Tag Archives: edgar allan poe

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Shanee Edwards offers advice on creating a powerful antagonist while James Scott Bell teaches us practical thaumaturgy for conjuring short stories.

Brian Andrews explains the importance of self-editing and developmental editing, while mythcreant Chris Winkle delves into crafting effective descriptions.

Joslyn Chase steps us through ten  ways to add foreshadowing, and Porter Anderson discusses the dangers of self-censorship.

All that and little more. Enjoy!

 

5 Tips for Negotiating Your Author Agreements by Joseph Perry via Anne R. Allen

Writing Rising Action by Linda S. Clare

A Love of Mystery is Woven into Our Biology, and Edgar Allan Poe was the First to Find the Formula for a Very Specific Dopamine Hit by Jonah Lehrer

7 Tips for Writing Bad Ass Antagonists by Shanee Edwards

The 3 Pass Rough Draft—Embracing Editing (Part I) by Brian Andrews

Developmental Editing —Embracing Editing (Part II) by Brian Andrews

Dialog and POV by Philip Athans

Creating and Resolving Conflict in Your Novel by Clare Langley-Hawthorne

The Alchemy and the Craft by James Scott Bell

What Do Writers Need to Describe? by Chris Winkle

Flights of Self-Censorship by Porter Anderson

Foreshadowing: 10 Clever Methods to Write an Engaging Plot Twist by Joslyn Chase

 

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Melodie Campbell offers advice on how to save that sagging middle in your novel while Penny Sansevieri shows you how to optimize your Amazon Author Central page.

Jennie Nash provides a short checklist of common mistakes that might land your manuscript in the rejection pile and Jami Gold explores how our characters can drive the narrative—despite our best laid plans.

Esther Jones extols the benefits of reading SF and fantasy,  Julie Glover defends the practice of editing as you go, and Donald Maass helps us to understand how to develop a meaningful narrative.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

My Novel is as Mess: How to Survive the Chaos Point in Your Novel by Melodie Campbell via Anne R. Allen

Science Fiction Builds Mental Resiliency in Young Readers by Esther Jones

5 Quick Fixes for Making the Most of Author Central (and Why it Should be a Top Priority) by Penny Sansevieri

Do Your Characters Take on a Life of Their Own? by Jami Gold

In Defense of Editing as You Go by Julie Glover

The Secret to More Efficient Revision: Pattern Recognition by Jennie Nash

The Meaning of Meaning by Donald Maass

The Art of Condensing an Entire Book into a Brief Sales Pitch by Florence Osmund

Six Common Problems with Short Stories by Oren Ashkenazi

The Rich Can’t Hide from a Plague. Just Ask Edgar Allan Poe by Maya Phillips

Book Review: The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age selected by Douglas Angus

This superb collection of 20 stories gathers the work of such legends as Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Shirley Jackson, Jean Paul Sartre, Franz Kafka, William Faulkner, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Anton Chekhov, and more. I’d read about half of these stories in years past and was delighted to find just how much detail remained with me. My favorites included

“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe – A deranged killer, sickened by an elderly man’s bulging eye, murders the man in the middle of the night and buries the body under the floorboards. He considers it a perfect crime, even when the police arrive, until he hears a ringing in his ears, which turns into a ticking, then a heartbeat…

“The Jewels” by Guy de Maupassant – A young clerk becomes annoyed at his wife’s penchant for collecting costume jewelry. When she passes away, he eventually takes to them to a jeweler for an appraisal…

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway – A lonely man refuses to leave the outdoor cafe he frequents—to the chagrin of one young exhausted waiter, but his coworker understands that there are those, desolate and unloved, who need a clean, well-lit place…

“The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence – A young boy flawlessly predicts the winners of horse races by rocking on his hobby horse, but each time he must exert more effort until…

“The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benét – A hapless farmer strikes a deal with the devil, but when it comes time to pay up, he reaches out to legendary farmer, lawyer, and patriot Daniel Webster to save his soul.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner – An reclusive elderly woman, once popular in the town and a source of gossip, passes away, leaving behind a grisly revelation.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson – A small town, steeped in tradition, holds an annual lottery, but the winner is far from lucky.

“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka – A young traveling salesman awakens one morning to find himself transformed into a giant cockroach.

“The Ledge” by Lawrence Sargent Hall – A fisherman and two boys venture out to a small island for Christmas morning for a day of duck hunting—until they find themselves stranded as high tide rushes in.

 

Best Short Stories of the Modern Age

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Steven H. Wilson and David Gaughran discuss copyright and potential violations of such. At Writer Unboxed, David King warns against the pitfalls of self-publishing while Sophie Masson dishes on author interviews, and Susan Spann reviews rights reversions (say that 5 times fast!).

Delilah S. Dawson sees no value in self-promotion…or does she? Meanwhile, the mayor of Baltimore declares January 19 “Edgar Allan Poe Appreciation Day.”

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

Do Star Trek Fans Just Not Understand Copyright? by Steven H. Wilson

The One Where an Author Steals Text from My Book to Sell Pirated Software by David Gaughran

Obtaining Reversions of Publishing Rights: the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly by Susan Spann

The Art and Craft of Author Interviews by Sophie Masson

Please Shut Up: Why Self-Promotion as an Author Doesn’t Work and Wait, Keep Talking: Author Self-Promo that Actually Works by Delilah S. Dawson

The Perils of Self-Publishing by Dave King

Defying the Odds, Local Bookstore Reaches First Birthday by Pete Mazzaccaro

Revising Your Novel: Playground, Not Torture Chamber by Grant Faulkner

Baltimore Mayor Declares City-Wide Edgar Allan Poe Appreciation Day via The Baltimore Sun