A few hours to go until the new year... To be honest, I don't know how much of this one I'll remember later on down the road, as I'm not particularly good at recalling events in time. (I'm the one who shows up to your doorstep the day after your party holding out a bottle … Continue reading Happy 2022!
Writing
Philosophical Stories: After Dinner Conversation
I have some good news to share—one of my short stories, An Unspeakable Life, got accepted for publication in an online magazine, After Dinner Conversation. I hear it will be coming out to subscribers on January 1st of 2022, and in the anthology possibly in September. And maybe, just maybe, a podcast discussion to follow. … Continue reading Philosophical Stories: After Dinner Conversation
The Fortnight in September
R.C. Sherriff's 1931 novel, The Fortnight in September, is about a happy family on a pleasant seaside vacation during which nothing really bad happens. Try selling that to a publisher. But when you think about it, it's actually a tantalizing premise. Pretty much all fiction illustrates what happiness isn't. It's much harder to write a … Continue reading The Fortnight in September
Narrative Distance
In my last post on writing in omniscient, I didn't want to get into talking about POV transitions, since I thought the topic deserved its own post. There are plenty of articles out there on how to avoid head hopping, so I won't get into that. Instead I'll focus on 'zooming in' from your omniscient … Continue reading Narrative Distance
Omniscient—Do You Dare?
One time at a writing workshop, someone asked the speaker for tips on writing in omniscient. His response: Unless you're Tolstoy, don't do it. Well, call me Tolstoy. The thing is, I really wasn't trying to swim upstream. I had to rewrite my novel in omniscient. Doing so cut it down to a manageable size, … Continue reading Omniscient—Do You Dare?
Diotima's Ladder 