Free Articles and Short Stories
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Free Articles on Writing and the Writing Life
CRAFT
Using Index Cards to Plot a Novel
The Demon Returns The truth behind all those unfinished stories you have
The Back Plot Thickens What happens before your story starts is as important as the story
Creating Fight Scenes and Battles Advice for those who write science fiction, fantasy, historical novels, and romance
Making a Fight Real How to imagine a fight when you've never been in one yourself
Keeping the Reader Reading How to create a story that will suck the reader in like a black hole and not belch him out until "The End."
Suddenly, a Pirate Ship Loomed Over the Horizon How to avoid using "suddenly" in action scenes. New
Sex and the Single Alien Things to consider when creating that sexy alien hero. New
Killing Off Characters Should you kill off that secondary character? New
Write Where You Know How to Avoid Mistakes in the Location of Your Story New
Writing Psychic Characters New
Shifting Types of Viewpoint Is it a good idea to shift between first and third person in the same work? New
Maintaining Tone How to keep the same voice throughout a work New
How To Avoid Inventing a New Language New
Ing the Merciless How to Avoid Using "ing" in your writing. New
Prologues, Yes or No? New
How Long Should a Paragraph Be? New
Nouns or Pronouns? When should you use a pronoun instead of character's name? New
Across a Crowded Room: What to Include in Descriptions New
How Much Information Do You Need on the First Page? New
Voice as Characterization New
Telepathic Dialogue New
The Moral Core in Genre New
Squandering the Reader's Trust New We gain the reader's trust by delivering good books, but we can squander that trust away.
MARKETING YOUR BOOK TO AGENTS AND PUBLISHERS
To Market, To Market The different markets available for publishing your books with the pros and cons of each method.
Finding the Right Market for Your Novel How to find the right publisher for your kind of novel New
How to Write a Query Letter
How to Describe your Romance Novel in Queries
How to Write a Blurb (Back Cover Copy) The description of your novel must be short, sweet, and oh so tempting to a reader. Here's how to create the perfect blurb as well an even shorter description when it's needed.
Finding the Right Epublisher
THE WORLD OF PUBLISHING
The State of Publishing and Bookselling, June 2008. A series of blogs I wrote on the current state of publishing and bookselling and how that affects writers and readers. I focused on genre novels.
Ebook Primer General information on reading ebooks.
PROMOTION
Ebook Promotion from "The Call" and Way Beyond
How to Organize Your Promotion Information
THE WRITING PROFESSION
How to Keep Up with Contract Expirations and Other Important Dates
How to Critique Hints on finding and working with a critique group or partner.
Why Don't You Write a Real Book? A considered answer to this most insulting of questions. New
Why We Write An affirmation of the joy of writing in a hard profession.
Articles and Blogs of Interest to Writers A collection of links to other writers and writing professionals. New
Writers and Wills Things to consider when writing your will New
Too Stupid to Live Characters who do stupid things because of a lazy writer New
Preparing for Bad Weather How to protect your work when bad weather happens New
Fanfic and Copyright Is it legal to write stories using others' characters? New
Should You Use a Pen Name? New
Why Women Read Romance New
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Free Short Stories
Alone Dr. Adam Dane is stranded on a desolate world inhabited by an energy creature with incredible powers. With only his wits and the help of a young Pandori boy, Adam must stop this powerful creature before it completes its horrifying plans for the crew of the Confederation research vessel Appomattox. Featuring characters from The Once and Future Queen.
A Perfect Alibi When is a perfect alibi not so perfect? Cody Callahan and defense attorney Travis Longstreet must answer this question to save grandmotherly Lucille Prettyman from murder charges.
Scavengers Captured by raiders, an animal healer with limited magical skills must stop them before they murder the neighboring farm families.
The Werewolf Whisperer Trapped in wolf form, caged in an animal shelter, Gray, his human identity fading, has only one hope to escape neutering or death.
The Maiden and the Monster (novella) Its outer solar system encircled by thousands of asteroids, the tiny Earth colony hasn’t had contact with other humans for many hundreds of years, then one day, an Earth ship falls from the sky. But the pilot isn’t human.
After the strange, frightening creature saves her father from a fang wolf, Lady Corinne Barclay is forced to become the monster’s life prize. Expecting rape or worse, she meets the creature and begins to understand the true definition of “monster.” Meanwhile, a human enemy plots to destroy them both.
Free Fanfic Stories (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series)
Stories are in chronological order
Both Sides of the Coin (short story) Trapped with its sensors blinded in an asteroid field, the Searcher sits motionless as the crew waits to hear from Buck who will lead them through with his fighter. When Buck doesn't contact them, Hawk and Wilma must decipher the message he left behind to save him and the Searcher.
The Maiden and the Monster (novella) Its outer solar system encircled by hundreds of asteroids, the tiny Earth colony hasn’t had contact with other humans for many hundreds of years, then one day, an Earth ship falls from the sky. But the pilot isn’t human.
After the strange, frightening creature saves her father from a fang wolf, Lady Corinne Barclay is forced to become the monster’s life prize. Expecting rape or worse, she meets the creature and begins to understand the true definition of “monster.” Meanwhile, a human enemy plots to destroy them both.
A standalone story with no knowledge of the Buck Rogers series or characters needed.
The One (novella) Wilma and Hawk are kidnapped and taken to a desolate world inhabited by an avian boy and an energy creature with incredible powers and unspeakable plans for any crew member unlucky enough to cross its path.
Hostages to Fortune (novella) Hawk has escaped death from a nova thanks to the beautiful alien doctor, but can he truly live when he believes he's lost all those he loves once again?
The Gift (short story) When Hawk refuses to allow his half-human brother to share a human Christmas with their friends from the Searcher, Buck calls him Scrooge.
Can a gift from Hawk's people's past and a Christmas present change Hawk's heart and Ari's future?
At the Ball (very short story) Buck's lighthearted attempt to make Hawk jealous of Tiber and another man goes disastrously awry.
The Final Seduction (short story) Tiber may finally have found the way to win Hawk as her mate, but will this final seduction win his heart as well?
Honor Among Thieves (short story) Thrown into the past of a parallel universe, Tiber must not only find a way home before this toxic universe kills her, she must also convince a younger, more bitter Hawk that the cost of vengeance may be his honor and his love for Koori.
HAWK, The Rest of the Story Marilynn fills in the holes between her stories and gives her own version of the future for Buck, Hawk, Wilma, and her own original characters.
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