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Tag Archives: writing
Tools For Writers: Using Dragon Dictate
For a couple of months now, I’ve been experimenting with using Dragon Dictate for writing, both fiction and nonfiction. In fact, I’m using it to write this post.
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Connections
I had a wonderful time talking to Shaun Duke and Jen Zink of the Skiffy and Fanty Show last week. The podcast is up here. If you enjoy it and use iTunes, show them a little love with a rating on there.
A reason the interview wa so enjoyable was that they asked really interesting, incisive questions about the stories in Near + Far, in that way a writer desires and dreads at the same time, where they’re seeing some of your psyche’s underpinnings shaping the stories that you create. I’ve been mulling over some of those questions since then, and was thinking about one on the bus home the other day.
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Posted in 2012, career, near+far, podcasts, Writing
Tagged connections, interviews, jen zink, shaun duke, skiffy and fanty, writing
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Writing And Courage
You can write anything in fiction. Go for it. No one knows where your life ends and the fictioneering begins, so use the material life gives you freely, gleefully, fully. Face the themes that terrify you and write your fears out without worrying about who will read them. It may not solve them, it may not make them any less scary, but at least you’re using them. And your stories will be so much the better for it.
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Posted in 2012, Cat's art, clarion west, daily life, Writing
Tagged courage, new jersey turnpike, ptsd, why writers are lucky, write anything, writing
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News about Classes for the Rest of 2012
Please pass this information along to your social networks if you knpow anyone who might be interested in an online class in writing, editing, or social networking for writers. I’ve just been wrestling with my calendar in order to update … Continue reading
Posted in 2012, classes & workshops, social networking, teaching, Writing
Tagged classes, online workshop, writing
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Free Flash Fiction – Up The Chimney
It’s Friday and the Clarion West Write-a-thon is about to start. So in its honor, here’s a flash piece that appeared in my collection, Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight. The piece is called “Up The Chimney” and it’s a brief riff on an old fairy tale. Enjoy.
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Posted in 2012, flash fiction, free fiction, humor, online fiction, write-a-thon, Writing
Tagged be careful what you wish for, fairy tales, king of cats, write-a-thon, writeathon, writing
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Explaining Things In Fiction
Many of us know the term “infodump,” where a whooooole bunch of information necessary for understanding the story gets thrown at the reader, sometimes in the form of dialogue, sometimes outright chunks of books, or some other form. We want to avoid these because they’re usually dry and a little boring, and because they put readers off. Continue reading
More Dorothy Dunnett Analysis
More Dunnett, this time a fight scene that’s as carefully choreographed as her prose. Here Lymond and Jerott are fighting, and it’s soon after Jerott’s ideas of Lymond have been reversed. It doesn’t come out till somewhat after the passage that Lymond is desperately (with Lymond, it’s always desperately) ill with fever. Continue reading
Posted in Books, teaching, Writing
Tagged description, dorothy dunnett, lymond chronicles, writing
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May Stats
May stats, including words written, submissions sent, and classes taught. Continue reading
Posted in career, daily life, Seattle, teaching
Tagged bellevue college, clarion west, inner chapters, seattle, write-a-thon, writing
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Fuzzy Worship
I’m headed into the city this evening to hear John Scalzi read from Fuzzy Nation. I’ve loved the Little Fuzzy books (and I’ll note that there’s a bunch of his stuff free for e-readers) since discovering them as a teenager and found a book club edition of the first two this weekend at the thrift store. I’d forgotten what a tear jerker the first one is, and the anti-corporate message seems even more timely than usual. I haven’t read Fuzzy Nation yet, but I’m picking it up today and looking forward to it. I’m also fascinated by the idea that Scalzi’s written fan fiction – it opens up some interesting questions about that debate. Continue reading
Posted in Books, daily life, readings, Writing
Tagged books, free online books, fuzzy nation, h. beam piper, john scalzi, writing
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Class Notes From Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
We’re coming up on the end of the Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction class I teach at Bellevue College. Tonight’s the next to last session. In earlier sessions we’ve talked about the writing process, story parts and mechanics, delivering information, characters, description, and worldbuilding. A number of past blog posts have come out of those classes: 5 Things to Do in Your First 3 Paragraphs, Active Verbs, Foreshadowing and Establishing Conflict, Plotting and Re-plotting Stories, Three Strategies for Snaring the Senses, Three Things that End a Story Well, Using Random Tools Like Stumbleupon For Rewriting, and Why Titles Matter. Continue reading
Posted in bees, Tabat, video, Writing
Tagged revising fiction, writing, writing advice, writing process
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