Search Results for: Can I Be Honest About Your Writing?

“It’s too accurate” (more undocumented uses of NextStage’s Evolution Technology)

Note: this post originally appeared as a blog arc on my old Triquatrotiticale blog. I’m resurrecting the complete arc here as it’s referenced in That Think You Do‘s “The Liz Effect” chapter.Enjoy! This post is about looking in one’s mirror and dealing with what is seen. This post’s origin is being told that the reason … Continue reading ““It’s too accurate” (more undocumented uses of NextStage’s Evolution Technology)”

Trigger Warnings – Did you forget to put the gun in Act I?

“If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.” – Anton Checkov I keep running into editors and publishers wanting trigger warnings when submitting manuscripts. The need for trigger warnings confuses me because it raises a question … Continue reading “Trigger Warnings – Did you forget to put the gun in Act I?”

Grandpa’s Pasta Sauce

I need a break from Tag and will offer two flash pieces as respite. The first is Grandpa’s Pasta Sauce, written spur-of-the-moment for a class I took on creative non-fiction writing. We were given five minutes to come up with something based on a real event and humanize it. I read this piece when called … Continue reading “Grandpa’s Pasta Sauce”

Toing and Froing

We’re going to build on elements from Using One-Line Summaries to Write Better Stories and Flashback as Story Frame to deal with another story challenge that often leads editors and publishers to stop reading and reject a story: Toing and Froing (To-ing and Fro-ing), something I first wrote about in Quit Stage Directing. Simply put, … Continue reading “Toing and Froing”

Robert Newton Peck’s “Fiction is Folks”

Robert Peck’s Fiction is Folks was a difficult book for me to get through on my first read and an entertaining book on my second read. I’ll read it at least one more time before I’m satisfied I’ve sucked all the marrow from its pages (that odd phrasing is one of his suggestions. Such odd … Continue reading “Robert Newton Peck’s “Fiction is Folks””