I have read many posts on the blogs of writers that are adamantly against certain aspects or styles of writing. At times it often becomes a sort of pseudo-religious fundamentalism. None of us are fully innocent. Even Stephen King, in his lauded writing manual On Writing, goes on an unreasonable diatribe against the passive voice, essentially … Continue reading To Cliche or not to Cliche – WriteWorks
Author: JM Williams
Author, historian, teacher, veteran. A man full of stories.
Considering the Reader – WriteWorks
WriteWorks is a relatively young editing company managed, in part, by a guy named James Hallman. He's the guy doing the editing for my current book. His assistance has been indispensable, though his detailed comments have left me with a lot more revision work than I expected! The WriteWorks blog has a lot of good … Continue reading Considering the Reader – WriteWorks
Three Little-Known Reasons Ennui Is Perfect For Setting Up Emotional Satiety In Fiction
This post has got me thinking. I have a couple ideas on what Victor has to say here. First, it really depends on what you're writing. Novels do really benefit from the sort of settling-in that he describes. But short stories, and especially flash stories, do not have the benefit of lazy starts. Short stories … Continue reading Three Little-Known Reasons Ennui Is Perfect For Setting Up Emotional Satiety In Fiction
Career Change – A Short Story
Ulfar watched the smoke billow up from the smoldering corpse of the pillaged hamlet. The air was thick with the smell of sweat, blood, and death. But the joy of it all was lost. When he was young, Ulfar had loved to watched the fire dance across the thatched roofs, to hear the final chorus … Continue reading Career Change – A Short Story
Wonder Lost- Three Line Tales, Week 48
Sophia didn't know why her daddy wasn't there; he always joined the family at the cabin for the Fourth. Several weeks ago he left Sophia and her mom, boarding a plane with many other people, all dressed in green. The fireworks lost their wonder without him; Sophia dropped the sparkler into the water and watched … Continue reading Wonder Lost- Three Line Tales, Week 48
What’s Your Crisis? – The Essential Component of a Short Story
The recipe for a short story is so simple, yet it is one of the hardest things to craft well. There are only two essential ingredients for a story, a well-developed character and a crisis. Within the word limit of your tale, you must make us understand your character, give him or her an issue … Continue reading What’s Your Crisis? – The Essential Component of a Short Story
Flash Fiction – Managing Story Length
Here is a very good article on the hows of writing flash fiction. In particular, the author describes how to keep your story short but complete. Flash fiction seems to be a big deal these days. Many online publishers are looking for flash submissions. It it certainly worth it to read some tips on the … Continue reading Flash Fiction – Managing Story Length
The Insecurities of Authors Using Real-World Settings
Happy Holidays to all! Being in the Far East, Christmas has already fully passed for me. So it's time to get back to work. I am currently working my way through Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. It is a fun little story, but the writing irks me in places. I have never done a Gaiman book before, so … Continue reading The Insecurities of Authors Using Real-World Settings
My Writing Space (Or How Not to Follow Stephen King’s Advice)
Fortune favors the bold, or so they say. I have been reading Stephen King's great treatise on the craft, On Writing. While I do intend to extract and discuss many key points of the book later, there is one bit that is likely not to make the cut for me: the discussion of proper writing spaces. This … Continue reading My Writing Space (Or How Not to Follow Stephen King’s Advice)
More on First-Person Narrators
Bards and Sages: First-Person Narrative Pitfalls Here is another interesting discussion on the problems with first-person narrators. However, I personally disagree with the last point. There is no necessity that the first-person narrator must have a logical means to deliver the story to the reader. That is wholly unnecessary meta-thinking. The story is not connected … Continue reading More on First-Person Narrators
JM Williams 