Welcome Me Home by Reading a Story

April 24, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ 2 Comments

Well, I finally made it home. It's going to take me a while to get readjusted. In the meantime, if you missed my story "The Sorcerer" in Bards and Sages' Tome of Mystics, you can now read it free on Bewildering Stories! Also, my novella with Fantasia Divinity will release in two or three days … Continue reading Welcome Me Home by Reading a Story

Darkness Wakes – 3LineTales

April 1, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ 4 Comments

Midnight came crashing upon the empty street, silence its vanguard. A lone figure struggled across the broken blacktop; each step stronger and more surefooted than the last, each heavy breath bringing a new memory of times old. She did not know where she was going, could not remember who she was, other than that she … Continue reading Darkness Wakes – 3LineTales

Updates, and Going AWOL (Again!)

March 9, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ 6 Comments

Hello Everyone, I might be AWOL for a long while. I will be heading off for about six weeks of legal and leadership training tomorrow. At this point, I am not sure what sort of internet connection I will have at my destination, nor how much free time I will have. As such, it could … Continue reading Updates, and Going AWOL (Again!)

Must Every SF/F Work be a Series?

February 27, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ 15 Comments

Asking for a friend. Actually, I've just started listening to the Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast--yes, I know I am a bit late to that game--and the first episode I chose dealt primarily with writing series. Here's my thing: I generally find the idea of planned series to be morally objectionable. More often than … Continue reading Must Every SF/F Work be a Series?

In Memoriam–3LineTales

February 19, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ Leave a comment

The display was a secret code, a hidden lamentation right there at the corner of his desk. Two books representing two camps, three roses for three like-hearted comrades. And the spools of thread...those were for the prisoners he had failed to save. *Written as a response to the Three Lines Tales Week 107 photo prompt.

The Problems with Quirky Dialogue Tags

February 17, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ 8 Comments

I saw this image come across my Facebook feed the other day and felt it would make a good little writing post. There were a lot of comments on the post, and even the ones that argued against fancy dialogue tags didn't seem to understand why that was an important rule. While it is important … Continue reading The Problems with Quirky Dialogue Tags

When Your Description is Meaningless

February 10, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ 9 Comments

In his book, On Writing, Stephen King offers many tips on how to write good description. But in doing so, he reveals a fundamental problem with his style of writing--using words that have no inherent meaning. King does this a lot in IT. He references pop culture without describing the referents. He'll drop a song title … Continue reading When Your Description is Meaningless

Buy me a drink, beautiful?

February 9, 2018 ~ JM Williams ~ Leave a comment

I've added a new widget to my website. It looks like this: What this thing does is link to my Ko-Fi page. If you haven't yet heard of Ko-Fi, it's a donation platform for small businesses and artists where each donation is roughly equal to the price of a coffee. Thus most buttons say "Buy … Continue reading Buy me a drink, beautiful?