Sometimes generating short stories ideas is difficult. Everyone experiences writer's block. I've heard students and seasoned writers complain that if they could just figure out what to write about or could just get started that they would be fine, but getting started...
A Reader Asks: Hi Amie, Would you like to address the subject of verb tense? I've edited the story I'm currently working on to ensure that the verb tense is consistently in the simple past but sometimes I want to switch to the present tense. Is that ever okay? Thank...
Motto: Set grandiose objectives and strive in small, calculated steps towards them. The Five Year Writing Plan you are creating will begin on January 1, 2007 and end on December 31, 2011. The pre-work for this was outlined in the last edition of this column and can be...
Motto: Set grandiose objectives and strive in small, calculated steps towards them. One of the most important things I learned when I first started to pursue writing professionally was that managing my time and projects was critical to achieving my writing goals....
Naming is powerful mojo. Hindu culture prescribes renaming children during outbreaks of diseases such as polio or fevers to confuse the evil spirits and protect the child from the illness. Catholics take a new middle name at confirmation to mark the start of their...
I am not the first, nor will I be the last person to write about the process of submitting a short story for publication. Recently, I had the honor of reading all of the submissions for the erotic Drag King anthology I am co-editing with Rakelle Valencia for Suspect...
The work of all description, sexual or otherwise, is to allow the reader to "see" the details of the world you have created in your story. Description can be sparse or abundant, but well-written description paints a vivid picture that enables each reader to employ her...
I want you to think of characters as the people who live in your stories. I would argue that they are the most important element of literary erotica. As a reader, you can most likely list characters from books you have read that you loved/hated, grew attached to and...
As writers, words are the material we use to create our finished product. Unlike painters who use water color, oil paints, canvas, and brushes or sculptures who use clay, stone, and tools I don't know the names of to create their master pieces; our materials,...
I hate to write dialogue. I've labored over awkward, stiff, fake, dialogue attempting to turn it into the witty, fast-paced banter or moving, emotionally charged exchange I had originally envisioned my characters engaged in. Nothing makes me as unhappy as when I am...