for writers
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FOR WRITERS: Steampunk as Afrofuturism
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: Steampunk as AfrofuturismAfrofuturism is hot right now. Ever since Black Panther made its seismic splash, the term has been bandied about and suddenly folks are “discovering” black writers who have been out there doing the thing for years. The original “Pimp My Airship” steampunk short story was published in Apex Magazine in 2009, the beginning of what…
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FOR WRITERS: Collaborating with Others
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: Collaborating with OthersI once hosted a writing date, where a bunch of authors came together at a set time to (individually) write. The experience reminded me how private I am. Everyone else had eyes glued to their screen, fingers on the keyboard silently tic tic tac tac tictictactactoc! Others furiously scrawled ideas as the muse whispered spur. I…
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FOR WRITERS: The Art of Narrative Momentum
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: The Art of Narrative MomentumMoneyball by Michael Lewis provides a great study in something I think of as ‘narrative momentum’, an important facet to writing a compelling story.
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FOR WRITERS: Speculative Poetry Is Alive!
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: Speculative Poetry Is Alive!The abstraction and aesthetics of poetry increasingly allow writers to infuse poetic text in their prose, sometimes in prose poetic form or as epigraphs in stories, novels, and novellas to enhance the rhythm, impact, and poeticity of the text.
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FOR WRITERS: Six Tips for Writing Better Book Reviews
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: Six Tips for Writing Better Book ReviewsWriting better book reviews isn’t difficult. Here are six easy ways to improving your reviewing technique.
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FOR WRITERS: How to Write a Killer Opening
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: How to Write a Killer OpeningIt bears repeating, however, that the beginning of your story should check off multiple boxes. Those boxes are Character, Setting, Plot, and Genre.
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FOR WRITERS: Writing Down Under
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: Writing Down UnderAustralian writer Eugen Bacon shares tips for finding success when you’re geographically separated from the heart of the publishing world.
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FOR WRITERS: Avoid a Passive Main Character
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: Avoid a Passive Main CharacterOne of the biggest mistakes writers make, especially in sci-fi/fantasy, is the passive main character. There’s a guy—let’s call him Bob—who is suddenly transported to an amazing fantasy world. The world is awesome! There are dragons everywhere. He’s surrounded by unicorns. He’s dragged by ruffians onto a pirate ship. But things are happening to Bob.…
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FOR WRITERS: How to be a Word Machine
Read more / watch…: FOR WRITERS: How to be a Word MachineHow do you do it? I get this question a lot. I started writing seriously with a goal of becoming a professional when I was eighteen. I’m fifty-nine now, and in that time, I’ve written and published fifty-four novels, six nonfiction books, seven short story collections, and ten novellas – all while teaching college English…
