Embracing an unusual badge of honor
While analyzing my submission and publication activity of this year, I discovered than I am now a member of the 100-rejection club. I’ve actually surpassed that milestone by receiving 101 rejections of my submitted writing in 2025.
Should I be despondent about this high number of rejections? Not at all. In a twisted, perverse sort of way (and aren’t most writers twisted and perverse?), I see it as a badge of honor.
Continue reading “Joining the 100-rejection club”Are you stuck in a rut? Need some motivation and inspiration? Maybe this a great list of quotations from notable writers, artists, filmmakers, and others can help. This list comes from the good people at MoonLit Getaway literary magazine. Here are five of my favorites from that list (although I could have listed many more).
Don’t risk missing 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. Give this list a read.
Continue reading “Friday Five: inspirational quotes for writers and other humans”I enjoyed this shortish (under-14-minute) video from the Bookfox channel on summarizing nine writing tips (or “hacks,” as Bookfox calls them, because everything is a hack these days) from science fiction maestro Ray Bradbury. Give it a watch and let me know what you think.
How do we define a style that many see as elitist, pretentious, and irrelevant?
What does the term “literary fiction” mean? What makes a story or essay or novel literary instead of … something else?
That’s a question I’ve been pondering for some time now. Lately, a series of pieces appearing online have attempted to get at an answer.
Continue reading “What makes fiction literary?”Why verisimilitude matters in all forms of fiction (with examples)
Note: If you don’t want to wade through this entire post, feel free to go directly to the examples near the end of this post. – AC
I was reviewing some early chapters of a work in progress recently when I discovered a problem with the text that–while perhaps insignificant to the overarching plot–could ruin the story’s credibility and my credibility as a writer if I didn’t fix it.
The novel is set in the early 1980s, and music plays a significant role in it. In one early chapter, I reference a song that, when I was writing the chapter, I was certain was ubiquitous on FM radio during the time frame of this portion of the novel. But as often happens when I rely on my increasingly foggy memory, I did not remember correctly.
Continue reading “A boring realist’s thoughts on keeping it real”
