By Robert Swartwood on June 25, 2010
My Fellow Internet Blogging People: The most annoying thing about the Internet is once someone does something — like, say, a list — then everyone else has to bitch and moan and make up their own something — like, say again, a list — too. Of course, there was the New Yorker’s list, followed up [...]
Posted in Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on May 31, 2010
Roxane Gay did a great post about etiquette and rejection over at the PANK blog. It reiterates the ongoing question of what makes a professional writer. Back when I helped edit Flesh & Blood years and years ago, I don’t remember getting that many angry replies to the rejection letters we sent out, if any. Maybe [...]
Posted in Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on May 27, 2010
Last year I’d asked what makes a professional writer, and while there were a lot of different great responses, the consensus seemed to hinge on whether or not that particular writer acted in a professional manner. So now I want to ask what should a writer who acts in a professional manner do regarding negative [...]
Posted in Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on May 17, 2010
Let’s talk about characters for a moment, shall we? Almost every story has them. They’re crucial. Without characters, there really isn’t much to propel the plot. Even stories that are “character-driven” have a plot of some kind, a story that is happening. So yes, characters are important. But what about character names? Oftentimes writers will [...]
Posted in Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on May 13, 2010
Last week I received an interesting and well thought out e-mail from Simon Thalmann regarding Hemingway’s six-word story. In fact, the e-mail was so interesting and well thought out that, with Simon’s permission, I’m going to reprint a good chunk of it here: I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the “For Sale: Baby shoes, [...]
Posted in Hint Fiction, Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on May 6, 2010
So what was the point of yesterday’s post besides a nice blast from the past? To give you an idea of how advertising have changed over the past twenty years. It’s different, yet in a way it’s the same. As our culture has evolved, so has the way companies try to sell us stuff we [...]
Posted in Hint Fiction, Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on May 3, 2010
Yesterday on Twitter I mentioned (sarcastically, of course) how I love when writers have their protagonists look at themselves in a mirror so the reader can get a description of what that particular character looks like. Lazy storytelling or convenient storytelling? Either way, I know I’ve been guilty of it. But then I wondered how [...]
Posted in Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on April 28, 2010
I haven’t had a chance yet to count the number of entries so far to the Hint Fiction contest, but there are a lot and more coming every hour as the deadline approaches. Remember, the contest ends this Friday at midnight here on the good ol’ east coast, so make sure you get those submissions [...]
Posted in Hint Fiction, Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on April 26, 2010
As of this moment, just over 140 stories have been submitted to the Hint Fiction contest. And I’m seeing the same trend in stories that I saw for the last contest and for the open reading period: murder and killing. It got so bad that at one point on Friday afternoon I sent Ben White [...]
Posted in Hint Fiction, Insights |
By Robert Swartwood on April 21, 2010
Titles are important — be it a poem or a story or a novel — but they are even more important in creating effective Hint Fiction. Last year I talked briefly about the importance of titles but Ben White just recently did a blog post where he says it even better: The angle for a [...]
Posted in Hint Fiction, Insights |
