The Fail-Graceful Method: On Writing a Salvageable Novel
The publishing world is not a friendly place. I hope I've impressed this upon you by now - this is an insular, name-driven world where...
dmjohnston3
- Mar 24, 2021
- 3 min
Pro-Paying Flash Markets for 2021
It seems like I went and forgot that this is a writing site, didn't I? Let's fix that. My opinion on flash fiction has changed quite a...
dmjohnston3
- Nov 14, 2020
- 4 min
The Multi-Pass Method for Editing Fiction
So you've finished the first draft of the novel that's definitely going to be a bestseller, just like all the others. Get yourself a...
dmjohnston3
- Nov 10, 2020
- 6 min
How to Start and Finish Your Next Doomed Novel
So you've decided to write a manuscript. Good for you - you're starting on a noble path to disappointment that many other have already...
dmjohnston3
- Oct 6, 2020
- 5 min
On Exposition in Literature
In the context of fiction, exposition is writing intended to explain something - some detail of the setting, a plot point, a character's...
dmjohnston3
- Oct 4, 2020
- 1 min
Short Story Master Post
Here are the collected short story posts as of October 4th, 2020. This post may be updated if new posts are added. Writing a Short Story:...
dmjohnston3
- Sep 30, 2020
- 3 min
5 Outlines to Help Structure Your Novel
Pressed for time? Listen to the post instead! Some authors can sit down and bang out a novel in a few sittings with no help at all,...
dmjohnston3
- Sep 23, 2020
- 3 min
Writing a Short Story: A Beginner's Guide
Pressed for time? Listen to the post instead! Short story markets offer great potential for new writers, even if they can be hard to...
dmjohnston3
- Sep 10, 2020
- 7 min
The Seven Virtues of Fiction Writing
We spend too much enough on negative talk, I think. There's a tendency to focus on failure over success, on the worst over the best, on...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 31, 2020
- 3 min
How Long is a Short Story? A Brief Guide to Short Story Length
Story length is an important factor for anyone writing for short fiction markets, which often have specific word count requirements. So...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 28, 2020
- 6 min
66,355,200 (More or Less) Fantasy Writing Prompts
We've done character voice and we've done science fiction, so now it's time for the fantasy writing prompts. But since so many people are...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 26, 2020
- 7 min
Publishing Short Stories: The Nuts and Bolts of Submitting
Pressed for time? Listen to the post instead! Aspiring writers can get tunnel vision. People get so focused on getting a novel published...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 24, 2020
- 2 min
26 Science Fiction Writing Prompts for the Terminally Stuck
I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of writing prompts. Better to find your own ideas and then get help developing them into...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 19, 2020
- 1 min
Novel Writing: Master Post
Here are the collected novel writing posts as of November 10th, 2020. This post may be updated if new posts are added. How to Start and...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 17, 2020
- 9 min
Story Analysis: Early Voting
Back in the day, I posted stories that I couldn't sell to my blog, inviting readers to judge for themselves if they are truly as bad as...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 12, 2020
- 4 min
Writing Voice: 7 Practical Exercises to Improve Dialogue
Dialogue is one of the hardest, most important, most rewarding aspects of long-form writing. Whereas many editors of short fiction...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 10, 2020
- 4 min
4 Tips for Writing Epistolary Short Fiction
An epistolary novel is a work framed as a series of documents, conventionally an exchange of letters or a diary. These days, the...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 7, 2020
- 7 min
Worldbuilding Ideas: Starting from the Ground Up
Yes, I know - I'm the guy who's been telling you that worldbuilding doesn't matter, that you shouldn't sweat out all these insignificant...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 4, 2020
- 4 min
The Use and Abuse of the Thesaurus
While I've written quite a bit about dialogue tags, the truth is that I don't care about tags per se as much as I do about a greater...
dmjohnston3
- Aug 3, 2020
- 3 min
Growing a Story Setting Through Short Fiction: A Case Study
"Story setting" being a less writerly term for worldbuilding, in case you were wondering. I write a lot of short stories, and in my...