Where Normal Need Not Apply
*Quick Reminder: Don’t forget the Pitch Your Shorts pitch session coming January 10th. Get your 10-60K stories ready. More details to come.* I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, no matter what holidays you celebrate. While I’m enjoying some time with my family, I’ll share this post originally written […]
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My regular readers know I typically write novel-length stories. However, during one crazy four-day stretch, I wrote a long-ish short story/short-ish novella (novelette?). For those of you following along at home, I’m referring to my story inspired by spam. I’ve blogged before about how the experience was a great way […]
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In my last post, I asked how much people would be willing to pay for ebooks. Most comments agreed with my thoughts: Ebooks should be less expensive than paper books because of DRM, ownership, quality, and physicality issues. What surprised me, however, was the number of people turned off by […]
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Readers come in all types. Some buy hardcovers, others wait for paperback, some only borrow from libraries, and still others buy the super-deluxe collector’s edition of their favorites. I’ve always thought of myself as a paperback reader who would spring for the hardcover for “keeper” books, but the ebook revolution […]
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That seems like an odd question, doesn’t it? After all, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out Google knew what I had for lunch on Wednesday five weeks ago. In fact, computers and the internet have captured so much information that we sometimes don’t want to memorize facts, figuring we’ll Google […]
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We’re all being told that we need to have a platform, that we need to grow our platform, and that we need to use our platform. Gah! Does anyone else want to throttle the word “platform” after hearing it for the fifty-bajillionth time? The word diminishes the meaning of what […]
Whether we’re a plotter, pantser, or somewhere in between, we all eventually have to take the time and make our scenes the best they can be. This week I have a guest post at the Girls With Pens blog on how to do that. (Edited to redirect link, as GWP has shut down.) […]
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That’s right. I’m asking you to expose your biggest weakness. *locks the door so no one can escape* *evil grin* We all have weaknesses. I’m one of the biggest perfectionists around, but that doesn’t prevent me from having oodles of imperfections. It’s only by knowing where we need more work […]
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We’ve talked about the importance of keeping our stories believable, but the fantasy genre (and all its subgenres) require certain aspects to be unrealistic. Character types and plot points involving dragons, superheroes, vampires, etc. are all beyond the reality of our world. What does that mean for the reader? A […]
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Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day we eat too much food, roll our eyes at the antics of our extended family, and think about all the things we’re grateful for. Or in my case, wait for the tryptophan to kick in from the turkey so I can catch […]
