I recently did an interview with Six Questions For, talking about Of Metal and Magic Publishing and my work as the editor. You can check it out here: https://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/2021/07/Of-Metal-and-Magic-Publishing.html?fbclid=IwAR1sgPfDblhRqH5t7h2L_bUz7CvBqlH3qIFoqHJBfwAzHJ6q0ydwer5YKQg
Category: On Writing
REBLOGGED: Short Fiction Writing, In Short
Here's another one laying out the basics of short fiction. You can send me your work at the OMAM site.
Guest Post: Fantasy Without Magic?
Writing fantasy without magic can sound like an outlandish thing to do. But it’s becoming more and more common.
All About Anthologies
Hey all, I recently had the chance to interview the editors from Transmundane Press. As you may recall reading on this blog, I've got a story in their upcoming collection, ON TIME. If you've ever wondered about short story anthologies--the appeal, the process, how to submit to them--then this episode is for you. The editors … Continue reading All About Anthologies
REBLOG: The Impostor Syndrome
If you want to dive deep into the darkest crevices of a writer’s mind, you should follow Irina. Many of her posts are long and thoughtful digressions on life and writing. She’s better at explaining these sorts of things than I am.
This one hit me so hard in the feels, I needed to reblog. I’ve been feeling some heavy imposter syndrome these days (Sorry for being such a Danny Downer lately!). This is such a great way of looking at it.
I’ve had those 45-minute rants plenty of times in my professional field, but it never clicked how meaningful that is. Thanks, Irina, for sharing your insights!
I often have internal dialogues. Sometimes they’re mostly peaceful but usually they’re highly argumentative. Yes, I often disagree with myself and I get on my nerves a lot being stubborn about stuff. Such as the impostor syndrome.
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Is Canon Important in a Collaborative Project?
Ended up writing a long post on Facebook, reacting to this article on Gizmodo, and thought I'd share here. Canon is important. Canon is no different from the worldbuilding that authors do within their individual series. It sets the rules of the setting and establishes reader (or viewer) expectations. An author in a collaborative project … Continue reading Is Canon Important in a Collaborative Project?
FWTS Episode 4 – The Short Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKtN5pIeAPc&feature=youtu.be This month, Richie and I have a real treat for short form writers. This is going to be another long episode, a deep dive, maybe the deepest dive, into a topic that is near and dear to both of us. That, of course, is the short story. In this episode, we distill our shared … Continue reading FWTS Episode 4 – The Short Story
FWTS – Episode 2
Hey all! The second episode of my and Richie Billing's podcast on fantasy writing is now out on YouTube and other podcast distributors, such as Spotify. In this episode, we follow the topic of fantasy tropes introduced in the first episode, but this time we show some examples of works which employed tropes in new … Continue reading FWTS – Episode 2
REBLOG: The Dialogue Checklist
I’ve written about dialogue grammar and formatting before, but K.M. Allan does a much better job here. Pay attention to the part on “action beats.” I see a lot of writers getting that wrong.
Dialogue is an important part of any story and essential to get right.
Good dialogue can reveal twists, unveil character traits, motivations, change the direction of the story, and give your cliffhangers the perfect bite—I mean, who doesn’t love the final line of a scene ending in a suspenseful piece of dialogue!
While it’s up to you to perfect your dialogue, if you want to ensure it’s working for your words, double-check it with the help of this checklist!
The Rules
Use your search function to find every instance of quote marks (” or ‘), and as you look at each highlighted quote, check the following…
Spelled Out Emotions
While there’s nothing wrong with telling emotions, if you’re spelling out every single instance, use this check to shortcut your way to finding all that telling and convert some of it to showing.
Telling: “Get out!” Jenny shouted angrily.
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FWTS – Episode One
We did it! Richie Billing and I wrapped up the first episode of our new fantasy writing podcast, The Fantasy Writers' Toolshed! This first episode addresses a common issue in fantasy, cliches. (Which, I guess by definition, must be a common issue. Ha.) In deciding which cliches to discuss, we've relied in part on the … Continue reading FWTS – Episode One
JM Williams 