I’ve been trying to write the perfect post about revising a novel and failing over and over. One part of my problem stems from the total difficulty of the project. I’ve tried to revise four previous novels and I’m in the middle of revising a fifth, and I still feel like I haven’t nailed the [...]
Author Archive > Wendy Wagner
Mastering Multiple Point of View Characters–a guest post
I’m super-excited to share this guest post with you guys–Garrett and I were college buddies who reconnected years later through Twitter and a shared love for spec fiction. He has a brand new novel coming out March 5th called Dreamwielder–check it out! Novels with multiple viewpoint characters are common enough, but for some reason you [...]
Craters & Gravy
My brother Jak surprised the heck out of me the other day. We were taking a break from some gaming (Arkham Horror, if you’re interested) and readying some dinner. I was in a hurry, so I pulled out two boxes of instant mashed potatoes. “Do you want fake potatoes and gravy or flavored fake potatoes?” [...]
Fight Scenes That Sizzle
I write violent fiction. As a kid, I loved action movies and heroic fighting fantasy novels. I read The Iliad and The Odyssey when I was eleven and told my mom I preferred The Iliad because of the fight scenes. To this day, when I sit down to watch a movie, I will always [...]
Working With An Agent: Personality Counts (guest post by Mercedes Yardley)
Today’s guest post comes from the talented, kind, and very lovely Mercedes Yardley! She graciously made our blog a stop on her tour promoting her new short story collection, Beautiful Sorrows, which you should probably go buy and then devour like a box of tiny dark chocolates. Me: Hello, Brilliant Agent? Brilliant Agent: Hello, Talented [...]
Sh*t from Shinola
If you’re like me, you spent most of Monday watching Hurricane Sandy pummel the east coast. Every image of flooded streets or burning power lines emblazoned itself into your retinas. The problem was, not all those pictures were real. The one above, for example, combined a photo of New York’s harbor with a storm [...]
Fire it up! A writing exercise
Last week, Christie talked about using timed writing exercises to restart your creative fires. Here’s a similar exercise that you can use to jolt yourself out of a rut. It’s based on Kerouac’s Spontaneous Prose method. You may have tried something similar in a writing class–I know I have. Find an object to study. Maybe [...]
September’s almost over!
Another month is coming to an end–and we Inkpunks are coming to the end of another great year of blogging. That kind of stuff makes me want to check my to-do list and make sure I’ve made enough check marks. It also makes me want to check in with our readers. What have you seen [...]
For a short story writer, what is success?
Here’s another guest post from editor/poet/story spinner Kaolin Fire. His advice just might light a fire under you to get writing short stories! What is success, for a short story writer? Your first sale? Pro publication? Joining the SFWA, HWA, or other such organization? It’s easy to attach a lot to those moments, looking forward; [...]
Popcorn time
You know what’s the only thing better than being a writer? Watching writers on tv. In honor of Labor Day, a holiday which demands either hard-core outdoor activity (camping!) or an escape to an air-conditioned home theater, here are my five favorite movies about writers. 5. Sophie’s Choice Only the most depressing movie ever [...]
