cornerofmadness

I was thinking about writing communities and how I feel like I'm missing one at this point. I don't like this feeling. Other than that twice a month zoom meet up I feel like I have no community (and even there I feel like an interloper but if not for me, there would be almost no one there) My friend and I tried to restart the local group on Nov. It was a miserable failure (other than us enjoying each other's company so it wasn't a complete waste of time)

So I was curious, do you feel like you have a good writing community? I'm not talking about the writing every day sort of thing. I shared plenty of them. I think the closest I come to on DW is ushobwri and getyourwordsout. Both are good communities.

And there is every chance the emptiness is in ME and nothing I put into it will fill that hole. And I'm not even sure I have words to articulate what I'd like to see in a group (and it could be that I'm looking for a street team of alpha/beta readers but I'm not even sure that's it either)

So do you have a good one? Is it open? I'm curious.



Open Calls

Gramarye: Now Seeking Submissions

Verify You’re Not Human The main character of the story must be therian (identify as a non-human animal) with a strong focus on what that means

Obsidian: The Dark Space Novelette Anthology Darker 9000-25000 word stories about exploration, isolation, and the harsh conditions of space

Sapphic Spec Fic Anthology of Identity and Purpose Stories that explore sapphic identity and purpose through the lens of fantasy and speculative fiction

Black Horror, Then & Next Stories that recognize the legacy of Black horror, its literary milestones, cultural roots, and innovative voices, while pushing the genre into new, daring territory. (for Black authors only)


Newsela Original Fiction For Elementary-High School 1,500–5,000 word genre works that are targeting Upper Elementary, Middle School, and High School readers

Sci-Fi Ireland Science Fiction where if the science/technology element was removed the plot would not function
Note: To submit, you must be living on, or were born on, the Island of Ireland

23 Publishers Accepting Memoir Submissions

The Knight Before Christmas Christmas romances


From Around the Web


Notes from the Editor’s Desk: December 2025

An Argument for Writing Short Stories

When We Believe

Five Common Motivation Issues and How to Address Them

160 Christmas Writing Prompts

My Open Letter To That Open Letter About AI In Writing And Publishing by Chuck Wendig (in case you missed it last week the Nebula awards decided to allow AI writing and Publisher Weekly wrote how to use Ai and the authors went nuts (as they should have)


15 Rules for Negotiating a Large Book Sale

How to Make an Author Website in 8 Steps


Rules for Capitalizing Titles and Chapters.

Amazon Metadata Mistakes Every Indie Author Must Avoid

Self-Publishing Your Book: Quick Guide (Updated 2025)

Why Selling Direct Beats KDP for Long-Term Author Profits

17 Exciting Fantasy Novel Ideas for Authors


From Betty

How to Avoid Melodrama in Your Writing

Avoiding the Planet of Hats

Five Common Ways Fights Get Contrived

How to Write Scenes With Lots of New People

The Value of Writing Shock and Avoiding Valueless Trauma

Is Your Novel Ready for a Film Adaption? How to Begin the Process of Adapting My Story for Film


The Complete Guide to Self-editing for Writers Part 2: Practical Tools and Techniques to Strengthen Your Manuscript Before Outside Feedback

I'm still rather tired out and lacking motivation but as I was wrapping gifts today I was half watching Hudson & Rex which is about all I ever do (Not a mystery show I'm very invested in but it has a cute dog (who is the least realistic police dog ever)) and this episode brings me back to a point I made a while back with prequels.

When you want to do a flashback (or prequel) you need to be sure of what you want to convey and how effective it'll be. In the above mentioned show it tried hard to add tension with Hudson and Rex's first case together with the well the dog's handler is dead so we're most likely going to euthanize the K9 (something the united States stopped doing in the Clinton era, not sure about Canada where this takes place) But here's the thing it's going back and forth between 3 years in the past and the present where Rex IS Hudson's partner so we know for a fact that Rex isn't euthanized.

So there is NO tension and that is something we have to worry about when we're doing a flashback. You can't build tension when the reader/viewer already knows the answer. We need to be given new information or else the flashback feels pointless or at least a partial waste of time. Learning how Hudson and Rex first met = good use of flashback, trying to make me worry that Rex will be put to sleep = waste of my time. I know he isn't. I'm not going to invest in something I already know (Prequels have even bigger issues with this).

For me, a flash back needs to advance the present plot or fill in backstory we need (or at least want to have). Hazbin Hotel did a pretty good job of this with both Alastor (though his backstory was in the old notes but you can't b e sure they'd be considered canon any more) and Vox's (making so many fan theorists happy) Both flashbacks showed us how they ended up where they were and how they are. Yes we know they both end up overlords in hell but seeing how it happened was character building.

So I guess what I'm saying is know what you wnat from a flashback and be careful as to how you attempt it.

OPEN CALL


Space and Time January 2026 Window Science fiction, fantasy, horror, steampunk, magical realism

23rd Annual Triangulation Anthology: Bad RomanceBad Romance


SNAFU: Level Up LitRPG: tales of champions and heroes, villains and monsters, all fighting to beat the other into paste

The Deadlands December 2025 Window. Speculative fiction that concerns itself with death–but also everything death may involve

5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in December 2025

Lamp Lit: Now Seeking Submissions

42 Terrific International Literary Journals.


From Around the Web

The Psychology of Faustian Bargains

THE MORAL GHOST STORY: Reviving a Lost Christmas Tradition I keep saying I'm going to write these kind of stories but so far....

How to Edit (or Revise) a Novel Without Feeling Overwhelmed

Best Book Marketing Campaigns: 12 Proven Examples That Still Work Today

How to Write Horror - With Cynthia Pelayo

How To Build Story Tension by Sharing More (Not Less) with Daniel David Wallace

Do You Suck at Celebrating Your Success? Here's How We Change That, and Why It Matters

Six Sneaky Fails That Can Sink A Manuscript

How to Write a Bestselling Thriller: 7 Expert Tips from Lisa Gardner

How to Apply (and Get In) to Writing Mentorship Programs.

The Art of Not Knowing What You’re Writing Yet.

From Betty

Creating Rites of Passage

The Seven Worldbuilding Sins of Storytellers

How to Pace Your Story

Stakes: Everything Storytellers Need to Know

Tech Tips - How to Organize Your Novel Drafts

4 Ways to Protect Your Energy While Writing About Trauma

Freshen Up Tired Tropes Without Losing What Readers Love

What’s More Important: Storytelling or Writing Craft?

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Codependence (Caretaking Aspect)

Understanding the Editing Process: What Every Writer Should Know About Working With Editors

How Writers Can Set Achievable Goals for 2026: A Practical Guide to Planning, Deadlines, and Finishing Your Book Boy do I need this one.


ETA - Holy hell just as I posted I saw Rob & Michele Reiner were found dead today, a suspected homicide.

I have nothing to talk about writing wise today. My brain dribbled out my ears hours ago. I'm also annoyed that CVS is out of my insulin again. Eye rolls

But there are joys, like the acceptance from all of yinz even if I can't keep up on comments right now AND I had a second online concert. This one was for Valentine Wolf's new album. It was good.

Oh I suppose I could put this in for writerly ways based off a rant by Mortius on YT (he rants over the Amazon ads as he's reviewing Hazbin) Remember that if it is a digital copy you DO NOT own it, even if you 'bought it.' So if you have a book you love to reread, let me suggest buying a paper copy. I've already had Amazon gut my TBR pile when they decided to no longer carry those books. I know one of the animation companies have done this and people lost every anime they had bought. This is also why I wish Disney would put The Owl House on dvd (since it's a very queer teen show and I can see them being forced to delete or them just deciding eh it's been X number of years, time to go). I did end up buying the Hazbin DVDs for S1 for just this reason.


Notes from the Editor’s Desk: November 2025.

Fusion Fragment: Now Accepting Submissions

Tales of Sley House December 2025 Window Cozy, folk horror

Your Body Is A Fever Dream Weird Cosmic Body Horror/SFF by Trans, NB, agender, intersex, GNC, and generally any gender identity other than binary cisgender authors


Baffling Magazine December 2025 Window Science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent that deal with “Timefuckery”



A Year of Horse Fantasy Fantasy stories where the horse plays a major role in the story


Otherside January 2026 Window Speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by self-identified members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community




From Around the Web


Promotion Commotion: How to Steer Clear of Scam Artists

Where Do You Put Children in Horror Stories.

Scarlett Press Brings Dark Lords, Fae Courts, and Romantasy Heat to New Adult Readers

Amazon Algorithm Secrets That Separate Bestsellers from the Slush Pile

The Overwritten Novel: How to Identify & Fix Purple Prose in Your Novel.

The Top 45 Publishers for New Authors



From Betty


Tweaking Your World’s Geology

Six Ways to Make Fantasy Travel More Interesting

How Even Feminists Can Build Sexist Worlds

How to Use Perception to Create Subtext in Deep POV

Building a Mystery

The Easiest and Most Powerful Writing Tip

Does Your Novel Sag?

Happy Thanksgiving! – December “first page” Office Hours – Information vs. storytelling

The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Writers Part 1: How to Strengthen Your Manuscript One Step at a Time

I'm still very upset with myself and deadlines. I miffed another one by a day. (Ditto with a con a friend wanted me to go to AND scheduling the exams this week). I swear my brain see it but writes it as something else. I've barely submitted this year. It's disappointing but a lot of the open calls haven't matched anything I have in my stable.

So what shall we talk about today? Something I've mentioned before but let's touch on this again because of Hazbin Hotel last week. The OverPowered character and what to do with them. ( spoilers for S2 if that matters to you )

So what do you do? Superman has this issue so they came up with kryptonite but then it gets ridiculous. That crap turned up everywhere. Ditto green lantern who is threatened by the color yellow. Captain Marvel faces the same issue. She's so powerful she could have smited Thanos so they sent her to the other side of the universe.

How then do we deal with over powered characters without things getting silly or making them look stupid? It's not that easy. Hazbin went with both pulling Lucifer's fangs AND making him look stupid which annoyed me. There needs to be a way to do this that doesn't make your character look/act dumb.

One way is to not get into the situation in the first place but what if you can't avoid it, say in the case of Lucifer an established entity in everyone's mind.

Another way actually is what they did with Marvel, get them out of the picture for some (hopefully good) reason. In this case above with Lucifer, there was no reason they couldn't send him to another ring of hell and he didn't know what was happening because he was busy elsewhere (though I suspect they are planning to use this to force his daughter into actions she doesn't want to take)

Any thoughts on this? Have you handled it? Ideas for handling it?

Any thoughts on the student who just emailed me at 10 pm asking for when unit 3 test is as if I haven't been posting it for weeks? It's tomorrow btw.


Open Calls


5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in November 2025

Dracula Beyond Stoker Issue 9 Theme: Bram Stoker

Book Worms Horror Zine Theme: Apocalyptic Horror!

Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores December 2025 Window Well written original work in science fiction, fantasy, myth, legend, fairy tales, and eldritch

25 Manuscript Publishers Always Open to Submissions



From Around the Web

Sensory Feast: The Power of the Five Senses in Writing got this one from ushobwri

Heads up! from a Short Story Judge

Should You Submit To The Non-Paying And/Or Semi-Professional Markets?

How to Worldbuild (Your Physical World)

How Do Book Clubs Find You?

Is Your Writing “Good Enough” to Publish?

I don't have much to say other than I rather miss Nanowrimo. I did it for, what? 21 years? In the latter years I almost never went to the forums, not because I had troubles, heck I stopped before there were problems. I no longer really needed them and they were more a distraction than a help.

I am doing smaller support groups this month and if you look back a couple weeks you'll see my post about nano substitutes. I'm not sure I had prowritingaid on there but they are doing something. Maybe I'll sign up. I have to think about it.

What I DO know is I don't want to write 50K. Why? Because I know I can. I did it for 2 decades. It's not a challenge for me. What IS a challenge is completing the damn things and that's what my aim is. I have a novel to work on. I have a dozen half finished novels. I have short stories. I'm sure I'll get caught up in the holiday exchanges. Let's see if I can finish some crap. If I have to put a word count on it, let's call it 25K but I have a very busy November so we'll see.

What I AM excited for is my old nano group is resurrecting itself (even if it's just about 3 of us) so I'll be driving out to Athens every friday. I'm looking forward to it. i miss these people.


Open Call


Black Cat Weekly : Science Fiction or Fantasy


Thema: While the Snowstorm Was Raging… relatively low pay

Cursed Morsels December 2025 Window Cunty Horrors, Cursed Concerts, Monstrous Dating Profiles, Batshit LinkedIn Posts, Nightmare Grifters (microfic to very specific prompts)

Views From The Overlook Yes I shared this last week but the date on this is one month later than the one I posted. It is something to keep in mind. My thought is my chances are almost zilch. I'm trying it anyhow (this story is already half written)

Emerald City Ghosts: Now Seeking Submissions

10 Magazines Accepting Young Adult Fiction

30 Magazines Accepting Longer Fiction




From around the web


The Art of Finishing Oh how timely for me

How to Create an Elevator Pitch That Hooks Readers Instantly

Why "Start With the Action" Messes Up So Many Writers


From Betty

Five Tips for Using an Arbitrary Magic System

How to Get Fans to Slash Your Characters

Nine Reasons for a Villain to Spare the Hero

How to Build Suspense into any Story

What Really Keeps An ADHD Writer Coming Back to the Desk? Hint- It’s Not Routine

WriteTip: The Stubborn Elephant

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Altruism

The Counter Craft Halloween Horror Writing Guide

The last thing I wanted to write about

Setting Boundaries as a Writer: How to Protect Your Creative Time

The Real Purpose of the Second Act (And Why You Can’t Skip It)

I wasn't sure what I planned to do for this but today lobbed a few things my way. My question to you, what are some every day things that have sparked a story or a character or a scene. There is so much out there, good and bad, that make its way into my stories. How about you?

Here's just the things from the last few days like somehow ending up on an Italian American substack It promises podcasts too and beyond thinking I need to find the podcasts, I am eyeing the ace/aro haunted challenge (see below) and I see two college kids finding haunts in Pittsburgh and doing an Italian-American history-haunts podcast.


Then I saw this video from my friend's hike to Lake Alma pop up

I had a few thoughts about a character, like me, who wanted to go on this hike and then see, from this clip, they were NOT at the top of the Island. I suspect that's because 240 people showed up. Look at that number and boggle. This would be a good opportunity to work on complex emotions like disappointment mingling with relief (because seriously that many people would have annoyed me)

And then this morning Mom tells me about these new shoes she got from Amazon. They're diabetic shoes like I told her to get and yes they're comfortable but they're going back.

Me: why

Mom: because the soles are a little worn AND someone wrote Cheryl F. in Sharpie on both shoes. You know what that means

Me: you got dead woman nursing home shoes.

Mom: exactly!

Me: who had the nerve to send back written on shoes and how did this seller have the balls to resale them as NEW. (mom go report them once you get your money back)

But also me...who was Cheryl F. What was her life like? Why does this feel like the beginning of a hallmark romance-mystery.


Open Calls


Gavagai Unthemed horror (it's some new social platform)


RDG Books Is Open To Horror Novels

Aspec Paranormal Anthology Stories that centre asexual and aromantic characters (or identities that fall under those umbrellas) in a paranormal context (low pay but I still might try it)

Waxen Volume 2 Occult/weird horror, with an eye for experimental work

HORRIFIC: Tales of the Dying and the Dead Theme: Body, erotic, folk, gothic, historical, humor, Native American, nautical, occult, paranormal, psychological, pulp, quiet, religious, splatterpunk, and supernatural horror.

one romance, one horor and one editor open call


From around the web

When Revenge Met Horror.

10 Tips for Writing a Realistic Monster

The Secret Weapon Behind Every Great Character Arc

Seeing Myself *Like* Myself Is Pretty Damn Good

Writer Fuel: How I Do Morning Pages (and break all the rules!)

This Has Already Been Said

From Betty

Six Signs Your Story Is About the Wrong Character

Ten Movies With Strong Character Arcs

The Intersection of Characters and Setting

Do Stories Save Humanity?

Analyze First Lines to Write Openings Your Readers Love

The Secret Weapon Behind Every Great Character Arc

Movie Words of Wisdom

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Embracing Responsibility

How to Tell the Difference Between a Hook and Inciting Incident

I don't have much to say today. I'm burned out. Seriously. Hell I didn't even look at Whumptober until the 2nd and you know how much I like that. I have put off fridge repairs for nearly 6 weeks because I have no energy to get things cleaned up. I have an event this coming weekend for which I have neither the tickets nor the hotel. This is what depression does. Sigh.

But today DID have a bit of fun and I wanted to make that the focal point of my writerly ways. Networking and bookstores. This weekend a new bookstore opened up in my small town (by one of my former students) It's not that new. It was inside the antique store but that didn't last (sigh) and she's now up near the bank. There were so many women in this small space today you couldn't move. I was glad to see it. Look at the readers!! Whee. Yes I bought something (I was taking up space and it was a new horror I've been eyeballing of a harder to find letter for my alphabet challenge (well for 2026).

So I asked her would you be willing to host author signings and book releases? I know several local authors other than me (I think my next release is going to be 100% ebook. The publisher has not mentioned paper.) She lit up. Yes she is. I know not every author is comfortable with this. Some of us (a lot of us) are introverts but hopefully you can balance this with at least getting out there a little. Will you sell scads? Unlikely. Will you sell nothing? (possible. I've been there done that) Will it kick you in the heart (yes) But it's worth a try.

Like me, who was invited to be author in residence/judge at two local cons this year. Yes it fell apart before both cons (including the above mentioned one) but that does make your ego sing a little. If you do do the in person sales, let me suggest bookmarks (or at least a poster) with QR codes with ebook buy links or your webpage or your newsletter sign up. (or all of this)

Open Calls

Into the Deep, Dark Woods (downside to this one, they insist on copyright proof which could easily cost more than you're going to earn

It Came From the Trailer Park: Vol 6 Horror Comedy creature feature with the sub-theme of Prison Planet Earth the downside to this one is they want LONG short stories and if you don't get in you'll be like me with a drawer full of stories too long for nearly every other publisher

Stone’s Throw November 2025 Window Your story must have the setting of an office holiday party (relatively low pay)

Strange Pilgrims, Surreal, speculative, and fabulist stories; unhinged, lyric, and fragmented essays; voice-driven experimental narratives and slow-burn realism; cultural and literary criticism; hyper-intellectual riffs and children’s stories

Speculative fiction from a South Asian perspective that deals with folk tales. narrow perimeters but good pay


No Laughing Matter Fiction which embraces the horror/thriller genres with elements of bleak, black humour, wry observation, a touch of irony and satire, and hints of the absurd.

Walpurgis Witcheries Stories set in Central Europe, and Walpurgis must be integral to the plot with witchery afoot

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in October 2025

72 Specialized Publishers Open to Manuscript Submissions


From around the web

Amazon Advertising For Books With Geoff Affleck

Can Set Up and Backstory Actually Work in Chapter One?

Three Lessons From My First Podcast Tour


From Betty

Five Problems Caused by Tone Mishaps and How to Fix Them.

How Three Book Series Kept Readers Interested.

Three Options for Heroes Who Disobey Orders

10 Dialogue Tips to Consider before You Start Writing

Reviews Light the Way

The Pros and Cons of Writing for Anthologies

Craft a Raptor Hero Not Villain

Picturing Your Characters

What Kind of Writing Monster Is Lurking in Your Brain?

Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Self-Medicating

Writing Through Fear: How to Turn Anxiety Into Creative Strength One for all of us right now

Self-Publishing Success: How to Format Your Book for Print and Ebook (Vellum, Atticus, Kindle Create & More)

How to Know the Ending of Your Story from the Beginning: Using Goal, Motivation, and Conflict

Single vs. Multiple Narrators: Pros and Cons for Novelists

Can Set Up and Backstory Actually Work in Chapter One?.

Your Brain Is a Story Machine

I had thoughts about this, especially after the mothman festival so you can wait til tomorrow for that. And then the storm hit. My power went out. I wrote 3K in under 2 hours (so I can see what I'm capable of and what I USED to be capable of pre-social media) and then the power came back and I saw posts about two states trying to make it mandatory that all universities have a memorial to Charlie Kirk and my brain died of the stupid. (though I hope they do it and it fucking blows up in their faces) So instead have some links while my apartment cools back down (because omg why did it hit 89 again today)

OPEN CALL

Christmas Ghosts Short Stories Seasonal ghosts and spirits for Christmas

Horned Lark Press is open for Science Fiction and fantasy novellas Science fiction and fantasy novellas

Wars in the Stars Short Stories space stories that burst with imagination… and war!

In the Words of a Flower All stories should incorporate an aspect of floriography, the language of flowers. (deadline is this week. Too bad I didn't see this when it opened, it could have been interesting)

Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores October 2025 Window

94 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers

30 Magazines and Anthologies Publishing Horror Fiction




From Around the Web


THE URBAN LEGEND THAT ATE MY STORY: How Folklore Fuels My Fiction. This is true of me

How I Write by Eugen Bacon

How a Character’s Personality Shapes Arc, Voice, and Goals

How to Polish Your First 5 Pages for Agents

How To Push Past The Fear of Never Getting Published

Craft Lessons from Reading Hundreds of Short Stories


From Betty

Six Wordcraft Questions Writers Fight Over

What a Panic on Twitter Revealed About Writers Today

So, Your Fantasy World Is Based on D&D


Five Important Ways Romances Engage Readers

5 Strategies to Pacing Your Dialogue

5 Ways to Manage Reader Expectations

How to Polish Your First 5 Pages for Agents

Writing for Children

How to Describe Characters

How to Show Your Character’s Repressed Emotions

What If No One Ever Publishes My Work?”

11 Successful Query Letter Examples for Writers in Various Genres

Writers: How to Read Email Reports to Improve Your Newsletters and Book Sales

How a Character’s Personality Shapes Arc, Voice, and Goals

I have been thinking about this for a while but not really sure how to approach it. Telling the story from the wrong point of view. If you're lucky maybe it's only one scene you're mucking about and not your whole story. Sometimes we need to step back and ask ourselves, is this the right character for this?

For example, the Hazbin Hotel pilot was done years before the actual show. There were online comics (only been able to find a few) from nearly a decade before the show. Angel Dust was definitely with Valentino in the old stuff. However, in the pilot, in order to clue the viewers in on a key part of Alastor's character, she has Vaggie telling Angel about him with a 'how do you not know this? You've been in hell longer than me?' Angel responds with I don't like/pay attention to politics.

I think in some ways this was done to establish Vaggie as the competent smart one. And maybe Alastor wasn't meant to be entwined with Vox and Valentino. Maybe the fans are wrong and Angel wasn't with Val for decades (but I doubt it). With the current storyline, it just seems unbelievable he couldn't know who Alastor was when Alastor tangled with Vox/Valentino and Vox has had a hard on about it ever since and Angel lived in Vee Towers until the series opener so now he just looks dumb AF for not knowing this.

A change of character would have benefited this so much. Have Angel tell Vaggie who has only been in hell for a decade and Alastor has been missing for seven years.

I had something similar in my own novel. I was telling the scene from Grace's pov when it really needed to be in Howell's or Dan's. It felt awkward and an alpha reader called me on it. A simple change made the whole scene better.

Have you run across this in your reading? your writing? how did you handle it?


OPEN CALLS

Ten Manuscript Publishers Open to Direct Submissions in September

Wit Tea Stories of any genre that are Wit Tea… erm.. witty… eh? EH? (weird sliding scale of pay)

Trollbreath Magazine Speculative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction of all kinds with a particular fondness for slipstream and fabulism in all their delightful form

Last Girls Club Winter October 2025 Window Secret Police, ICE, and Desperate Times (way too topical for me)

parABnormal Magazine 2025. Paranormal – this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores.

The Orange & Bee October 2025 Window Original and contemporary short stories, poems, and essays that explore, expand on, and subvert the rich traditions of international folklore, with a strong focus on fairy tales (though we also sometimes dabble in other forms of folklore, such as fables, myths, and legends)

Folklore & Horror Short Stories. The dark side of gothic fantasy and folklore stories

Solar Punk Magazine October 2025 Window Solar Punk with stories that stir readers with themes of defiance, change, and achievement

41 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for September 2025.



From around the web

The Odds of Survival: What Horror Movies Teach Us About Risk.

Writer Fuel: Why Your Book Needs a Subplot

Amazon Ads Gone Wrong: The Genre Mismatch Problem Costing Authors

Book Marketing: Basic Elements Matter More Than You Think

James Patterson offers new writers up to $50,000 to finish their books (will his name be on it too)




From Betty

Choosing Naval Tactics for Your Pre-Gunpowder World

Six Ways to Add Stakes to a Mystery

Critical Types of Narration

Should You Use Non-Humans in Your Setting?.

Five Ways Authors Sabotage Their Story’s Tension

How to Write a Matriarchy

It’s What’s Up Front That Counts

Ride the Lightning

What Good Are Your Cracks?

Make Yourself the Most Useful Writer in Your Critique Group

Hidden Ways Procrastination Affects Productive Writers

Sometimes writing feels like dropping a pebble in the ocean

Editing for Self-Published Authors: Types of Edits and How to Find the Right Editor.

How to Write Scenes That Drive Plot and Deepen Character

Struggling with a Weak Chapter? Try Rewriting from Another POV HA! Pure coincidence that I found this in Betty's pile of links. Check it out if you want something more coherent than my babble.

How do you write funny? Damned if I know. I think funny is probably the hardest thing to do well. For one it's down to individual taste more than any other genre I can think of. Some people love fart jokes (not me). Others are into puns. Some humor is downright mean (looking at you Family Guy and Seth McFarlane). In previous decades ethnic humor was prevalent (and thankfully mostly dead) I definitely find comedies much harder to get into than dramas. You hear people talking about how Americans can't get into British humor, again highlighting the whole comedy is hard.

I don't have a lot of advice here. I don't think I do this well. I can break out some funny dialogue but I've never tried (nor really want to) write a long comedy piece. I'm thinking of this because one of the arcs I just got is another 'comedic cozy' which i didn't know when I asked for it since so many of them aren't funny to me. The author is a sit-com writer originally (that should have been a clue...) Anyhow so far the humor is the 'let's embarrass the protags' style which for me gets old fast. For example in the first three chapters we have the 30 year old protag not working a cell phone video right and accidentally sharing it and then her partner comes up with dumbass ideas to help have things to do at their new motel (she was a sit com writer turned motelier) including an electric bike (that he falls off of) a paddleboard (ditto) and sling shots (he breaks his own cabin window) and I could probably handle that embarrassment until this.

So if I said 'hey gang, I'm going to have a throw away character, a shop owner who had a virus and lost her sense of taste, and she insists of baking things that suck. But since everyone loves her they won't tell her her food sucks and the motelier is going to buy muffins from her every morning for breakfast and then throw them out while she's not looking.' what would you think of that? (I can tell you how not funny I find this)

Anyhow, if you DO write funny and want to share tips go for it.


Open Call


Into the Deep, Dark Woods Speculative Fiction set in the woods

These Dreaming Hills Stories rooted in central Appalachia dependent upon broadly defined notions of speculative fiction, written by authors with strong ties to the region

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Short Fiction Contest Stories that deal with various types of existential threats that could cause an Apocalypse, and avoiding it.

Book Worms Horror Zine Folk Horror

NonBinary Review Erased From History

90 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers

26 Respected Literary Journals



From Around the web

Book Advertising on a Budget for Self-Published Authors

A Beginner’s Guide to Outlining Chapters: Simple Techniques to Start Strong

How to Make a Custom Book Cover: Step-by-Step Guide for First-Time Authors

Michelle Knudsen: Five Things I Learned Writing Into The Wild Magic.

How to Hire a Book Editor: What Writers Should Know

How to Write Killer Chapter Endings That Hook Readers.

A 5-Minute Fix for a Blah Scene

In Praise of Repetition Loops, Echoes, and the Power of Return




From Betty

I absolutely love this character development idea that she found on Pintrest. I need to do this



Six Ways Guns Change a Fantasy Setting

Six Tricks for Memorable Character Moments

Five Qualities Every Hero Needs

How Much Research Is Too Much?

5 Ways to Engage All 5 Senses Without Overwhelming Readers

The Fastest, Most Reliable Way to Improve Your Writing Craft

How to Use the Four Levels of Conflict to Strengthen Your Story

Colonel Mustard in the Ballroom: How Setting Shapes Mystery

Anthropic AI Class Action: Important Information for Authors

What I learned about creativity from Bob Ross

The #1 Mistake Writers Make in Plotting—and the Simple Fix

A Writer’s Guide to Living Well: Surviving and Thriving in Brokenness


How a Writer Can Turn Passive Newsletter Subscribers into a Thriving Community

Writing Better Character Conflicts With the 5 Conflict Management Styles

Time Travel for Writers

The Summoned Writer

Lessons From a 25-Year Search for the ‘Secret Sauce’