November 2009

Words to Watch Out For

November 30, 2009

Spellcheck is your fair weather friend. It doesn’t catch everything, and it can’t be relied upon when it counts. You can hang out with it for as far as it goes, but don’t depend on it when your life (or career) depends on proper spelling. I’ve seen the words and phrases below misused frequently in [...]

Read the full article →

The Great December Slush Rush

November 23, 2009

Final preparations are underway in anticipation of the month of open submissions at Dragon Moon Press. Reaction has been varied and interesting. I’ve been told alternately that I’m brave, smart, and crazy for deciding to open the gates for a month. I’ve already received submissions that fall into every category on the “do not send” [...]

Read the full article →

Life Happens

November 19, 2009

Monday, I lamented the sort of plot that’s all about life happening to a hapless protagonist. The fact is, sometimes life happens to all of us, and circumstances arise beyond our control in ways that leave us to pick up the pieces. It’s wearying to a reader if you try to make it an entire [...]

Read the full article →

When Life Happens to your Characters

November 16, 2009

or, Doormats as Protagonists A book review and not-so-veiled rant over at The Rejectionist has captured the spirit of one of my writing peeves so well that I could easily link the post, tell you to read it, and call it a day. What we are heartily sick of, however, are feeble and inept teenage-girl [...]

Read the full article →

Call For Submissions

November 12, 2009

It’s time for an experiment. Dragon Moon Press will be opening its virtual doors for submissions for the month of December, 2009. WHAT WE WANT: Completed 80,000-100,000 word novels in the following genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Gentle Horror, in any flavor or variety. WHAT WE DON’T WANT: Children’s, middle grade, YA, nonfiction, biography, short stories, [...]

Read the full article →

Summary time

November 9, 2009

I’m juggling illness, deadlines and more deadlines this week, so I direct you over to Buried in the Slushpile this week. In addition to a post about the important qualities of the one page summary, there’s a writing prompt for summaries at the Get Me Out of the Slush Pile! forum, this week only. Go [...]

Read the full article →

More Tips for Polished Writing: Part 2

November 5, 2009

Today’s tips involve time, timing, and putting the drama in a dramatic moment. There’s nothing explicitly “wrong” with any of the words or phrases I’m recommending against, below. The problem with them is that they almost always steal the power or the opportunity from a moment that could be stronger. There’s a certain amount of [...]

Read the full article →

Seasonal Reprint: Grammar Vampires

November 2, 2009

A great time was had at World Fantasy Con. I met and caught up with a lot of fantastic people, and now I’m back in the office again. As a belated nod to Halloween, I’m reprinting a relevant column while I catch up on work. For your reading pleasure: Grammar Vampires. (originally posted July 31, [...]

Read the full article →