Category: writing
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Green Jay and Crow
We moved interstate earlier this year and in the process I mislaid a great many things, among them my children, my piano, and my writing routine. I’ve been adrift. Perhaps even a little broken hearted. I still don’t feel as if all my pieces have come together. BUT. There was this manuscript. An award winner…
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Maps (or what to do when your characters are walking in circles)
When I’m writing I usually have a rough map by my side. Something to show where the characters are, where they’re headed and a few topographical features. If the poor characters are mostly inside, I have a sketch of layout of the house they’re in, so I’m not lost when I’m describing their movements. I like…
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Where’s the conflict?
A story I wrote recently came back after some time away on submission, rejected but with several rounds of comments. I’m usually glad of comments, even if the piece is ultimately declined. It’s a chance to learn, to really see your work through someone else’s eyes. Sometimes, of course, the comments come from a parallel…
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Only the good die young
None of us are truly good, most of us aren’t particularly trying. But there are good actions, good intentions. I’ve been wrestling with how to write about them without making them boring or schmaltzy. (not for this current story, but perhaps for the next) Marillyne Robinson does it. And possibly, on a lighter scale, so…
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The unlikeable female character
I’ve just put aside a short story which has failed to find a home. It was something true and honest, maybe a little too honest, maybe a little depressing, and, at least for now, it’s going back in the drawer. It was about a woman who, despite a magical discovery, only gets older and more…
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Aurealis #84
The latest edition of Aurealis is out and there’s a new story, Suburban Canticle, from me! As well, of course, as lots of other good stuff including an illustration by Adam Katsaros, short fiction from Tracie McBride and an interview with an author I much admire, Thoraiya Dyer.
DJ Daniels 