Those Pesky Words
by Cia
I was having a discussion with an author the other day about words. Why do we pick the ones we use when we write? What should the focus be on, the words themselves or they image they are meant to convey?
When I first started writing, I used a lot of formal language. For example, from my first story, The Price of Honor: The strange color registered with his consciousness but he continued to stare blankly about, trying to process the abrupt disloca
Ok, ok, bad, bad Lugh... What's new? Well we have two for you -- enjoy!
The Mall
by Mike00
review by Cia
For those who love to read the unexpected, check out The Mall by Mike00. A teenage boy goes to the mall with his mother and something he never would have dreamed of happening, does. Lost in a bizarre new situation, he has to make decisions and face things he never would have imagined.
First kisses, dreams, loneliness, and chocolate bars all come together in an en
This week our story is A Shot of Bourbon by Shadowgod. I hope you enjoy it as much as Conner did. So, give it a shot, and you may find you like... bourbon.
A Shot of Bourbon
by Shadowgod
review by Conner
This was the first story by Shadowgod that I ever read. I’ve been a fan ever since. For me, humour and intimacy are an irresistible combination. This story has both in spades.
As stories go, this one is on the shorter side – 5 healthy chapters totalling about 38k. The s
Well, our week with Shane by Vlista is done. I do hope some of you enjoyed the story. Our tips this week were on Research and Plot Bunnies. Comicfan brought us two new prompts and we got to see a poetic response to one of our previous prompts. And finally our week wrapped up with a Blast from the Past -- featured poetry from 2006!
Reader's Choice Awards -- Voting will end this SATURDAY, Feb 25, 2012. I've gotten mine in have you? Please READ THE DIRECTIONS as they are VERY specific. If you
How about some featured poetry from Edition 3, December 2006:
His Hand by Nickolas James
I used to reach for your hand when I was smaller Now sometimes I push it away. But I’ll never forget how you still loved me the day I told you I was gay. We fight a lot and you still yell at me Every time I act like I don’t care But the truth is I still idolize you From the way that you walk To the clothes that you wear. God blessed me with you But you say that I’m wrong You call me the blessing So
Today's writing prompts brought to you by Comicfan are...
Prompt 112 – Creative
Cue – Poetry, Haiku
The Haiku is a Japanese poetry form. In English we usually use a 5, 7, 5 syllable line. The Haiku usually focuses on some aspect of nature and ends with a surprise. With that in mind try writing at least one of your own. Here is one of mine as an example.
I hear the screaming
And run to find him pointing
At a spider. Squish.
Prompt 113 – Challenge
Um... hi again! Sorry about yesterday seems I had a med reaction to the new med. Needless to say I'm back, although not quite together. I'd like to bring to you an essay by Dark today. Hope you enjoy it.
Plot Bunnies
There’s nothing as nefarious as a plot bunny. Lurking in the corners of a writer’s brain like cockroaches, plot bunnies live to nibble on productivity. Those sharp front teeth bite and gnaw with a crunsh crunsh crunsh until single-minded focus turns into somethin
Many of you noticed the little faux pas I made in the beginning of yesterday's blog. Oops. Well, I received some interesting feedback over it, including a shoutout to this little gem, so I thought I would share....
Cia on Research...
So, I read an ebook recently. Big surprise there, lol. Several things jumped out at me as I read it that let me know that the writer was definitely NOT a resident of the state they set it in. Not only did they describe the summer weather as humid, whi
Monday, Monday... (sung in his best Beatles impression) Time for a new featured story, so this week we bring you Shane by Vlista. Vlista has been a member since (gasp) 2005 and a hosted author since about the same time, which makes him one of the "older" authors (although he's not really old himself). I will warn you right up front that Shane is not easy reading. It deals wtih subject matter that will be difficult for many people to read. However -- it is dealt with in such a way that is compell
Time to review for the kids in the back of the room!
Monday: Featured Hosted's Story -- Jack Scribe's It Stay's in Vegas. Tuesday: Mark Arbour shared how he gets his motivation Wednesday: More than a Crush by FleetingRainbow and Social Skills by KingdombytheSea Thursday: Renee Stevens shared how to create a credible villian Friday: Comicfan brought us two new prompts and new prompt responses to read Saturday: Our Blast From the Past was a 2006 interview with Vlista
Like the cliffnotes?
Don't you just love these? I do. This is from the third edition of the newsletter in December 2006.
For those of you who don't know Vlista, or Vance, is one of our oldest Hosted Authors. He has been 'away' for a while and I miss him. So, here is a little insight into Vlista as an author and a person as well.
Member Interview-Vlista
GA: Hi Vance!
Vance: Hi GA! How are you?
GA: Great, how are you?
Vance: Not too bad!
GA: Ready to be interviewed?
Vance: Yep I think
It's Friday! It's Friday! Whoot! Time for some jolly good reading.
Our prompts this week are:
Prompt 110 – Creative
Cue – Creating Evil
No one is just evil. They work from their own point of view. Your job is to create an “evil character” but you have to explain why they are that way. What happened to turn them into the person they are and why do they find that “evil” lifestyle so appealing?
Prompt 111 – Creative
Cue – The Quick Fix
Everyone knows that there is no such thi
You know we all love a bad boy. We all love them better in our stories. But can we write them? Today's tip talks about...
Creating a Credible Villain
by Renee Stevens
When creating a villain for your story, there are many things that need to be considered. Villains are not ALL bad. While they will have mostly flaws, they most likely will also have something about them that is good. This could be anything. A serial killer could also be a devoted family man. Your villain
Here lately I've been asking a lot of people to write reviews. Not just people I interact with all the time, or even interact well with. I thought it was important to bring that up. I also thought it was important to bring up that in many instances, old news is put aside so new news can be brought to you the reader. And for that I would like to thank my reviewers... all of them. I also think it's important to point out that the blogs do not have a spellcheck function that I can find, so if you d
Motivation. What makes a writer start writing and keep at it day after day? I asked Mark to write something for the blog, and that was the topic he chose. So, let's all take a peek inside Mark's head and see what he thinks...
Chronicles of Chronicles: How I wrote “Chronicles of An Academic Predator”
I’ve learned that when someone really hot, really charming, really bitchy, and/or really sinister asks you to do something, it’s usually a good idea to agree, especially if they have
Some stories are so good they need no introduction. That's how I feel about this one. So with no further hullabaloo I present --
It Stays in Vegas
by Jack Scribe
reviewed by Renee Stevens
I have read all of Jack Scribes “Vegas” series and a couple of them I have read multiple times. The first story in the series, It Stays In Vegas, introduces many of the main characters that we see throughout the series.
When Bob Harrington takes a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate h
Greetings on this Superbowl Sunday from your friendly blogging team. This week has been a hoot! It started off by dragging out an old favorite by DomLuka:
Desert Dropping
You know, I really wish more of you would review these stories... make an author feel appreciated. Anyway, our reviewer really did just that. And got quite a bit of feedback. Good job!
Of course that was just Monday, we still have a whole week to look back on. Tuesday was a peek at the psychology of the
This week Comicfan brings us two new prompts:
Prompt 108 – Creative
Cue – List of words
Use the following words in a short story: obituary, ice cream, red dress, fish, and apartment.
and
Prompt 109 – Creative
Cue – Poetry
Write a poem about your favorite person. Try to descriptive and give life to the person you are writing about. The poem can take any from a series of haikus, to free form, to an established pattern.
In response to Prompt #107....
Lifetime Gu
While poking around in the forums the other day I found myself in the Editor's forum looking at a thread concerning physical descriptions and how authors handle writing them. It seemed the biggest concern was how to get the info across without the story sounding like something plucked from the Nifty's "First Time" collection.
I'm not going to repeat all the discussion from there to here, if you are an author, you should read it. If you are a new author... please read it. What I am going to
So... What's new? Today we have two new stories for you to take a look at... Pitch Perfect by Intune and Red Light by Robyn. So, go, take a look and review, review, review!
Pitch Perfect by intune
reviewed by EmDee
After reading the first chapter of Pitch Perfect by intune, I was instantly hooked. In fact, I knew even before I finished reading all of the currently posted 10 chapters that I would be writing this review for the GA News Blog.
Pitch Perfect is an in progre
Well, yesterday was an interesting day... I would like to go on record as saying I did write today's tip. Take it with the intended humor is it written with...
Out of the Ooze
by Lugh
Please understand that what I am about to share with you is a personal experience. It is not based on any research nor is it scientifically sound; take it with a grain of salt. Better yet, save the salt, you may very well need it when you get to ‘The End’.
I have heard authors speak repeatedly aga
Ha! Time to rile up all the lazy Domaholics on the site. This week's featured story is by their missing favorite author Dom Luka, which of course everyone wants out of hiding... well everyone that is except maybe our reviewer....
Desert Dropping
by DomLuka
published on GA December 27th, 2010.
36 chapters, 389,678 words.
It was a tried and true—if overused—premise. The protagonist, a typical closeted teenager named Rory, is thrust into a new environment and famil
Whew! What a week two. I hope everyone took the time to go check out our Featured Story this week:
From Behind Those Eyes by Viv
And while you were out there looking, I hope you stopped by all the other great stories we talked about on Wednesday: Quonus10's Second Shot and The Trial of Jordan Colmar and Dee's story, Low Down and Out. And on Friday we found a poem by JOeKEool in the Prompts and some people learned that the prompts aren't just "silly little things" any more but real
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