The brown-speckled finch rose and fell on the blasting polar wind, not stopping his lurches or dives for anything that beckoned from below. My influence already showed in the way his frantic flight passed by a pond with a chipped out fishing hole, blessedly fluid water that would have soothed his parched throat. And next, … More The Brown-Speckled Finch : Fantasy Flash
Do you know how important the hook is to get your story read? Have you put as much work on your first sentence as the entire book? Because if you haven’t, your work may never be given a chance. After starting to write flash fiction, not just available here on this blog, but submitting to literary … More The Hook: Your Book’s Fate Depends on It
Last year I ran a blog series called the Journey of Prose. This was successful mostly because I don’t think a lot of bloggers focus on the writing craft itself. Why is that? Because it’s difficult and controversial. There’s no real right or wrong answer when it comes to good and bad prose, but there … More 3 Prose Edits You Should Know
This may come as a shock to some of you, and a silly blog post for others, but it needs to be said. There is one very easy thing you can do to become an amazing writer. Guess what it is… Read! Why it works: Approach writing as a new language How did you learn your … More #1 Trick to Make Your Writing Awesome
Welcome back to the analysis of winning tweets! #Pitmad is always a plethora of pitches, agents, and editors. And as such, the best opportunity to see a live picture of what agents and editors are looking for NOW! For an overview of #Pitmad, please visit the host blog: http://www.brenda-drake.com/pitmad/ Run Down: Basic rules are (3) pitches … More #Pitmad March 2016
The crying woman in the crystal throne is the fourth wonder of the universe. You absolutely must visit her at least once, even before you consider the andromeda galaxy, the temporal shift at the edge of space and time, or the super-massive blackhole down past my bio-uncle’s planet. They even say… if you listen closely, you can hear voices of the past inside her head. Leagues of scientists have studied the relic to uncover her mystery. They say anyone who can will learn the secret of the universe. … More Fourth Wonder of the Universe – Sci Fi Flash
Wrinkling my nose, I crossed my arms and watched my nephew lick the dirt from his firetruck. “Just take him to the park, okay? Is that so difficult?” Leslie asked. “He seems to be getting enough of nature in your garden.” I matched her smoldering gaze. “Do you really need to go to that meeting?” … More Godless – Spiritual Flash
I want to start off by saying this author’s work was recommended to me during my search for the “perfect” YA Debut novel. I want to focus on YA writing, so the best way to learn to write is to study those who have come before, and Susan Dennard’s work is a great place to … More Book Review – Something Strange and Deadly
This is a follow-up post to the last #PitchCB in January. Last month’s results showed a clear tendency for CB favorites to be for Thriller/Mysteries from “near to UK” geographically-based authors. I’m very curious to see if this trend continues, because last month’s prize was for Discovery Day, which was an in-person pitch event in … More #PitchCB Feb26&27 Results!
This week started out with yet another rejection to a literary journal. By now, I’ve grown accostomed to it and hardly felt the sting. And what was also a “light at the end of the tunnel” was the fact that this was a personal rejection. A personal rejection marks a place in a writer’s career where … More That Feeling of the First Acceptance to a Literary Journal
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Tales from our writers' journeys to publication
A.J. Flowers 