A little while back, my friend Dan wrote a post about his muse. I’ve been mentally returning to it since then, mostly because I don’t think I completely understand what a muse is. I know, a writer with a fuzzy muse sounds like a serious and, um, personal problem. I thought I understood the muse…
A couple months ago, I wrote a post about writing relatable characters, where I said readers connect most with characters when the characters interact with the story. I want to expand on that today. Characters have (or should have) personalities. Some authors even create big, detailed charts outlining every detail of their characters – looks, intelligence,…
Last week, the husband and I decided two things: 1. Our deck looks like crap, and 2. If we put forth a little effort and money, we can make it look less like crap. We suspect the deck was constructed by the previous owner. Nothing was pre-fabricated, including the lattice. Imagine two finishing nails at…
I’m writing this post from here: For those of you keeping score, this is a beach on the big island of Hawaii. I’m not gonna lie. It’s freaking amazing. Neener neener. This time last week, I was here: This was the display at my grandma’s memorial service. What a difference a week makes. Don’t get…
Last week, I participated in a flash fiction challenge in which I picked two subgenres to mash together into a single short story. I did this using a random number generator and landed on dystopia and erotica. (Read it here if you’re so inclined.) Yep, erotica. As in hormones, blood rushes and naughty bits. I…
Imagine a misfit kid. He’s picked on. The teacher doesn’t like him, and he’s often in trouble. He’s not from around here, so he has difficulty relating to the locals. After many weeks of loneliness, he tries to win the favor of his classmates by providing them with snacks. All is going well until his popcorn machine…
I watched The Hunger Games last night. I read the book before the movie came out, and I’ve seen the movie a few times. So I obviously knew what would happen. Still, a certain scene got me. By that, I mean it made me weepy. I’m not usually a weepy individual, so the moment surprised…
A few days ago, this article came out on Consumerist.com. If you don’t want to click over and read it right this second, allow me to summarize: There are companies that sell five-star reviews to authors, and Amazon is suing these companies. I think almost everyone would agree that paying for fake 5-star reviews is…
This weekend is Hook Queue Weekend in my critique group. The queue only exists on the first weekend of every month, and its sole purpose is to determine if your submission has a good hook or not. It’s brutal. Allow me to explain a bit before I get to the point. Anyone reading submissions is…
One of my favorite books is Stephen King’s On Writing, and one of my favorite parts of that book is when he describes the rabbit. Remember that part? After a few sentences, readers pictured a white rabbit with a blue number eight on it. King used the illustration to describe the telepathic nature of reading and…
Allison Maruska 