“Professionals have standards: Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.” Believe it or not, there’s a lesson to be learned from the Sniper of Team Fortress 2 if you’re a writer looking to get published. And it doesn’t have anything to do with shooting people or covering them in piss.… Continue reading Querying Do's and Don'ts
Tag: Writing
Free Fiction: Miss Weaver's Lo Mein
Okay, I’m going to be honest. This isn’t likely to be my best story ever. I haven’t been editing as thoroughly as I could have over the weekend, which makes this essentially a first draft. And as Hemingway put it, “The first draft of anything is shit.” So it’ll probably be better when it gets… Continue reading Free Fiction: Miss Weaver's Lo Mein
Characters, Corpses & Kittens
As you create your characters, whatever your ultimate purpose in doing so might be, it’s likely they’re going to have an emotional response to something sooner or later. Unless they are coming into contact with our world from an entirely alien, outside perspective (which in and of itself can make for a good story), they’re… Continue reading Characters, Corpses & Kittens
There is a New Post here.
You are in Blue Ink Alchemy. There is an exit through the Internet. There is a New Post here. It is dark. You may be eaten by a grue. Does anybody else remember ZORK? It was something I played briefly in my youth. It was one of my very first adventure games. This was long… Continue reading There is a New Post here.
Character Creation
Sometimes, I miss Warhammer Online. This morning I read a rather brief guide on Writing Believable Characters from the Young Adult Fantasy Guide. It’s a great overview of what to do right and what to avoid when putting your characters together. I highly recommend you go give it a read if you’re thinking of starting… Continue reading Character Creation
Abandon All Hope
Once upon a time I wrote an article for an online magazine. It went over pretty well. The relationship I described therein has blossomed, and my wife and I work together on quite a few occasions to best the challenges of a particular game. I thought that might be worth writing about. And then, along… Continue reading Abandon All Hope
The Paths to Self-Publication
So. Self-publication. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought lately. If you’re anything like me, though (and if you are you should really think about seeing a professional), you have a habit of catching just a whiff of a new endeavor and throwing yourself at it to the expense of all else. If that’s… Continue reading The Paths to Self-Publication
Time is Money, Friend
I’m afraid today’s Free Fiction is getting postponed. The shuffling of matters at the dayjob have thrown certain things for a loop and I’m struggling to catch up. I’m also still getting settled into the new OS install at home, and contemplating a scrub of the laptop (it’s a long story). I do have some… Continue reading Time is Money, Friend
Writers Gotta Write
I think one of the worst things you can do as a writer is sit idle. I don’t mean physically, though that probably comes into it. The remote control, the take-out menu, the bottle of booze – they’re all comforts we reach for in general. Writers in particular can feel affected, even exhausted, by what… Continue reading Writers Gotta Write
Magpie Management
I apologize for yesterday’s oddness. I’ve been meaning to adjust the schedule of my blogging. Not on this end, mind you: posts will still publish as near to noon as possible. I figure folks on lunch break might want something interesting to read other than the news. It’s totally a creation-oriented thing. Rather than scrambling… Continue reading Magpie Management
