Some time ago, I submitted a story to an anthology of catastrophes, “Enter the Apocalypse”, edited by Thomas Gondolfi. I’m now the proud owner of my first physical anthology.
Of course, Apocalypse is a term that can be interpreted ad infititum. For me, it was intelligent dolphins. For writer Janice Law, it was something completely different. Read More
Let’s say you have an idea for a setting, or an event, or a new type of technology, but you can’t transform it into a plot. There’s simply no action there, no conflict. All you’ve got is a “what if…”
How about you take one of those what ifs and ask “who would be the most hurt by this?” I.e.:
“What if all people could suddenly fly? Who would be the most hurt by this?”
Airlines. Airline pilots. Airline maintenance workers. What if it’s a airplane mechanic who really loves his planes, but now they’re all worthless and nobody wants them? “The Airplane Whisperer, coming soon to a theater near you…”
Second point would be to see how badly you can make the person hurt. Read More
But there was a twist. Each attendant got a tag that tracked where they were in the room, and who they talked to. And it turns out that although every attendant stated beforehand that they went in order to meet new people and make new business ties, immediately upon entering the room, they made a beeline for old friends – and stayed there the entire event. If they did speak to a stranger, it was because the stranger was a friend of a friend. Read More
Far-Fetched Fables has podcasted my story “Bed of the Crimson King”, first published in Grimdark Magazine.
You can listen to it here: Far-Fetched Fables #141 – Bed of the Crimson
So the year is at an end. Yeah, yeah, new year, new possibilities, same old 24 hours/day. Anyway, here’s how I did in 2016:
Writing wise I…
(2015 numbers in paranthesis)
… submitted 164 (109) stories to publishers.
… got 4 (8) stories accepted.
… of which 4 (2) acceptances were by pro markets.
So, more submissions, less acceptances. But I only submitted to pro markets this year, meaning that all of my acceptances were from pro markets. Which rocks! Read More
Rejections are a part of the writer’s life. And yet, a bad rejection at the wrong time can crush an aspiring author.
Knowing that others have been rejected before you, that authors you admire, who’ve won prizes and gone on to glorious careers, have been badly rejected, can ease your burden. Here are some of those rejections. Read More
Sometimes you read a book at exactly the right time to change your world. Algis Budrys’ “Writing to the Point: A Complete Guide to Selling Fiction” was one of those books for me.
Writing to the Point is a short (152 airy pages) yet deep (spanning everything from “Chapter 1: The Basic Basics” to dealing with agents and who to format a manuscript) writing advice book. It took me slightly less than an hour-and-a-half to read, and I haven’t come away from a writing how-to book this turbo-charged in a long, long time. Read More
You’ve written your novel, published your stories, signed an autograph or two1. And then you get the question: so, what’s your platform like?
What the hell is an author platform? Have you got one? Is it contagious?
Easy there, buckaroo. Help is on the way.
An author, or author’s, platform is all the online presence you’ve got2. It’s your website, Twitter feed, Instagram account, and forum moderator powers put together. And the most basic, and easiest to do, part of your writer platform, is your author website. Read More
There are some things that work plain better than others, that resonate with your needs better than others. When it comes to writing, I have tons of resources that I use on occasion, some that I use repeatedly and a few that I use all the time.
This is my Top Ten List of Writing Resources for the fall of 2016 (with some bonuses and honorary mentions). Read More
September was better than August. A lot better. I managed to actually sit down and do some work again, pounding out close to 19 000 words.
For a while I felt on a roll. Then I had the week from hell…