Phere Phere. It was the intersection of fashion and horror. Fifth Avenue meets Fear Factor. I gingerly put on my lacquered wasp earrings. The millipede bracelet came next. Then my masterpiece, a necklace made of a live de-legged scorpion I put on with bomb-disposal meticulousness. I had more than the normal blind-date nervousness. What if…
Writing Corner: Accuracy in Fiction
The good thing about writing fiction is that it’s not true. That means you don’t have to cite sources or do any research. If the facts don’t fit your story, you can change the facts. It’s pretty sweet. But does a story have to be accurate at all? If so, how much? That is what…
Muse on Monday – April 18, 2022
People are fascinating. On one hand we are all the same: we all need the same things and follow the same patterns, but on the other hand we are each unique. Every person has their own story or collections of stories. Some we know, others we can only guess. For example, I am currently looking…
Writing Corner: Your Audience
There are two parts to the writing experience: the reader and the writer. If it is something like a diary that you are not going to show anyone, then you are both the reader and the writer. But there are always both. The people who you would like to read your story are your audience….
The Neighbor We Love to Hate
The Neighbor We Love to Hate The two women watched the old man lounging in his front yard amid heaps of dirty snow. “Why won’t he leave?” one said. “He’s hurting property values.” “Right? Do you know he destroyed all my flowers last night?” “You sure?” “Who else would it be?” “He should retire to…
Muse on Monday – April 11, 2022
One great thing about reading is the chance to travel to different places and situations without leaving your home. Reading doesn’t open a new world, it opens up a million new worlds. Writing is the same way but we get to make the choices. If you want to go somewhere, all you need to do…
Writing Corner: The Period
The period, meaning the dot at the end of a sentence, is a pretty straightforward piece of punctuation. After all, it just comes at the end of a sentence, right? This is true, although it can be used a little differently sometimes in fiction writing. At the End of a Sentence There are five ways…
Typical First Date
Typical First Date The moon sparkled off the pond like the flash of a thousand smiles. It made me nervous, like a crowd was watching me. I pushed the box into the river and watched it bob away. Everything was inside: the bloody knife, the drop sheets, and the towel I used to clean up….
Hotel Limbo
Hotel Limbo At least two of the hotel’s 4 stars must have been photoshopped. Towels worn, dirty bathroom, shampoo bottles refilled. I sat on the bed, frantically searching flights. I had 36 hours to travel 2700 miles across Central Asia to make my next connection after my last flight had been cancelled. COVID Ugh, I’d…
Muse on Monday – April 4, 2022
Personally, I love the idea of doors, tunnels, and portals. They lead somewhere else, either to an actual magical other world, like Narnia, or maybe just to a whole new experience. They are a great inspiration for stories since stories are all about moving from one state to another: leaving here and going there, whatever…
The Green-Walled Treehouse 