(Reposting a 2013 post from the Anna Katherine co-tumblr) Some free writing advice, for what it’s worth: Don’t worry about writing a clever description – just describe. She had fine eyes tells you a hell of a lot more than like a Gucci at a half-off sale, she was pressed for service OR WHATEVER.
Nuts and Bolts: Thoughts on Plotting
(Reposting a 2013 post from the Anna Katherine co-tumblr) Here, have some really straightforward, practical thoughts about plots and plotting. Of which I have way too many, btw. (Previous nuts and bolts caveats apply, naturally. Assume I have so many thoughts about this stuff because I’ve fucked it up pretty often.) :::: 1. A short story is... Continue Reading →
Nuts and Bolts: Jump-Starting Stories
(Reposting a 2013 post from the Anna Katherine co-tumblr) Because I just did this, here you go: Some simple ways to start a story, particularly if you don’t know what you want to write about, but you know you need to write something. (For money, for practice, for mental health, for whatever.) Standard caveats apply. 1. The... Continue Reading →
Nuts and Bolts: Some Writing Advice
(Reposting a 2013 post from the Anna Katherine co-tumblr) A friend of mine awhile back asked the aether for some practical, straightforward writing advice, which I assumed meant nuts and bolts stuff. This is what I ended up writing to her. (Caveat emptor: 1. The reason advice looks contradictory is because it literally is different for... Continue Reading →
Upcoming appearance: Readercon (updated)!
My schedule for Readercon 32 is ready to go! As mentioned in an earlier post, it's taking place July 13 – 16 at the Boston Quincy Marriott in Quincy, MA, with Guests of Honor Jeff VanderMeer and Justina Ireland. I absolutely recommend registering and attending if you can. Previous years’ schedules can be seen (and drooled over)... Continue Reading →
Upcoming appearance: Apex Magazine’s “Happy Hour” livestream
So remember "DEMON FIGHTER SUCKS," my fantasy-horror short story set during a livestream? WELL OH DANG: In celebration of the Apex Magazine 2021 limited edition anthology -- coming out December 20th with all new afterwards for each story -- come listen to chief editors Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner talk to me and my fellow... Continue Reading →
Reading: “Your Hand in Mine, We’ll Be All Right”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDxNxcu2j9k (updated June 14, 2024, with a fixed link!) This is going to be very quick, because I can’t tell it slowly.Your Hand in Mine, We'll Be All Right Back in October of 2021, I recorded a performance of my 2014 flash horror story "Your Hand in Mine, We'll Be All Right" for Flash Fiction... Continue Reading →
Writing funny
It is sometimes said that you can't teach someone how to write comedy. I think that's a bit silly, though -- I think it's more accurate that you can't teach someone how to write something universally funny, because humor is tied so closely to our hindbrain animal limbic system electrical zoomies that what each of... Continue Reading →
Spring 2022 Class: “Writing Short Fiction”
I'm stretching my wings, folks, and taking 20+ years of experience writing, editing, and publishing -- not to mention three-odd years' worth of podcast hosting -- to the classroom. This spring I'll be teaching a practical, nuts-and-bolts approach to writing short fiction at Assabet After Dark, the largest adult continuing education program in metrowest Massachusetts.... Continue Reading →
How to sell your fiction
...and other sentences that are easier to say than they are to accomplish. But on the other hand: it's also not hard to sell your fiction, not in this golden age1 of short fiction publishing. At the end of the day, there are a lot of places that can publish your fiction... depending on what... Continue Reading →
Katherine Crighton 