Category: Writing tips
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Getting Past the Slush Pile (Writing Tips from a Slush Reader)
I’ve been reading story submissions (also known as “slush”) for the 100-Foot Crow and Diabolical Plots for two years now. It’s always interesting reading unpublished stories (and admittedly sometimes baffling), and it can also be an educational experience. Common Pitfalls… Continue reading
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That’s Not How You Throw a Punch
As I mentioned in my last blog, I’ve read a lot of romantasy recently, and one thing the books all had in common was a clear lack of fighting research or experience. Obviously, this didn’t stop them from being bestsellers—but… Continue reading
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The Two Most Important Steps in Nonfiction Writing (That You’re Not Doing)
Your boss tells you to write an article on X, so you do some research on the topic, draft a tidy outline, write a rough draft, polish it up, and give it a good proofread before handing it in. What… Continue reading
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9 Tips for Fine-Tooth Editing (To Meet Your Word Limit)
It’s the classic writers nightmare: your story is perfect—utterly perfect—except it’s too long for the market you want to submit it to. Maybe it’s a drabble (i.e.,, 100-word story) that is stuck at 103 words, a flash piece stuck at… Continue reading
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How Do I End This Thing? (Writing Strong Endings for 100-Word Stories)
In college, I took a fiction writing class with a professor who had an extremely narrow definition of “good” fiction. It did not include fantasy or science fiction, which he snubbed his nose at. His restricted mindset also included a… Continue reading
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What Do I Call This Thing? (10 Tips for Titling Your Short Story)
Titles are not my greatest strength. However, titles are important. The title is the door to your story’s house, and it plays a key role in marketing your story. While novels get an artfully designed cover to help entice readers, short stories… Continue reading
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Protagonist, Hero, Main Character, Narrator
In most works, the main character (MC) is the protagonist, the narrator, and the hero. It’s a lot of jobs, but someone’s got to do it, and who better than your MC, right? However, this is not always the case.… Continue reading
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Drabble-Sized Ideas (Generating 100-Word Story Ideas)
It’s one of the most dreaded questions writers get asked: where do you get your ideas from? It seems to imply there is some treasure chest filled with brilliant plots and premises hidden away somewhere that successful writers have stumbled… Continue reading
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10 Tips for Writing a Stellar 100-Word Story
The 100-word story, also known as the drabble, is as small as it is challenging to execute. It takes a lot of thinking, a little bit of writing, and a ton of editing—but it’s well worth the effort, because these stories… Continue reading
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Understanding Passive vs. Active Voice (And Why BOTH Are Tools in Your Toolbox)
In college, I had a political science professor who had a total ban against passive voice. Any time you used passive voice, she docked a point from your assignment. Most assignments were worth 10 points, meaning you lost a whopping… Continue reading
