by Terry McGarry Originally appeared in the Bulletin of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Spring 1995. Copyright © 1995 Terry McGarry. Reprinted with permission. Many copyeditors prefer to spell the word “copyeditor.” I laughed when I got page proofs of a short story I had written about a copyeditor: the anthology’s copyeditor […]
It’s the nature of writers to fall in love with words, particularly their own. Clever turns of phrase excite us; we beam like proud parents when our protagonists take on lives of their own; a shapely plot twist can turn our heads. There is nothing wrong with indulging in the occasional fling-as long as it stops in draft. When time comes to make that final revision, however, you must harden your heart, sharpen the ax and murder your darlings.
by Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg It’s often said that nothing learned goes to waste. Certainly we as writers find this is true. Everything is grist for the story mill. I’ve also noticed that, as I read the bios of my fellow authors, we have chequered pasts and still tend to wear several hats. I am no […]
by Dr. Debra Doyle The temptation, in arguments involving genre fiction and literary taste, is to give up and say, “Okay, I’m a philistine, not to mention an unlettered slob. I like the books anyway” — but dammit, I’m not an unlettered slob, I’m a professional writer with an earned doctorate in English literature, and […]
by B.W. Clough Copyright © 1995 B. W. Clough. First published in the Fall 1995 issue of the Bulletin. A writer needs many gifts to succeed. One that I fatally lack is the gift of titling. I can write a good book or story, but choosing an appropriate, zingy, marketable title for it is often […]
James Van Pelt writes on perseverance as a writer.
An article by James Patrick Kelly on writing stronger characters.
An essay by James Patrick Kelly on the writing of his short story ‘Monsters’.
Writerisms describes overused and misused language. In more direct words: find ’em, root ’em out, and look at your prose without the underbrush.
Written by Amy Sterling Casil When we criticise work, we are commenting for the purposes of publishability, and our goal is to help authors to become publishable and published writers. For prose pieces, the following issues are critically important: Plot – does the action make sense? Is what is written moving the story forward? Sometimes, […]
In this debut novel, stoic sharpshooter Melinda West and her partner, Lance, exterminate monsters in the Old West. When they accidentally release a demon, they embark on a desperate journey to save their friend’s soul and stop a supernatural war.
Jonathan Nevair is a sci-fi writer and, as Dr. Jonathan Wallis, an art historian and Professor of Art History at Moore College of Art & Design, After two decades of academic teaching and publishing, he finally got up the nerve to write fiction.
