Category: short story
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Words of the Week 3/12/2014
This week’s words: ineffectual adj. not producing the desired effect apostate n. one who renounces a principle or belief; one who forsakes a cause barbarous adj. savagely cruel, brutal; uncivilized (much as it sounds: barbaric) dissimulation n. deception; disguising or concealing one’s true thoughts, motives, feelings, etc. pullulating adj. swarming, teeming, sprouting with ~ In…
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Forum Friday: What was the first part of your WIP that came to you?
It’s amazing to me how many places stories can spring from and what wild directions they can grow in. Every story begins as a single idea, whether in a scene, an image, a character, a name, a superpower, a concept, a line, a title, a prompt, etc. Drawing from my own experience, the starting point…
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The Most Disgusting Thing I’ve Ever Done
As a writer, I just had to sit down and type this little mishap up. It was too visceral not to record. So here’s what happened. Last week, I turned on a lamp in the living room. Flash. The filament cracks to a surge of blue and the light bulb promptly dies. I unplug the…
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Forum Friday: Craft & Reference Books
The more I experience of novels (reading, writing, and reading about them), the more I am struck by the brimming seas of information and resources out there on novel craft, improving writing, grammar/punctuation, character and story development, etc. etc. etc. ad every element you can possibly imagine related to writing and or publishing a work…
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And the first rule of writing on the computer IS:
If you have never seen this before, you may find some context helpful:
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How do your stories begin?
There’s no right, wrong, or even singular answer to this question—I’m just curious to see where other writers have found inspiration. A story’s conception is a curious thing. For me it is almost always different. Sometimes it begins with a prompt (duct tape + drunken cheerleader + ninja + Bally Total Fitness); sometimes with a…
Julie Israel 