What’s the difference between a book that draws you in and keeps you interested beyond the last page and one that you enjoyed but forgot as soon as you closed it? It’s all about the details. Those little things that no-one notices, but make all the difference between getting lost in the pages and not. It’s the details that make the world of a novel real in the minds of the reader.
In science fiction and fantasy,
Let’s take a moment to pause, step back and think about what it is we are doing. We’re writing stories. Stories that have messages. Whether we intend them or not, stories always have messages. The question is, then, are we writing the kind of messages that we want our readers to see?
As authors, we have the power of language at our disposal. It’s kind of like fire. Used responsibly, fire can make our food safe and delicious,
Here is a bit of flash fiction I wrote for a writing challenge. I hope you enjoy it.
Urban Legend
“Is that her?”
The whispers follow me everywhere now.
“Yeah, I think so.”
I can’t go to the mall, coffee shops or school without them.
“Did she really dare to ask Jaycee for a date?”
I did.
There are so many jokes about authors and cats. About people who have cats in general. It almost feels like a cliche to point out that I, too, have cats. And yet, when I think about it, only about half, maybe less, of my friends and acquaintances have cats, but well over 75% of my writer friends have or want cats. There must be something to it.
The stereotype of the “Crazy Cat Lady” –
Everything is a writing prompt. I have to remind myself of that when real life gets to be too frustrating. It’s all fodder for the stories.
Well I’ve been getting some good story fodder lately. I still have to digest it and figure out where everything goes, but the frustration levels have had be mumbling “it’s all a writing prompt, it’s all a writing prompt, it’s all a writing prompt…” as I clean up yet another mess.
Writers are supposed to develop a thick skin so we can deal with all the nit-picks and criticisms we get. No problem, I got that. There are a lot of careers (and I dipped my toe in most of them) where that is true. I can listen to people take my work apart all day long, as long as it’s stuff I already know about or they are just plain wrong.
Most of the time,
