Wow, it’s the last day of November. We’re going into the last month of 2018, so I hope you’re going out with a bang. I know I’ve got some big plans for December that I’ll hopefully be able to share soon. Until then, here is this week’s edition of Five Links Friday! 1. Let’s start […]
Writing Flash Fiction Makes You A Better Writer
I was going to begin this post with the sentence “I haven’t written much flash fiction,” but I went and counted and see that I’ve published five flash fiction stories, and also have one more scheduled to be published this fall. So actually, nearly one-fourth of my published short stories have been flash fiction. I […]
…and then I got stuck.
That’s the way that 15+ short stories I currently have in the works end. It can be frustrating, but you know how it goes: You come up with a couple of decent characters and a setting that sounds interesting and then throw them together and see what happens. Sometimes this works, but a lot of […]
A Story in Two Sentences
A while back I read a really cool post at tickld.com showing 20 Terrifying Two-Sentence Horror Stories That Will Keep You Up At Night. It got me thinking…What a powerful concept. With two little sentences, you fill your reader with a sense of dread and uneasiness. And you know what’s the most interesting thing about […]
What makes a good twist ending?
Everybody loves a good plot twist. When it comes to writing short stories and flash fiction, the ending will often make or break the story. And a good plot twist can definitely leave the reader satisfied at the end of the story. But a huge problem can arise when a plot twist is done poorly. […]
Theme of Absence Halloween Contest
As you may or may not know, in addition to Write Good Books, I’m also the owner and editor of Theme of Absence, an online magazine of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. And if there is one thing I love, it’s horror. Like a lot of horror fans, I have a crazy obsession with all […]
3 Things to Avoid When Writing Flash Fiction
Flash fiction is a weird thing. On the surface it should be easy–just write a really short story, typically in the 500-1000 word range. But it’s not that easy. With a thousand words to tell a story with, there are a thousand mistakes you can make. From my experience with flash fiction (both as a […]