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Hint: Don’t Wait Until Sunday
At Least Not Very Often… Folks, deadlines are a fun thing and they really help us all at times get writing done we might not have gotten done without the deadline. That is what The Great Challenge is all about. Deadline. It is a no-lose challenge, where even if you miss a week, you get the money you paid for the challenge in credit toward anything we do in workshops. And the reason is to give each of you a deadline to get a story finished and to me each week by Sunday night. Second week now. Not everyone has started yet, and there is still room to jump into…
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Thinking of a New Pop-Up
Character and World Building While Writing into the Dark… Seems like a fun idea to talk about for a bunch of videos in the Pop-Up series, including techniques on how to do both character and world building while writing into the dark. Especially complex world and character stuff. I get a bunch of questions about this regularly, actually. Anyone even interested? It would open up in mid-May somewhere. In the meantime, Kris and I have a bunch of homework to do between writing to get ready for the licensing expo here in June. Going to be great fun and I hope to learn a ton and maybe make a few…
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Some Real Basics
Manuscript Format… Yup, doesn’t get any more basic than that, but so many newer writers have no clue what that even is. So I made it a requirement of The Great Challenge. I will count your story but not read it if you don’t have your story sent to me in a doc or docx attached file in manuscript format. A simple Google search will get you what it looks like. In fact, go to this link and there is even a picture of the first page of a manuscript exactly. https://www.shunn.net/format/story.html I found that link and others with a two second Google search. Oh, the horror… Point, I do…
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Reading Stories
Going Slow… There are few enough in the Great Challenge writing a short story per week (a number haven’t started yet), that I can just read a few stories each day during the week and really enjoy the process. A couple of the stories turned in that I have read today really worked, a few didn’t end. But that’s pretty standard. I am really going to enjoy this. The key is going to be the writers keeping my voice out of their heads and me out of their writing offices. Here is how that problem goes… — If I liked a story, the fear then crops up that the next…
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Never Give Up
A Very True Story… Some of you have heard me give the scary warning about Topanga Canyon, a writer who was so, so, so close to breaking in during the late 1980s and early 1990s. His real name is Preston Dennett. Well, I got to meet this wonderful writer and great person finally, after all these years, when he won in Writers of the Future. In fact, he and I share a table of contents, since we both have stories in Volume #35 of Writers of the Future. So John Goodwin, the publisher of Galaxy Press, thought it would be a good idea to have the two of us tell…
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Wrong Direction
Not One, Not Two, But Three Writers… Just today, when telling me for one reason or another about a project that they were working on said that they had gone in a wrong direction and had to toss out a bunch of writing. One person said almost a hundred pages. I seldom say anything when a beginning writer or early-stage writer says that to me. But I figured I could say something here. So if I did say something when someone made that “I went in the wrong direction on my novel…” comment, here is what it would be… First off, how do you know? Now every writer when asked…
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Ask Kris Anything Starts Sunday
And I Will Be Posting the Link to the Webinar Tomorrow… Instructions on how to send in questions ahead of time for Kris to answer during the live webinar will be posted on the site tomorrow as well. There is still room in this. You get a chance to ask questions of a long term professional writer, a major editor, a Times Bestseller, someone who has started two publishing companies, and someone who writes in most major genres. Webinar every month on Sunday at 11 am West Coast US Time. First one is this Sunday. And even if you can’t make this one, there will be 12 more. Sign up…
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#9 Pop-Up Free
The Author Problem… Pop-Up #9 on Teachable… I recorded it about four weeks ago before things went crazy with life, and so when I went back to put it up, it dawned on me that just about all writers need to hear this one. So we decided to make it free. And there is a story prompt for you to do a story from. Just don’t send this story in. I also loaded the first five of the twelve videos from the Pop-Up on YouTube. But the only place you can see all 12 videos is on Teachable. And speaking of new stuff on Teachable, we moved four regular workshops…
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Lecture In a Bundle
Yup, We Did It Again… In this spring’s writer’s bundle on Story Bundle, we put in a $50 lecture if you get the bundle. 13 writing books and one lecture for $15.00. Tough to beat. So right now there are two great bundles going. The Space Opera will be available for only one more day! The Write Stuff 2019 bundle just got started. Get both at StoryBundle.com Here are two pictures and then below that the blog Kris wrote for the writing bundle. The 2019 Write Stuff Bundle – Curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch This spring’s writing bundle has three themes: Finding Time to Write (no matter what your life’s…
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Last Days of a Great Bundle of Novels
Space Opera Story Bundle… Only a few days left. Thirteen novels and a collection of space opera by some top writers. I am very proud to be a part of this one. So folks, give it a shot and if you get a chance, toss in a few bucks to the charity associated with this bundle, Able Gamers. To get the bundle, go to: https://storybundle.com/space ———– May Workshops Are Now Available… Only nine this month. A number of workshops are headed to Classic status in the next few days. I will announce them. But here are the workshops for May now available on Teachable. Class #41… May 7th … Depth #3: Research…