Okay, I think this is pretty cool. Often it is very hard to divine how publishers evaluate the stories they receive. One publisher I have interacted with--including having a story accepted by them--goes out of their way to explain their view of good, acceptable writing (here are comments on the problems of first-person narrators). This includes … Continue reading SHARE: Bards and Sages Fiction Score Card
Author: JM Williams
Author, historian, teacher, veteran. A man full of stories.
SHARE: 9 Tips to Become a Better Self-Editor
I stumbled on this great little list of editing tips and thought it worth sharing. Many of these are common ideas, but it doesn't hurt to see them again and reinforce them in your mind. Some of these are basic review techniques, others are larger exercises that function more to train you as a writer. … Continue reading SHARE: 9 Tips to Become a Better Self-Editor
Seeing Red
Added status counts to my publishing spreadsheet today (Excel is so useful!). Oh boy, that's a lot of red! But I'm not letting that slow me down. I just got a new acceptance letter today, recently got a request for a rewrite, and have two other stories in the final round of selection at their respective … Continue reading Seeing Red
A Wretched Sort of Desire – 3LineTales
Irina watched the young, handsome man returning to her--his powerful stride, his lean, fresh body with its smell of smoked ham. He was a good choice; he even came with his own truck. Of course, she would have to change the plates after she devoured him. *Spells! What is wrong with me these days? Get … Continue reading A Wretched Sort of Desire – 3LineTales
Flash Fiction Publisher List
There are a lot of people in the blogoshpere posting fiction on their blogs, and most of it falls into the flash fiction spectrum--I mean, why wouldn't a format that is pressured to be short not be a hotbed for flash stories? So to all my fellow blog authors out there, I ask you why … Continue reading Flash Fiction Publisher List
Give the People What They Want – 3LineTales
The crowd roared, chanting a chorus of indecipherable mumbles. They pushed forward, reaching out to touch the moisture and static which was building on the platform ahead. They stood by, unsaited, waiting for the blade to drop on the defiant sacrifice. *written as a response to the Three Line Tales week 55 photo prompt.
Revising the Story Tracker
Professional writing is hard. Over the past few months, I have had to rein in my expectations. It takes a lot longer to get an answer from publishers than I expected. And rejection is a much more common result. The long duration of the publishing process makes it all the more important to have some … Continue reading Revising the Story Tracker
An Abrupt End – FFfAW 14 February
John shoved his way past the mob of scooters and motorbikes, vaulting over the last one and landing on running feet. The assassin was escaping. The crowd ahead was blustery, jeering at the violent wake left by the fleeing man. John had to catch him, had to bring back the ambassador's killer to face justice. The … Continue reading An Abrupt End – FFfAW 14 February
SHARE: List of Fantasy Cliches
While looking around for publishers to send my work to, I stumbled on this post which is linked to in Silver Blade/Silver Pen's submission guidelines. I have posted about cliches before. These are one of those things (like adverbs) that editors get unjustifiably hung up on. Like first-person POV and present tense and adverbs, cliches … Continue reading SHARE: List of Fantasy Cliches
My Story on “Playing with Words”
Colleague and fellow blogger Kavita Chavda has set up a new website called Playing With Words that uses contributor content. It has a very minimalistic setup, which seems nice in an age of media and imagery overload. Anyways, I wrote a story for her based in my Valley of Magic mythology, which I think turned out … Continue reading My Story on “Playing with Words”
JM Williams 