Category Archives: Writing

The Scribbler Erases...

by Liana Posted on October 14, 2012

Ficlet for lithiumlaughter

Misbehaving. Want to throw the whole thing into a river to float away and leave me alone, thank you!

Jaguar's story for Rabia Gale

It's there. Sketched. Awaiting the painting, the vivid colors that will bring it to life, but how do you capture a movie in your head into lyric prose verse?

"Don't Say a Word," Alliance ficlet

Rejected by Daily Science Fiction, out to Plasma Frequency Magazine.

Personally rejected by Plasma Frequency Magazine1, out to... Will get back to y'all on that.

And last edit for the night. I want to try it at Abyss and Apex, which is closed until November. Onto the next story for the week.2

"At the Door," fantasy ficlet

Still pending response from Flash Fiction Online, none due for 15+ days

What's on your docket?

Show 2 footnotes

  1. My usual. "Well-written, more please!" :cue my grumble, grumble, grumble: ↩
  2. Gotta finish that Jaguar. ↩
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The Interdependence of Mythos and Culture

by Liana Posted on August 15, 2012

Author's Note: Prompted by lithiumlaughter at the Nonfiction Fishbowl.

A Treasury of Children's LiteratureWhen I was in seventh grade, I wrote a research report on Greek mythology. An eighth grader used my research paper as a source for her research paper on the same subject.

From my earliest years, my father kept great big books of fairytales, legends, nursery rhymes, and folktales for us kids to read. I fell in love with these books and wandered into each library looking for more. In the process, I stumbled into mythology: Greek, Roman (which is basically Greek appropriated), and even Norse and British. I never did understand Tolkien's bemoaning the lack of British isle myth. The land and cultures have a rich heritage of mythology, including faery folk, goblins, and more.

Continue reading →

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Defining the Blog in Writing Vernacular

by Liana Posted on August 13, 2012

This story begins with a tweet, a fairly innocuous little fellow as tweets go, based upon a fairly commonly upheld principle that if a writer wishes to write in a particular form or genre, that writer ought to read in that form or genre.

Here is the tweet:

Writers who would blog about something other than writing should read blogs that are about something other than writing.

— via @lianamir1

Continue reading →

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Choosing Vulnerability

by Liana Posted on August 6, 2012

Some days I hate my writing. Today is one of those days and the reason I almost failed to update City of Glass, my current serialized science fiction novel, this morning. I hate the whole story. I want to throw it in a river to go and rot.

Every writer I have ever met has experienced this at one time or another. It's a side effect really of our pursuit of perfection. We need that pursuit. It's what brings you fully-developed wonderful literature instead of half-baked half-written stories that leave you wondering what we were doing when were supposed to be writing. It's important. Without that pursuit, we would be unable to create the works that inspire us and make us want to keep putting pen to paper day after day.

But there's thing called a commitment. I made a promise to not just put pen to paper, so to speak, but also to put paper to bed and send it out into the great wide world twice a week for readers to enjoy—or not. I really can't control that part. Commitment is important too, necessary to us artistic types who want every word we produce to be perfect. Without that commitment, we would never be able to stop writing, editing, revising, etc. and hand over our work to the reader. It would never get to you.

And then, there's resolve. It's that murky bridge in between the two. My resolve is what allows me to do what I need to do, even when I don't want to. I still hate City of Glass as it stands. I still hate the chapter I finally kicked out the door this morning. I still wish I had never, ever made that stubborn commitment to produce a novel that wasn't finished first so I could belabor it into perfection.

But I am resolved to fulfill my commitment. The new installment is up. I have done my duty and must wash my hands of perfection.

There.

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5 Things Meme: Worldbuilding

by Liana Posted on August 5, 2012
This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series 5 Things Meme

Comment to this post saying "FIVE!" and I will pick five things I would like you to talk about. They might make sense or be totally random.

Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself, hopefully for the rest of eternity!

From arliddian: Worldbuilding

What do we talk about when we talk about worldbuilding? How about we begin with the fact that I am a worldbuilder at heart, that I empathize with Tolkien's desire to write out stories to express the worldbuilding he had done and further, that the worldbuilding he had done was built around languages. Additionally, I was asked to write this post ages ago, but haven't, primarily because it's too big. I couldn't get my arms around it.

Worldbuilding is writing. No matter what time period you're in, what setting, what people, your story exists within a world, and the story builds that world within your reader's mind.
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Tuesday Tea and the Social Brew

by Liana Posted on July 24, 2012

How about some tea, crumpets, and social brew?

The Tea

I have some guilty pleasures. Bottled fruit yerba maté is one of them.

So.

While I like many flavors, today I want to recommend this refresher by Guayakí: Pure Body Peach. The combination of peaches and yerba maté is smooth and absolutely perfect. It's my favorite of all the bottled teas they put out. Best served cool and guzzled in doses.

The Crumpets

Tried a new recipe this last week and I like it. We shall call it Blueberry Muffin Bread. The bread is dense and thick, so err on the side of too much water rather than too little.

  • a handful of frozen blueberries puréed in water
  • a handful of pecans
  • sweetener and salt to taste (err on the side of generous)
  • all-purpose flour mix
  • a pinch of baking powder

Pour the purée in a bowl and add the pecans and sweetener. Stir in flour until dough is very soupy and all flour is thoroughly mixed. Layer parchment paper two or three times over a baking dish, then carefully pour in dough. Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes1 or until knife comes out clean. If it's almost clean, taste it: it might be done. Allow to set for 15–20 minutes. Enjoy!

The Social Brew

Manuscript Multiple Personality Disorder | on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment

Diagnosis: Manuscript Multiple Personality Disorder. Often found in writers who are working on multiple projects in the same draft or stage of review, thus utilizing the same muse.

— posted in comments at Write a Book with Me

The Rules of Music | on study and creation

To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.

— Nadia Boulanger, tweeted by Finale Music
a thought which applies equally well to any creative endeavor

My Favorite Online Fiction | on reading

I try to never miss Kris Rusch’s Free Fiction Mondays, Melanie Edmond’s Starwalker, M.C.A. Hogarth’s Black Blossom, or new issues of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

— posted in comments on Writer at Play

Passive Voice? | on grammar

I do agree that those are weak verbs in an action scene and should be excised, but this sentence is an example of a passive construction. Not all instances of those two verbs are passive, as this sentence is an example of an active construction.

— posted in comments on The New World of Publishing

Show 1 footnote

  1. The recipe is for high-altitude cooking. Adjust as necessary. ↩
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Myth, Legend, and Folktale

by Liana Posted on July 13, 2012

This is the post I have been waiting for. Marie Brennan, in a guest post on Jim Hine's journal, encapsulated beautifully so many of the things I have wrestled with about my own fiction recently. My good friend, Rabia, asked me to write a post for her a while back that ended up being about flash fiction, but it was supposed to be about writing myth.

This is that post she asked for.

Continue reading →

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Considerations

by Liana Posted on July 11, 2012

I'm in the boat of eyeing the income streams again, needing to add more of them. Which brings me back to Kickstarter. Again. But I haven't figured out how to tweak out a project I want to do.

Then there's City of Glass. I'm feeling a need to bump it up to twice weekly updates instead of once, but I'm not sure if that will be cost-effective for me, as until it's gone a little ways, it probably won't produce income. Note to self: It also needs a cover.

I've thought about monetizing writing to prompts, but don't think I want to go there when I write for free to prompts. Have prompt, will write.

Something's got to give.

:plunks chin on hand and gets thoughty:

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