dawn.vogel | November 20, 2017
Recently, I started working on a new story, and wrote what I originally thought would be the first scene of that story. As I worked on it, though, I realized that while something momentous was happening, it wasn’t the momentous thing that the story was going to need. But I kept writing it anyway, because […]
Category: Advice |
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Tags: advice, prewriting, short stories, writing
dawn.vogel | November 13, 2017
Even before I started writing fiction, my then-boyfriend (now-husband) introduced me to his writer’s group. Affectionately nicknamed the “Type and Gripe,” they were local like-minded speculative fiction authors who got together every other week to sit down and put words on virtual paper. (sometimes actual dead tree paper. We don’t judge.) It wasn’t exactly a […]
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Tags: advice, critiques, writer's group
dawn.vogel | November 6, 2017
Having gotten a couple of rejections that stung pretty hard last week, this seems like a good bit of advice to open up this week with. Winston Churchill said: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” This is extremely true for authors. Not everything you write […]
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Tags: advice, failure, rejection, Winston Churchill
dawn.vogel | October 30, 2017
For many writers, maintaining a blog presence is a scary prospect. But if you’re a writer, you’ve likely got plenty to say, and a blog can be a great way to attract potential new readers. The tricks are providing interesting content and maintaining a schedule. You might have noticed that I’ve got a bit of […]
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Tags: advice, blogging
dawn.vogel | October 23, 2017
AKA Why can’t we all just get along? I admit it. I hate writing fight scenes. Dread them, even. I don’t like reading them, either. My mind sort of glazes over, waiting to get back to the “good stuff,” also known as the part where they aren’t fighting any more. But I write action and […]
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Tags: advice, combat, fight scenes, writing
dawn.vogel | October 16, 2017
Today, we’re hosting a guest post from author G.A. Minton, whose newest book, Antitheus, is out today! ~ Writing Horror By G.A. Minton Horror is defined as a feeling of great shock, fear, and worry caused by something extremely unpleasant; an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. Edgar Allan Poe is not only recognized as the […]
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Tags: advice, G.A. Minton, guest post, horror
dawn.vogel | October 9, 2017
I sent out my first short story to a market in 2011. In the six years that have followed, I’ve sent out stories about 650 times (and counting). And at the moment, I’ve gotten just over 30 acceptances. That makes my acceptance rate right about half of a percent. Which means that 99.5 percent of […]
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Tags: advice, rejection, short stories
dawn.vogel | October 2, 2017
I’ve talked previously about how I track my projects on a grand scale. (If you missed those posts, you can find them here, here, and here.) And I talked a little about keeping track of story ideas here, more recently. But when it really comes down to it, keeping my ideas organized mostly happens in […]
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Tags: advice, outlines
dawn.vogel | September 7, 2017
I didn’t set out to write a series with Brass and Glass. But when the editors finished reading it, they asked, “Is there a sequel?” And by that point, I’d realized that I’d inadvertently written the first book of a trilogy. I’ve just finished writing the first draft of book 2 of this series now, […]
Category: Advice, Publishing |
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Tags: advice, brass and glass, series
dawn.vogel | August 7, 2017
Whether you’re writing novels or short fiction, titles are important. For one thing, you need them in order to keep track of your stuff. But you also need them so other people can keep track of your stuff. And while you could just call things “Book 1,” “Book 2,” etc., that’s not really all that […]
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Tags: advice, novel, short story, titles, writing