Move over, Ebenezer, there are other holidays - and not all ghosts are crankypants.  There’s an old woman who died while holding a holiday ornament, and her grandchild’s mother had no one to help take care of the baby - so grandma stuck around.
( No floating bedsheets, please )

Lots of YA books have cursing and bad words - but in fantasy SF, not so much.
hat's cuz we invent new swear words  that censors don't notice!

New swear words for my book:

By the builder's hammer  (aka by thor's hammer)

By the fires of destruction AKA oh hell

BY the light of creation aka O Jaysus we're all gonna die

Which old witch? The wicked witch.  Snow White can go home now, if she's not dead.

I finally killed Her Majesty, the step mother of Snow White.  I hate writing fight scenes, and thought a magician's duel a la Merlin vs. Madame Mim would be easier.  Not so much ( Read more... )

I never even knew it.
My writing style is, 'bad things happened', and then...  and then...  and then...

After, I go back and fill in the emotions that really should be in there somewhere.

According to this post, that makes me a manly writer ( Read more... )

Adverbs are allegedly lazy writing, but sometimes they are the one right word.
( To Boldly Go )

Where did the last three months go?

I’ve been writing Anna’s story and short stories, and sending out short stories.
I hadn’t noticed the lack of rejection letters.
Really, who sits around counting the days to a rejection letter?

I should.

So today I spent an hour or so with my list of stories, tracking down the magazine web-sites, and ( Read more... )

I thought I'd reach 'The End' already, but this chapter stretched...  and stretched.  There might be two more chapters ( Read more... )

Three rules about the Evil Villain's Evil Monologue of Doom

1) The Evil Monologue should explain that Evil Villain (TM) is in fact a misunderstood hero who will make the world a better place, as soon as everyone starts cooperating with her/him.

( You know you want to join me... )

Why do you need the word high three times?
Instead of a waist high wall and high roof, this well had flagstones heaped in a knee-high latticed circle.

Instead of a sturdy wall and standing windlass, this well …

In her youth, rainbows shimmered on so much water, the bucket didn’t even have reach the end of its rope.

In her youth, she could dabble he ( Read more... )

World-building: when science fiction writers create a new world or culture, they have to create a seamless web of customs, cultures, clothing, geography, languages, maybe politics and war.

( Travel with me... )