Here’s what I’m reading today in science fiction: Lou Diamond Phillips — yes, the actor guy! — has published a science-fiction retelling of the old folk tale “The Tinderbox.” In the original story, there are three dogs of varying sizes. In Phillips’ work, the “dogs” are high-tech devices of which I will speak no further.…
I’m running the short story past the critique group before I submit it to the anthology, so I’m thinking about “What makes a good short story?” First, of course, you need an idea that you can develop into a plot — and no, the two aren’t the same thing. Your idea will be something like…
Finished the story for Kevin J. Anderson’s anthology (due on Halloween!). I’m going to run it past my critique group before I send it in though … just to be sure it’s anthology-ready. I’m attending another writing conference this week via Zoom … it’s not specifically sci-fi but has a lot of great workshops and…
So I’ve joined this group of insecure writers … I’m feeling a bit insecure myself since I can’t seem to find an agent interested enough in the novel to even request a full manuscript. It wouldn’t be so bad if they actually read the thing, then decided they didn’t like it enough to represent it. I tried…
My local writing group has reassured me that I am not a terrible writer. In fact, they liked my last chapter so much that I didn’t get a whole lot of corrections or questions on it. That cheered me up a bit, I must say. Of course, this doesn’t mean I can rest on my…