Holly Lisle’s first anthology has engendered 60 entries from among her students in a wide variety of her courses. The four moderators have read and scored all those entries, added some brief feedback to each one, and compiled the final … Continue reading
It’s always exciting when we get news that one of Holly’s students has gotten an offer from a publisher. We love to celebrate the success! Unfortunately, sometimes offers come with stings attached. What should a new author do when an … Continue reading
Some stories are best told by an omniscient narrator who sees all, knows all, and tells all, if he decides to. Others are best told in that most intimate of viewpoints, first person. But for many writers, the standard POV … Continue reading
So you have this fantastic idea for a story. You’re in love with your character, your conflict, your setting… but you aren’t sure how much story you actually have. How do you decide whether the story you want to write … Continue reading
You built one heckuva world. It’s got swell physics, magic to die for (mwahaha), and history out the wazoo. Every bit of it is exciting, and you’re understandably proud of it. You want to show it off. Your reader is … Continue reading
One of the big issues that faces writers of fantasy stories and novels is what to do about magic. If a story has magic in it, by definition it’s fantasy. But it doesn’t take long to realize that the subject … Continue reading
Remember when National Novel Writing Month was in November? You know what they say–if you can remember November, then you weren’t doing NaNo right. Ah. NaNo, like so many other good things in life, has expanded. And if April’s Camp … Continue reading
Sometimes the first lines of a new story simply do not want to leave the warm, damp coziness of the writer’s brain and land on the blank page or screen. They dig in and refuse to venture out. What’s the … Continue reading
March 30, 2013 — Deadline Don’t forget to submit your short stories for our anthology. Prizes–does that help? Go here for all the details.
Do you characters “say” things? Do they “reply”? Or do they stammer, snort, yell, or in other ways express dialogue? The current wisdom says that a good writer won’t use any attribution except “said” or, perhaps, “ask.” Everything else calls … Continue reading