We Write!
Alma. T. C. Boykin Is it just me, or are we hearing less about timing your release for reading seasons? I'm not thinking about the obvious ones, like Christmas, romances in February, "beach reads" in May-June*, horror in September, "holiday" titles starting in November, and things like that. It is more about sales seasons and... Continue Reading →
Everyone remembers those decisions, those actions (or inactions) that, well, could have changed your world -always in our belief, for the better. Of course, many of the other decisions, the other actions (or inactions) that DID change your world... most of those are forgotten. Not all, naturally - we remember wedding anniversaries (or we can... Continue Reading →
[--- Karen Myers ---] No story teller wants to have to describe his fictional world setting molecule by molecule, and no reader wants to slog through that. The way we avoid it is by incorporating worlds we already know as part of our fictional world. Even the most alien speculative world has elements that our... Continue Reading →
Alma T. C. Boykin How many of us are blessed with the gift to instantly see what needs to be corrected after we finish a manuscript? Yeah. I'm not either. My habit is to finish the rough-rough draft. Then a day later I go in and fix the last little stuff that I realized I... Continue Reading →
I am not in a hurry to read Neville Shute's ON THE BEACH again. Suicide pills are not my idea of a good ending. There are of course, many great books that don't end 'happily ever after'. Good for them. For me, I like at least a satisfactory end to a book. Real life is... Continue Reading →
So, most of you probably know that last October, Amazon broke the kindle store. I mean, keywording and search has been broken well before that, such that keywording would go cross-categories in places they didn't want it to - so, for example, the same keywords that let a romance author slot her book in military... Continue Reading →
"But Cedar! Formulaic is Bad!" No. No it is not, it's shorthand, more often than not, for you don't like it. Formula is a useful tool, and one most writers are using, even if unconsciously. In fact, to break out of being a formulaic writer, you must understand the formula first, and then deliberately set... Continue Reading →
For everything there is a time and a season . . . but unless you are Larry C. or Deadpool™ interrupting a fight scene for a magnificent description of something is not the place for Churchillian eloquence. There are times in which soaring to flights of Latinate rhetorical magnificence is desirable. There are times for... Continue Reading →
At the moment I am listening to audiobooks a fair bit. When one is working with your hands, particularly on fairly undemanding things, they're a great distraction (and yes, I am still needing distraction. Dear bureaucrats...) From the very fast reader who also writes (very slowly) point of view, it has been interesting. You see... Continue Reading →
Or, How hard are you going to make the reader work for the story? One of the interesting things about hanging out in a group that crosses a lot of genres and watching writers put up snippets is watching the rest of the group trying to give feedback in isolation. Quite a few times, they... Continue Reading →
Mad Genius Club 