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Editing and Reading Observations… Part 4…
Back Reading Stories Again… A lot of the same things I already mentioned. No real depth (setting) gets me to stop reading fairly quickly. Going on and on and on without ever getting to a story (walking to a story) makes me read more than I want to, but I never get to the story or the ending. So I saw more of the same stuff I saw in the first three posts on this topic. But tonight (from a couple of stories) I got something new for this reading. Stories started with great depth, great character voice, and both had fun ideas that could work for Pulphouse. I was…
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Last Day of Hearts Collide Kickstarter…
100 Strange Romance Short Stories… Half from Kris, half from Dean. These are all genres, but all have the underlying theme of romance in one form or another. All are strange, as is typical of Dean and Kris’s writing. ENDS TUESDAY AT 7PM… Plus you can get previous year’s anthologies or all 420 stories if you want. Plus a ton of other reading and two very special workshops for writers. HEARTS COLLIDE Make 100 Kickstarter. Check it out. SPECIAL WORKSHOPS ONLY AVAILABLE IN THIS KICKSTARTER FOR A FEW MORE HOURS!! For the writers who love to write stories and learn the craft of writing, we are offering some very, very…
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Summary of New Classes…
I Didn’t Get Enough Reading Done Today to Comment in General on Stories… So I figured that there might be a class that got missed that we started in all the craziness of the first of this year. So here is a summary of classes available now to jump into. CREATIVE SURVIVAL… Four videos every Monday morning on how to survive a lot of stuff. 52 weeks of stuff, actually. I just put up the fourth week, so a good time to jump in. Find this on Teachable. MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY… We did this three years back and decided it would be fun to do a brand new batch of videos…
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Editing and Reading Observations… Part 3…
I Got Surprised… Really surprised, to be honest. You see, every writer who sent me stories for each month this fall is a Pulphouse Fiction Magazine subscriber. Just to send in stories you had to have backed the Pulphouse Kickstarter campaign. Now, I grant you, there is no way to figure out what kind of story I might buy because I pride myself on making sure that no story in Pulphouse is like any other story. You never know what you are going to get in topic and genre from story to story. And I love to be surprised on topics just like my readers. But one thing is for…
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Editing and Reading Observations… Part Two…
Editors Are Super Readers… Our job as editors is to try to figure out which stories the readers of our publications will like. But if you are putting your stories up indie and not many are selling, you might want to pay attention to some of these points I am making from an editor perspective. I find it fascinating how many writers have no understanding of the advanced levels of craft in fiction writing. They often think that major bestsellers who sell hundreds of thousands of copies of every book are just marketed better, or lucky, when actually those writers have learned the craft of grabbing and holding readers. But…
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Editing Observations…
Just a Few Things I Wish I Had Known… At the moment, I am reading a lot of stories for Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. Pulphouse is never open for submissions, but these were rewards in the Pulphouse Kickstarter. Backers could write a story to a different topic, one per month. I had planned to read them as I went along, but running too fast in a 5K fun run and a crash and burn and then a new shoulder set back my reading. And since I like to give as personal a comment as I can on each story, I had to wait until I could once again type with both…
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In-Person Workshops Announced…
Just Two of Them… Because Kris is just finishing up the in-person workshop here, and she had a blast doing it with 14 really great writers at Resorts World, we decided to announce another two in-person craft workshops. FANTASY DETECTIVES… May 6th through 9th… Resorts World in Las Vegas. Taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Cost is $750 for the class. Must be paid to hold your spot. Limited to only 14 writers. SPACE OPERA… January 13th through 16th, 2025… Resorts World in Las Vegas. Taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Cost is $750 for the class. Must be paid to hold your spot. Limited to only 14 writers. If you have…
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My Writing Off to Slow Start…
Real Slow, But That’s All Right… I got started on the first few days of the new year on a new novel, even though it was a rough start putting the world back in my head. And Mary Jo, the main character. I was barely typing with two hands and the PT was knocking me down. Energy still fairly low overall as I continue to recover. And I took stock and realized after two months mostly gone how far behind I was on recording some workshops, and on reading for Pulphouse. And other things. So I just sort of decided I wouldn’t push the writing for a few weeks. I…
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Special Stretch Goal Extended…
Extended to THURSDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT! SPECIAL STRETCH GOAL…100 BACKERS… If our Make 100 Campaign Hearts Collide Kickstarter reaches 100 Backers by Thursday at midnight, every backer of any reward at $30.00 and above will get a free ebook copy of The Idanha Hotel: A Thunder Mountain Novel by Dean Wesley Smith. And for writers, the full Classic Workshop WRITING ROMANCE FICTION, with over 40 videos and assignments you can do for yourself. This is a $150 value and yes, if not a writer, you can gift it to a writer friend. But first we need to hit 100 backers by Thursday Night at midnight. Help us pass the word.…
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Available….
Some Classes Started And Still Available… I just posted the third week of 52 weeks of both the MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY and CREATIVE SURVIVAL classes. Every Monday morning you have four videos each class. All year long. This week on CREATIVE SURVIVAL was basically about standing up for your own work. MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY was uplifting with a great quote from Charles de Lint as the pithy comment of the week. Both of these are still available on Teachable to get either as a full year or by the quarter. Now that the first of the year has settled in a little, these might help you keep on track. DIRECTED STUDY…. Also…