarkesworld slush reader.
Lots of interesting analysis of short fiction markets in general and Clarkesworld in particular. Great if you’re submitting or planning to submit to the big mags.
Pay close attention to the “I slushed 2000 stories, passed up 150-300 to the editor, and none of those got published.” Read More
The greatest take on “beginning-middle-and-end” that I’ve ever seen. And the presenter’s funny.
Julian Friedmann at TEDxEaling, 18 minutes, well worth the time. Read More
Sometimes the world kicks you.
Sometimes you stumble, slip, fall down. Best intentions are only that, intentions. Sometimes they fail.
The key isn’t to be eternally successful. The key is to be kind to yourself when you fail. Learning to forgive yourself is a skill. Forgiving yourself is a skill, too, but you can’t start with it. You have to start by learning how to learn it.
Forgiveness is tough. We learn to forgive others. We’re taught to do it, forced to do it, but rarely does anyone take us aside and tell us to be kind to ourselves.
Instead, we internalize the critical voices, the ones that tell us what we should do, absolutely must do, least we end up outcasts, alone, hated, bereft. Read More
Yet another X Tips to Greatness vlog list.
Except this one is from Jerry B Jenkins, who know what he’s talking about after writing professionally for some 190+ books in 40 years. And it’s not about where to put the commas, but rather how to survive writing a long work. Read More
We’re writers. We’re supposed to read.
We’re supposed to read like writers.
Which, to me, means absolutely squat. I have no idea how to read like a writer. Patricia C Wrede does, and it’s not all that hard. Read More
Pop psychology is full of pithy seize the day quotes. The purpose of life is to live it, to taste each experience to the utmost. Memento mori. Live like you would die tomorrow.
If I knew I’d die tomorrow, I’d spend the day playing video games, bingeing on chocolates, and wailing that life wasn’t fair.
If I lived this way every day, I’d get obese, depressed, and likely would die tomorrow. Read More
Are you safe?
Is your home, your workplace, your Friendly Neighborhood Military Installation safe?
Likely not. Read More
Tainted Grail! The characters! The minis! The story! Oh, the story! It’s amazing! It’s fantastic! It’s a game that drove me absolutely nuts.
Disclaimer: This isn’t a review. I can’t write a review of Tainted Grail because, after playing some 45 hours of two-handed solo, and restarting four times, I never made it past chapter 4 of the original campaign. Not once.
No, this is letter of grievances. Read More
So, like, global warming? Well…
Here’s what happens when you get a top-notch scientific cartoonist to plot 22 000 years of temperature in one image. Read More