Maggie Smith – Short Stories, Developmental Editing & the “Hear Us Roar” Podcast The first short story Maggie Smith ever wrote, “The Devil You Know,” is being published in the brand new short story anthology, False Faces, from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Maggie is also giving a workshop next month at Colorado Gold—How to Get the…
Tag: writing
A Few Modest Requests
All I want is a place to write. All I want is a place to write and a pot of good coffee. All I want is a place to write and a pot of good coffee until it’s time for a beer. All I want is a place to write with a view. All I…
Dialects: To Phoneticize or Not To Phoneticize
When writing dialog for a character who speaks with an accent or dialect, the question always comes up – do you spell their quirks of speech phonetically (“Oy, ‘ow loverly that ‘oman be!”) or merely mention the accent and then go on to write their dialog in plain English? For myself, I don’t mind phonetically…
The Writing Dungeon
There isn’t a lot to do when you’re off-duty on a nuclear submarine. There was a perpetual Dungeons & Dragons game going on. Players came and went as watches changed, even the Dungeon Masters rotated, each picking up where the other left off. Most of the time it convened in the mess, which served as…
Pregnant Purple Prose
I once called a writer friend and got the following voicemail greeting: “Pardons begged, we are presently truant and prevented from undertaking dialog with callers at present. After the modulation, please recite your sobriquet and cellular digit-string to better enable us an opportunity to reciprocate the honor of this summons.” The title of this article…