Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

My mental health has taken a large hit today but I did want to get something out for writerly ways. I have nothing I wanted to say in particular though I was thinking about this: You have not grown one iota as a writer since I've known you.'

I know some of you have heard me mention this. It was from a writers group in the 90s. Right after that I noped out of that one and had my first major sale after that. While I never did believe that (and it remains an awful and utterly not constructive criticism) it does occasionally echo through my brain. I was thinking about it after looking at the first five chapter of my YA one set in the 90s. Now it's been a good 10-15 years since I wrote it. I can see some of the problems that plagued my writing more then. Epithets, filter words, etc.

I can see the story and it's still not a bad one but there is some rot around it. Also what flew in the late 90s early 00s would be considered mean banter today. I had wanted to put this out there for Pitch wars but I doubt it will happen. Also I had planned to really edit it one final time and agent shop this summer. That isn't happening.

I can resurrect old Buffy stories with less agita and fear that it sucks than original fiction. Ah well. What do you do with old fic? Save it? Scrap it?

On to the links

Open Calls

Weird Horror Magazine September 2023 Window (Early Listing)

Untitled Gay Bear / Chub Sci-Fi Anthology


Short Story Substack August 2023 Window (Early Listing)


Tales From The Moonlit Path Halloween 2023 Issue

A Touch of Aether

Something or Other Publishing 2023 ANnual Short Story Contest

Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores August 2023 (Early Listing)

White Cresset Arts Journal: Now Seeking Submissions

Blue Star Press: Accepting Proposals


29 New Literary Journals


Links from around the web

Start Marketing Your Book Now (Here’s How)


How To Get Book Reviews


13 Tips to Create Irresistible Stories with Powerful Pacing

Hide Exposition Inside Confrontation

How to Take Criticism and Turn It into Growth in 5 Steps


How to create a good author profile photo


The Essential Horror of the Body

How to Use Reels & Shorts to Grow Your Author Platform

Key Differences Between Active vs Passive Voice

How to Self-Publish an Audiobook


How to Write a Memoir (and common mistakes to avoid)

From Betty

Five Underused Character Archetypes

Five Ways to Handle Characters With Different Power Levels

Five Mistakes That Destroy a Story’s Message

How to Write Sex Scenes


Writers, Are You Breaking the Cardinal Rule?

In The Country

Hide Exposition Inside Confrontation

a work from a fandom that aired/released from 2010-present

Keep Tensions High by NOT Resolving Your Character’s Relationship Conflict

Character Type and Trope Thesaurus: Hopeless Romantic

How to utilize feedback to improve your manuscript This one is excellent

a work from a fandom that aired/released from 2010-present


And oh, since it's music monday have one of my favorite gothic bands

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[spiffikins]

Ack! Replied to wrong post!

Too many tabs open.

You have not grown one iota as a writer since I've known you
Whoever thought to themselves - "this is a useful thing to say" when they made that comment to you, was lying to themselves - all they wanted to do was be mean. Rude and awful!

I hope things are better this week!

[cornerofmadness]

ha no worries (though now I'm curious about growing new teeth because damn, that's fascinating)

Oh yeah he had NO intentions of being useful. He was furious with me because I had proved him wrong on a) comments he made to my story b) me instructing him on dress codes in a lab setting since I am a scientist and know this stuff. He was one of the ones who could dish out critiques (and yes some of them were helpful especially if he liked you) but could NOT take them

[spiffikins]

Growing new teeth

[cornerofmadness]

Thank you that's fascinating