Motivation. You hear it all the time. Your characters need to be motivated to pick up that sword and slay the dragon, venture to a distant galaxy, or figure out why there’s a dead body at the bottom of the well. What motivates your character to do what they need to do in your story?…
Author: Mark Stevens
Mark Stevens is the author of the The Fireballer (Lake Union, 2023) and The Allison Coil Mystery Series including Antler Dust, Buried by the Roan, Trapline, Lake of Fire, and The Melancholy Howl. Trapline won The Colorado Book Award for Best Mystery. Stevens has also published short stories in Denver Noir (Akashic Books, 2022), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Tribune, among others. Stevens is longtime member of Mystery Writers of America. In 2023, Stevens was named Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers for the second time. He lives in southwest Colorado.
Rocky Mountain Writer #71
David S. Atkinson & Apocalypse All The Time One reviewer said David Atkinson’s novel Apocalypse All The Time combines absurdism, science fiction and sly commentary in a story reminiscent of Orwell, Kafka and Swift. This time on the podcast, David Atkinson discusses his latest work and talks about his writing process, including his eclectic approach…
Rocky Mountain Writer #70
Jamie Raintree & Your Most Productive Writing Year The guest is Jamie Raintree, who is presenting this month’s free workshop (Saturday, Jan. 21) for RMFW in downtown Denver. The presentation is called “Your Most Productive Writing Year” and on the podcast Jamie offers highlights from her approach to planning your writing and your writing career….
Rocky Mountain Writer #69
Suzie Brooks & Literary Wanderlust The first episode of 2017 begins with the second installment of Writer’s Rehab. This quick session with Natasha Watts deals with sprucing up your vocabulary. Following Natasha, the guest is Suzie Brooks, who launched the independent publishing house Literary Wanderlust three short years ago. Suzie talks the submission and scouting process,…
Details, Details
Go find a copy of Lucia Berlin’s short story collection, A Manual for Cleaning Women. Find “Point of View” within. (Actually, okay, read the whole book or maybe one short story a week for as long as it takes. The title story is a masterpiece of humor and narration.) But “Point of View” is a…