What Novelists Should Know About Short Fiction When I first started writing seriously, all I wanted was to publish a novel. I thought my intentions were honourable—that I wasn’t just another wannabe with dreams of making it big—but there was always that little part of me that still wasn’t ready to put in my dues. I wanted it all, and I wanted it right away. Then, something life-changing happened. A Writing Revelation In order to be sure I was writing something that wouldn’t be rejected, I read and deconstructed a lot of short stories, listened to them on podcasts, and spent a painfully long period of time perfecting my piece. My piece was accepted. All of this changed the course of my writing forever. And that could have a huge impact on my ability to write, sell, and market a novel. If you consider yourself strictly a novelist, have you given some thought to whether short fiction can help you achieve your goals? Consider: 1. Reading short fiction offers an opportunity to become more widely read in less time. 2. 3.
50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Writers and Writing Majors With the popularity of blogging and online journals, writers working in the online realm have a growing number of opportunities all the time to practice and refine their craft, and maybe even get paid for it. And if you’re a writing major, why not take advantage of all the opportunities to get great free and open source resources that can help you to write, edit and organize your work? Here’s a list of fifty open source tools that you can use to make your writing even better. Word Processors Why pay for expensive word processing programs when you can get high quality and open source alternatives for much less? yWriter: This word processor is designed especially for writers. Reference Everyone needs a little help with spelling and grammar now and again, and these programs can get you on the right track. JaLingo: This OS independent program allows users to easily look up words in a dictionary right from their desktop, whether they have an Internet connection or not. Organization Helpful Tools
Writing Prompts, Blogging Prompts, Story Topic Generators, Photo Inspiration Writing : Creative Writing & Blogging Prompts Topic Starters, Picture Prompts, and Thought-Provoking Questions for You to Answer "The best learning comes in the doing, and writing from prompts engenders doing."— Judy Reeves Many writers and bloggers seek out articles, prompts, and story starters to get their creative juices flowing. We've also listed recommended resources outside of our domain featuring more free writing prompts, story starters, daily writing exercises, visual art prompts, and writing topic generators. Writing & Photo Prompts, Tools, & Generators on Creativity Portal "Novels, short stories, flash fictions, memoirs, personal narrative and creative nonfiction, even poetry — all have found publication from their start as writing prompts." — Judy Reeves Take Ten for Writers Exercises Get creative with these exercises from Bonnie Neubauer's Take Ten for Writers! Brickstorming Your Legacy Brick What would you write on your legacy brick in 3 lines with 14 characters each?
DarkCopy - Simple, full screen text editing Daniel & Daniel Publishers: Writers Resources #1 You may not wish to follow these rules as you write your own stories, but you should at least be aware of them, and know that if you're not following them, you are not following them by choice. If you do find yourself following them, it won't be by choice. It will be because you are writing well. If you don't believe that art should have rules, then think of what follows as a set of standards, or a collection of common sense. About style Show 'em, don't tell 'em. Stay in control: outline your story, and follow your outline. Stay in control: don't be controlled by your outline. If those last two items seem to contradict one another, you're right, so find the rule that works best for you, but remember that the desired result is the same: a story that presents an ironic combination of inevitability and surprise. Be selective. Being selective is especially important when you're writing autobiographical fiction or even just writing from personal experience (which is inevitable). Write strong.
The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations is a descriptive list which was created by Georges Polti to categorize every dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance. To do this Polti analyzed classical Greek texts, plus classical and contemporaneous French works. He also analyzed a handful of non-French authors. In his introduction, Polti claims to be continuing the work of Carlo Gozzi, who also identified 36 situations. Publication history[edit] “Gozzi maintained that there can be but thirty-six tragic situations. This list was published in a book of the same name, which contains extended explanations and examples. The list is popularized as an aid for writers, but it is also used by dramatists, storytellers and many others. The 36 situations[edit] Each situation is stated, then followed by the necessary elements for each situation and a brief description. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
Articles I’ve written extensively about writing over the years, and to the left, you’ll find the sections for the writing articles, how-tos, and workshops I’ve written on this site.On your right, you’ll find links to the individual articles. Complete and always-current section directories are here: Writing FAQS Directory The most frequently-asked questions I’ve received since I started the first version of this site back in 1997. Writing Heart, Mind, & Soul Directory The process and philosophy of writing: why writing fiction matters. Writing HOW-TOs Directory Answers to the most frequent “How do I do this?” Writing Workshops Directory Step by step, “get out your paper and start writing” workshops you can do right now to learn new skills. This is only a small portion of my writing material, though. My objective with this is to present the skills you need in a form you can learn and use immediately, without wasting time on untried theory. Holly Lisle n_philosophy
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Turkey City Lexicon - A Primer for SF Workshops Edited by Lewis Shiner Second Edition by Bruce Sterling Introduction by Lewis Shiner This manual is intended to focus on the special needs of the science fiction workshop. Having an accurate and descriptive critical term for a common SF problem makes it easier to recognize and discuss. The terms here were generally developed over a period of many years in many workshops. Introduction (II) by Bruce Sterling People often ask where science fiction writers get their ideas. Workshops come in many varieties — regional and national, amateur and professional, formal and frazzled. But the workshopping experience does not require any shepherding by experts. The general course of action in the modern SF workshop (known as the “Milford system”) goes as follows. Following the circle in order, with a minimum of cross-talk or interruptions, each person emits his/her considered opinions of the story’s merits and/or demerits. Anyone can play. Science fiction boasts many specialized critical terms. Bathos