Tonight, I took a moment to look back through some of my old writings—nothing special, just some shorts I whipped up in record time for this writing contest or that literary magazine during my first years away at college. None of them made it. And I can see why: they’re not great. They’re mostly cheese,…
I so rarely write non-fiction. It’s just not where my heart lies, as a creator. But occasionally SOMETHING will happen to me that seems worth re-telling… Here’s a memory from my senior year of high school in my small home town, where there was very little for a teenager to do. I originally wrote it in the hopes of submitting a collection of short stories to an anthology contest, but I stopped once I found myself shelling out a lot of half-hearted pieces–things I wrote for the sake of submitting for publication, and not for the sake of telling a story. Maybe if I’m ever famous enough to warrant writing a memoir it will be worth revamping… Until then, it’s just a nice memory to relive. One that I’d forgotten about until now.
— C.M.
Last month, our poll for favorite plots ended with a tie between “Overcoming the Monster” and “The Quest.” Upon reflection, these are two of the most likely candidates for adventure storylines, as they hold a lot of potential for excitement and tension. When our characters overcome the monster, their journey often includes an inner struggle…
Something new for me that, I’ll admit, took me out of my typical comfort zone for books–but in a good and necessary way. A deeply intricate, imaginative story that, though based in fantasy, still has much to say about our realities.
— C.M.
Here, the art of lay-low…