Some Random Writing Tips
Not everything deserves an entire article. Here are a few things I’ve learned from my time in the trade that have helped me. Develop Your …
Writing, General
Why Writing is Different
Good art—of any kind—contains three things at a high level: concept, composition and technique. Writing is unique in all the creative arts in that there …
Em Dashes, Semicolons, and Other Less Used Punctuation
Once you get past the basics, punctuation starts to get weird. That’s because a lot of the less used punctuation are more about personal preference …
Genres for the Independent Author
Genres are a fascinating part of the writing profession. They mean nothing and everything; they are both limiting and freeing; they are arbiters and arbitrary …
Signaling Your Genre from the Start
If you’re an independent author, you’ve probably done a lot of work on your title, blurb, and cover. Don’t screw it all up with the …
Writing Action
I am going to get right to the point and tell you the secret of writing action scenes: It’s not about the action. Like everything …
Simplicity
“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.” Walt Whitman Way back when I was …
Speculative Fiction — The Big “If” Umbrella
More and more, books and publications that were once exclusively science fiction or fantasy or horror are calling themselves “speculative fiction.” But what is speculative …
Food for Thought?
We talk a lot about how to write better and the tools you need to do that, but we don’t talk a lot about the …
What to Do When the Writing Won’t Work
Sometimes the writing just won’t work. The words won’t come, or they’re all wrong when they do. Even if you manage to type something, you …