The best fiction and writing blog posts from around the ‘net, all guaranteed to make you a literary heavyweight. Compiled by ernie.
C.S. Wilde – Free Scene Planer
John Hartness – Music to write by
Miguel Olmedo Morell – The Day I Filmed Tolkien’s Grandson
Fionn Grant – There Is No Original
Penstricken – A Fight Scene Worth Reading
Janice Hardy – Backstory: Finding the Right Balance
Alice Osborn – Why I Love Editing
Ernest Hemingway Seven Tips on How to Write Fiction
“A brilliant flash fiction can illuminate a world in a moment. It can tell an epic story in the space of a page. The compression necessary to a flash fiction piece means it takes on a greater urgency, a controlled burn that means every single word on that page is necessary, is living and breathing and is saying the thing that so desperately needs to be said. Every piece of kindling is cut and placed and perfect.” Amber Sparks
The best fiction and writing blog posts from around the ‘net, all guaranteed to make you a literary ninja. Compiled by yukio.
Joanne Jeffries and Julian Yanover – The 10 most Influential Poets in History
Jacqui Murray – 19 Ways to Describe People
Amber MV – The Aliveness of Places
Lowlife Magazine – The Private Detective – A Beginner’s Guide
Candace – Literary Dust (timely and well-written reviews)
John Hartness – The #1 Reason Your Book Gets Rejected
Ruth Harris – Create Memorable Characters: The Secret’s in the Details
Yukio Mishima – Sun and Steel
The best fiction and writing blog posts from around the ‘net, all guaranteed to make you a literary rock star. Compiled by ezra.
John Hartness – 5 Reasons Why Your Story or Novel Gets Rejected
A. J. Humpage – How to Pace A Novel
A. E. Stueve – On the Writing Process
Nicloa Alter – The Power of Competitions and Selections in YA Fiction
Emily Barton – Literary or Genre, It’s The Plot That Counts
Anna H. Lucy – The Art That Does Have The Power To Save Lives
Brigido Anaya – Mastery, and the Meaning of Practise
Julian Yanover – CSI: Poetry
“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.” – John Steinbeck
“The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. Since man is mortal, the only immortality possible for him is to leave something behind him that is immortal since it will always move. This is the artist’s way of scribbling ‘Kilroy was here’ on the wall of the final and irrevocable oblivion through which he must someday pass.” – William Faulkner
For my birthday, my wife took me out for a night on the town that included a screening of Sunset Boulevard at the ImaginOn playhouse. It was part of a series entitled “Hollywood Shoots Itself: 11 Movies About Movies.” I saw Sunset Boulevard decades ago while working as a projectionist at a small television station, and was amazed at what I could remember — AND at what I’d forgotten.
Joe Gillis, played by William Holden, is an ambitious writer in 1949 Hollywood, but hasn’t sold a script in months. In typical writerly fashion, he wonders if just maybe his scripts are “too original” for Hollywood. (Hey, I’ve been guilty of that. How about you?) Anyway, Gillis finally snags an appointment with a producer, and makes his best elevator speech about a script for a movie with the working title Bases Loaded:
SHELDRAKE
All right, Gillis. You’ve got
five minutes. What’s your story
about?
GILLIS
It’s about a ball player, a rookie
shortstop that’s batting 347. The
poor kid was once mixed up in a hold-
up. But he’s trying to go straight —
except there’s a bunch of gamblers
who won’t let him.
SHELDRAKE
So they tell the kid to throw the
World Series, or else, huh?
GILLIS
More or less. Only for the end
I’ve got a gimmick that’s real good.
Lesson for Writers Number 1: Your story has to stand out. Not only must the stakes be high, but you have to have a concept that’ll intrigue and entertain. It’s too easy to resort to stale formulas and hope YOUR version of a plot that’s been done to death will be different because YOU are the writer. News flash: It’ll take more than good writing or, worse, some kind of gimmick to get readers’ attention. Writers have to offer both a theme that readers will identify with as well as an interesting new twist on that theme. Gillis just doesn’t get it.
But he runs into someone who does when Sheldrake summons Betty, one of his readers, played by a businesslike but adorable Nancy Olson:
BETTY
Hello, Mr. Sheldrake. On that Bases
Loaded. I covered it with a 2-page
synopsis.
(She holds it out)
But I wouldn’t bother.
SHELDRAKE
What’s wrong with it?
BETTY
Just a rehash of something that
wasn’t very good to begin with.
Ouch. But Betty’s right about Gillis’ script. In fact, everyone can see it’s a stale muffin except Gillis. Betty and Gillis gradually forget their awkward first meeting and couple up, but guess what? Even after Betty falls in love with Gillis, she still thinks Bases Loaded is a turkey.
That brings us to Lesson for Writers Number 2: Don’t take criticism personally. When you hear your wip doesn’t have what it takes, it doesn’t mean your readers don’t like you. Consider that the problems come from your manuscript rather than the debased natures of the philistines who don’t swoon over your work.
If you haven’t seen Sunset Boulevard, or haven’t seen it in a while, check it out. It’s a treasure chest of hilarious, sad, embarrassing, and educational scenes for all writers.
Aurora Wolf, a “literary journal of science fiction and fantasy,” has revamped its web site. In addition to brightening things up, they’ve created a more user-friendly commenting system. They’ve also added a new column on their home page entitled “Most Popular Stories.” (No direct link; go to the home page and scroll down.) The ranking includes stories published from 2009 up to the most current issue (July, 2016).
Anyway, my short story “Witch Flambé,” which was published in May, 2016, made the top five. Mega-thanks to my readers!
Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications will publish Unbound II: Changed Worlds in August. This themed anthology includes my short story “Hunting Ground.” From their web site:
Our second in the groundbreaking collection of short stories with the underlying theme Changed Worlds. The Unbound Anthology series published by Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications started with more than 200 submissions. Carefully, we examined each story and finally ended with the best of the best for your enjoyment.
This collection covers both Science Fiction and Fantasy, taking you around the universe and into worlds beyond your imagination.
And here’s a suggestion for my fellow writers: if you’re looking for a great venue for your work, check out Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications. Editor M.J. Moores was a pleasure to work with, and I must say that her advice made my story stronger.
In other news, I still have five stories submitted to various publishers, all looking for a little slush pile love. Next week I’m meeting with my critique group to hear their ideas on a sixth story, which I’ll submit somewhere after I incorporate their suggestions. My goal this year was to always have at least three active submissions out, and I’ve held to it so far.
Wish me luck!
“The rejection slip is very hard to take on an empty stomach. There were times when I’d sit at that old wooden table and read one of those cold slips that had been attached to a story I had loved and worked on very hard and believed in, and I couldn’t help crying.”
– Ernest Hemingway
M.C. Tuggle, Writer 