In preparation for the 2020 RMFW anthology, I’ve covered three critical elements of the short story: plot, character, and setting. These are the building blocks of short fiction; conquer them, and you’re guaranteed a good story. But a great story? A tear-in-the-eye, punch-in-the-gut, knock-it-out-of-the-park story? That requires a killer ending. In my opinion, the ending…
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My Takeaways from the 2019 RMFW Annual Event
Writers really want to talk to people. We had a ton of people sign up for one-on-ones, including pitches, first pages, query letters, and synopses, as well as just talking shop. Those writers realized getting another set of eyes—especially experienced, professional ones—on their work can only benefit them. (Oh, and by the way, those professionals…
Rocky Mountain Writer #167
Bernadette Marie – Independent Writer of the Year Finalist For the third year in a row, Bernadette Marie is one of three finalists for the Independent Writer of the Year. With some 35 books in print and many more in the pipeline, Bernadette Marie is the definition of prolific. She also runs a publishing company…
She Cried a River: Best Blogs for Writing Emotion
If you’re like me, when writing on deadline you just toss words into the scene during the rough draft. This helps the pace and power of the scene. Without pondering each sentence to find the precise word, it’s easier to capture the excitement of the scene and accurately present the conflict. After the dust has…
Remembered Words
In The Joy of Music, Leonard Bernstein wrote about Beethoven: “Imagine a whole lifetime of this struggle, movement after movement, symphony after symphony, sonata after quartet after concerto. Always probing and rejecting in his dedication to perfection, to the principle of inevitability. This somehow is the key to the mystery of a great artist: that…