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  • Valkyrie

    Upcoming Writing Events

    By Valkyrie

    Stay tuned for this year's anthology - In too Deep!  While the team works behind the scenes to get everything ready for posting, I thought it would be a good idea to reveal what's next on the agenda.   The Prompt Team is excited to announce our first prompt team event, which will take place in November.  Be sure to check out Friday's blog for more information.  We will be honoring our beloved late friend Carlos Hazday by again featuring stories/poems/memories in his honor on Janu
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Writing Tips

"Low Light" Reel

Whether you are using an auto correct program on your laptop or PC, or whether you have readers constantly pointing out some of the same errors in your stories, chapter after chapter...there comes a time when you need to take an honest look at your writing and your bad habits...and make yourself a ′low-light′ reel for yourself. This is the opposite of a highlight reel, where you look at what you′re really good at and examine the best parts of what it is you do. That′s a good thing to do, an
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Classic Feature

December Classic Author Feature: Dare by Sara Alva

So half the world celebrates the holidays in the heat. So while this story isn't a holiday tale, I couldn't help but pick a story that features a group of friends and some summer-time fun. This snack-sized tidbit is just right for this busy time of year for readers to enjoy too! Length: 5,064 Description: Mark always takes a dare. A Reader said: This was just a wonderful story, written very well. And I loved the ending!  You are really really good at this. ~ Toast  
Cia

Cia in Classic Feature

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Writing Tips

Fleshing it Out

Anyone who has ever read any of my personal story reviews of another author's story will almost always find a common theme popping up in my critique. Whether it's said in a positive or negative way, I am constantly pushing for people to give more and more detail in their work. (As a suggestion, of course.) Not in every single scene that they write about, but in a few choice scenes that I find myself wanting to dive deeper into as a reader. Now, that's just my opinion, and writers can take it or
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Writing Tips

Peaks and Valleys

Raise your hand if you′ve been on a roller coaster before! Hehehe, I′m just kidding. It′s the internet, I can′t see you raising your hand! Trust me, if I could set up spy cameras around you, it would be in the shower...not next to your laptop! ::Giggles:: Seriously, though...when riding a roller coaster, you experience certain peaks and valleys. You slow down in certain sections of the ride, left anticipating the next big ′dip′ with baited breath...and then everything speeds up and races t
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Weekly Wrap Up

Weekly Wrap Up (Dec.13 - Dec. 19)

On Behalf Of The Staff Of GA To All The Members And Guests Of GA Geseënde Kersfees (Afrikaans), 메리 크리스마스 (Korean), Nadolig Llawen (Welsh), С Рождеством (Russian), sretan božić (Bosnian), メリークリスマス (Japanese), god jul (Norwegian), boldog Karácsonyt (Hungarian), Nollaig Shona (Irish), feliz Natal (Portuguese), Krismasi Njema (Swahili), ਮੇਰੀ ਕਰਿਸਮਸ (Punjabi), Շնորհավոր Սուրբ Ծնունդ (Armenian), Gleðileg jól (Icelandic), срећан Божић (Serbian), ပျော်ရွှင်သောခရစ္စမတ်ဖြစ်ပါစေ (Burmese), veselé Vánoce
wildone

wildone in Weekly Wrap Up

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Writing Tips

Sex Appeal

What is sex appeal? Take a moment and really think about that. What is it that we find ′sexy′ about the people we dream about? Now, not everybody writes romance or sexually themed stories online, but that doesn′t mean that your characters don′t have some sort of appeal to them that acts as a direct interest to your main character. What is it that draws your protagonist in? What is the bait? Why this particular boy over all others? Today...we′re talking about sex appeal. What it is, what it
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Writing Tips

Adding Humor

You know...there′s often a ′complaint′ that goes around about a lot of the Marvel Comic Book movies that I never really understood. That is the introduction of humor into their storylines. Now, there are some people that I know that could, quite literally, find something wrong with everything in existence. If God Almighty showed up tomorrow in white robes, 400 feet tall, with an entire symphony of angels singing His praises behind him, all surrounded with the brightest light ever seen by human e
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Writing Tips

Metaphor & Similie

″His eyes were as blue as a half-melted crayon, his skin as soft as wet clay...with a smile that could warm my heart like leftover meatloaf in the oven. He was so beautiful.″ Hehehe, ok, so that′s not the best collection of phrases to demonstrate the use of metaphor and simile! LOL! But I write a LOT...so I need to save my best stuff for the stories themselves. But we can start here, just so you guys can get an idea of what I′m babbling about this week. Easily put, metaphors and simil
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Writing Tips

Darker Themes

There are going to be times, every now and again...when the written content of your stories may take a very dark turn, or veer off into situations that are somewhat uncomfortable for other readers to absorb as readily as they do some of your 'brighter' themes. This can be an intimidating atmosphere for you to thrive in. The gritty realities and graphic nature of the story that you want to tell may be too much for some of your readers to handle or understand. But, while there is the temptation to
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Writing Tips

Exposition

Not long ago, I wrote a short article on the concept of ″Show, Don′t Tell″, and made sure to add that both sides of the equation are needed to tell a good story. When it comes to exposition, it is the skillful use of both show and tell in unison that can give your story a smooth and natural feel, while still giving the audience the tools it needs to fully understand what′s going on. Finding a way to finesse both sides takes a little practice, but once you nail it down, it will pretty much become
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Writing Tips

One Life to Live

When writing a story of your very own, I think there is an added effect that comes from using your own personal experiences as a blueprint for the writing itself. Your memories, your feelings, your beliefs, your personality...drawing from these sources gives the whole feel of a story a certain ′touch′ that can′t be achieved by just putting words on the screen. You may often hear the term, ″write what you know″ being thrown around a lot, and I couldn′t agree more. No matter what the content of yo
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Anthologies

2020 Fall Anthology: Bridges - NOW LIVE

Who's ready for some more stories?  Well, you're in luck, we still have one theme for the anthology to share. Don't forget to let the authors know what you thought by leaving them a comment or, even better, a review!  Happy Reading!!!!     Getting In Step northie The Keys to the Far Castle CarlHoliday Two Lives Wombat Bill Bridges to Friendship wildone
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Anthologies

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Writing Tips

Giving/Getting Criticism Part 2

Imagine that you're standing in the middle of a crowd of your readers and fans that absolutely love the stories you write and appreciate the love and energy you put into every word. Every single one of those loyal readers has a giant feather...and they surround you, lightly teasing and fawning all over you with those feathers, day and night. It's just a good feeling, you know? Hehehe, and there might ten, or twenty, or fifty, or one hundred, of them...giving you nothing but good vibes the whole
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Writing Tips

Giving/Getting Criticism Part 1

There are two sides to every story. And two sides to the critical review of every story, once it gets released. Hopefully, with a little bit of insight on both sides of the equation, I can help both the critics and the creators deal with their, often vastly opposing, views on what a good story is, and what it isn't. This week, as the initial approach to a 'two-parter' blog post...we talk about giving and receiving criticism. Two sides of a coin that I don't think most people fully understan
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Anthology

2021 Anthology #1 - Themes and Deadlines

So, this isn't going to be the full announcement for the 1st anthology of the year, but I did want to announce the themes and the deadline.  A more in depth announcement will occur after the current anthology is finished posting.  One thing I want to point out, for 2021 there will be two main themes per anthology and a pot luck. The pot luck includes MANY theme options for if you don't like the main theme options. The number of themes used this upcoming year will help determine the number of pot
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Anthology

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Writing Tips

Overworking a Story

You've written a story, you've gotten from point A to point B, and you made sure to wrap everything up, nice and tidy...but it's just not ready yet. Right? You want it to be your best work. So you go back and edit it so that it'll seem like a much better, more professional, well-written story. You take a little more time with it, but even then, it doesn't seem quite right. So you go back again, and try to 'fix' everything that you think is wrong with it. You finish up...and it's OK...but...
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Writing Tips

Character Descriptions

Who is this person? And that person? Who are the characters populating this fictional world that I'm reading about? What do they look like, what are their personalities, and why should I care? These are all questions that need to be asked and answered with every new story that you put out, as you are trying to paint a vivid picture with the words you type on the screen. No matter how clear the vision of your main characters and love interests may be in your head, you have to keep in mind th
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