By Stephen A. Benjamin How many times have writers been asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” If we all had the proverbial nickel for each . . . Every time I give some nebulous and unsatisfying answer to the cocktail party query, I wonder if I should have something more cogent in my reply, and…
Category: General Interest
Adventures in Genre Writing: Lesson Nine-How Much Sex? How Much Romance?
By Jeanne C. Stein Sex in writing is always a touchy subject—pun intended. Where does love making end and erotica begin? How much sex is too much? Do you have to have sex in your story? Let’s start with the last question first. To be frank, most readers of genres such as UF or (of…
Whack the Cliché
By Mark Stevens Is it possible to write a 100,000-word novel that is devoid of clichés? Completely scrubbed free of all tired descriptions, predictable scenes, over-used descriptions, seen-them-all-before characters? A panel* on clichés at Left Coast Crime last month in Portland sparked my thinking. First, check this out: The word cliché is drawn from the…
The Goodreads Connection
By Patricia Stoltey So far in my series about blogging and social media I’ve discussed blogs and Twitter. In addition to blogging, I try to use a limited number of social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Google+ so far). I’m signed up on Library Thing, however, and may get busy over there once I…
The Only Writing Advice You Really Need
By Mary Gillgannon I recently read a blog by a newly published writer about rejection. Her worst one came from an editor who basically suggested she quit writing: “You cannot write, you have no talent, and I prefer not to be bothered anymore.” Ouch. But the point of the blog was that the writer ignored…