Using punctuation to lock readers into your protagonist’s POV
Life update! While I’m still pursuing writing, right now I’m detouring to focus specifically on developing my editing skills. Along with reading for Strange Horizons and Flash Fiction Online, I’ve taken on more freelance editing and story coaching jobs this year, and I’m working towards a copyediting certificate from UC San Diego. I thought some…
Fencon 2025: Reflections on Intergenerational Fandom
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Fencon, a fan-run science fiction and fantasy convention in Dallas/Fort Worth. The convention skews towards older, Southern fans in their late forties to seventies, and as a younger millennial steeped more in Tor than Baen, I had a blast getting outside my bubble and diving into…
First Place for Flash Fiction – Roanoke Writers Conference
Quick update, this month I won first place at a flash fiction contest at the Roanoke Writers Conference! The story I submitted, “She Stalks in Beauty, Like the Night,” is a slice of life high school sweetheart love story in a small town Texas. With lesbian vampires. I’m sending it out to magazines now to…
Some ways that stories start
This week I studied story openings! I looked at a number of short stories and novels in science fiction, fantasy, romantasy, suspense, and literary fiction. Here’s what I noticed: Starting in medio conflictu I found that one thing 99% of openings had in common was that they began with some kind of conflict. It could…
Updates + Poem Published in Strange Horizons!
Hi friends! To start with the most exciting news, my speculative fiction poem “The Nameless Woman” was just published in my favorite magazine, Strange Horizons. As you can imagine, I’m dancing around and shrieking in an extremely undignified manner. I’ve been working overtime during the summer, so have had to put the blog on hold…
“A Fine Balance,” by Charlotte Ashley – Analysis and Plot Beat Sheet
“A Fine Balance” came out in 2016, but I have it in an anthology and recently did a deep dive analysis of the story structure. Sharing my notes here in case anyone else finds this helpful—I talk about the significance of character names, meta themes, an interestingly passive twist on a heroic figure, and outline…
Taking storytelling seriously – 6 month progress report
Reflection In January, I committed to seriously pursuing writing fiction as a long-term vocation. I’ve written since I was young, and had periodic years where I put serious effort into improving my writing and publishing, but have always set storytelling aside. I’ve struggled with the usual sense of inadequacy, the internalized idea it’s not a…
The girl who chose violence: The Spindle of Fate by Aimee Lim (ARC Review -Coming 6/4)
Disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this book for free for the purpose of giving an honest review. The Spindle of Fate can be purchased here.***SPOILERS*** New author Aimee Lim’s The Spindle of Fate is a middle grade fantasy drawing on an old Buddhist tale, Mulian Saves His Mother From Hell. It…
The Bookshelf Ecosystem
Notes from the Bookstore Sales Floor, Episode 2 Welcome to episode two of Notes from the Bookstore Sales Floor where I, someone who knows little about either writing or selling books (yet!), presume to teach you about both. For the start of this blog series, check out episode 1, about who buys all these books…
Tomb Writers: A. K. Larkwood, Tamsyn Muir, and Ursula K. Le Guin
The children yearn for the tombs… ***this post contains spoilers for A. K. Larkwood’s The Unspoken Name and Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon/Harrow the Ninth*** What is it about being a child bride to a dead god in a sepulcher deep underground that we find so relatable? Whatever it is, if you’re getting ready for Tomb Girl…
Notes from the Bookstore Sales Floor
Well, as is typical with blogs, I lost all momentum as soon as I announced I was starting one. But I have good reasons for it! I started a new job and several volunteer positions, and have been working intensely on writing–just not blog writing. But now that I’m in the rhythm of things, I…
Reviews you can use: Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer
First blog post, welcome! I’m going to start by blogging edited-down versions of the analyses I write after reading stories, paired with writing exercises based on the book I’m reviewing, I call it “reviews you can use”! As part of my writing practice, after finishing a book I go back over it and take notes…
AUSTIN DEWAR 