Women on Writing - WOW and WOW!
Women On Writing is an online magazine and community for women writers. Among major topics are novel writing, indie publishing, author platform, blogging, screenwriting, and more. Lots of contests and general jocularity sans frittering on the part of Earth's most powerful humans.
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Like a half-eaten sandwich, half-finished stories used to pose as a problem. Much like the sandwich that slowly goes soggy thanks to a generous amount of mustard and mayo, I wonder to myself if I really want to keep around a half-finished story. It wasn't until this past year that I came to embrace the idea of accepting a story that didn't have an ending. It all started thanks to this one mannequin story that I wrote without an ending. It had been years since I had worked on it, and suddenly, this fresh perspective came in. I discovered my ending, and I never thought I'd get to that point with this story. Prior to this experience, I used to feel bad for not finishing. I …
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I was browsing through one of my books on writing (specifically, The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques from Your Writing Career Coach by Christina Katz) and a tip regarding writing about the body caught my eye. The author spoke of how we have so many memories stored inside our bodies. This led me to thinking that if I brainstormed creative nonfiction essay ideas or journal entries about my own body, what would I write about? I’ve already written about the bump in the middle of my nose, and how I received it after falling off a pogo ball my stepfather bought me in the 1980s. I can still remember the taste of blood as it poured from my nose and onto the co…
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As a woman of a certain age, I find myself reading more and more about retirement. What comes up frequently in these articles are the bad financial habits that must be stopped in their tracks and replaced with good financial habits. Which is a bit easier said (or written about) than done since time is not exactly on the retiree’s side. As I have a bit of experience with lots of bad habits, and more specifically bad writing habits, I thought I’d share a few now so as to help you sooner rather than later. Though unlike bad money habits, when it comes to starting good writing habits, it’s never too late. (Yay!) Procrastination Show me a writer who has never engaged in this …
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We are excited to be back with Allen Long and announce the blog tour of his latest memoir, Praying for Restraint. Join us as we interview the author, highlight upcoming spots on the blog tour, and give away a copy of his book. First, here is a little bit about Praying for Restraint: Allen Long works as a CNA-certified nursing assistant at that supposed sanctuary of caring, an inner-city general hospital. What an unforgettable parade of bizarre, needy, abusive, menacing, endearing, and poignant humanity passes through its doors. And those are just the staff and administrators! Meanwhile, the patient population spans the affluent and sophisticated to the homeless, the ment…
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Interview with Melissa Knox, Runner Up in the Q2 2021 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
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Melissa Knox’s book, Divorcing Mom: A Memoir of Psychoanalysis, was published by Cynren Press in 2019. Her recent writing has appeared in Image Journal, Another Chicago Magazine, and Lamplit Underground. She writes a blog, The Critical Mom. Read more of her writing here: melissaknox.com. ----------Interview by Renee Roberson WOW: Melissa, congratulations once again and thank you for joining us here today! It can be difficult when writing about grief. What was the process like for you in developing in writing “Widow’s Walk?” Were there times you had to walk away from it and sort through things in your mind before returning to the page? What advice would you g…
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by Marilyn Kiku Guggenheim The hapa (half-Japanese) hero of a novel I obsessively re-read, grew up with a mother who cherished her. Even when teenaged Sarah betrays a family secret, her mother Yoko forgives her, and they reminisce while holding hands and strolling a leafy Kyoto lane. With Yoko, Mary Yukari Waters conjured my fantasy mother in The Favorites. Mine lacked time or energy to see or hear me, which another reading obsession, The Bilingual Edge, helped me psychoanalyze: “Many researchers have concluded that immigrants...who maintained their cultural heritage at home...also provided their children with the strength to face challenges….[T]o know who they are and…
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My grandmother. Recently I got an e-mail from my editor. “Would you be willing to take this on? One thing – all of the writers working on this project have to use pen names.” There are a variety of reasons that writers use pen names. A friend of mine who writes romance told me about the male members of Romance Writers of America who often use pen names. Another friend uses a pen name for her work for hire and her own name on her royalty paying jobs. Yet another writing friend, an engineer, writes science fiction and cozy mysteries under her own name and erotica under a pen name. I’ve heard from some writers that they use one name for their work for young readers an…
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Today I am excited to talk with Caroline Michalicki, one of the runner-ups to the Fall 2020 Flash Fiction contest. Make sure you read her story Three Wishes then come on back and read our interview. Caroline's bio: Caroline gained confidence in her writing when her screenplay “The Journey” won honorable mention in the 2005 Maine International Screenwriters’ Competition. In 2008 her screenplay “Little Flames” was placed on the Hot List of Ten Best Scripts mentioned in Moviemakers Magazine. 2009-2018 seven of her ultra short (150 words or less) fictions were published in The Binnacle affiliated with The University of Maine in Machias. Five of those stories won honorable me…
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Olive is searching for her missing dog Ginger, but the dog has fallen into a hole and is trapped. Along comes Zen, a homeless dog who helps free Ginger. Together, they make their way back to Olive. This book is perfect for teaching young readers how to trust, make new friends, get out in nature, explore and investigate the world around them and learn about the best doctors, sunshine, diet, fresh air, fresh water, a goodnight's rest, and exercise. Print Length: 24 Pages Genre: Children's ISBN-13: 979-8616441805 Publisher: Independent Zinger in The Woods is available to purchase at Amazon.com. You can also add this to your reading list on GoodReads.com. About the Autho…
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Mary Jumbelic is an author from Central New York, and the former chief medical examiner of Onondaga County. Performing thousands of autopsies in her career, she elaborates a strong voice for the deceased. She explores through creative non-fiction the imprint the dead have made on her humanity. She has published with Rutgers University Press, Tortoise and Finch, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Vine Leaves Press, GFT Press, and Jelly Bucket. In 2014, her piece was selected for the top ten in the AARP/Huffington Post Memoir Writing Contest. In 2021, another was chosen in the top ten for the Tucson Literary Festival. She is co-teaching an on-line course on memoir for the D…
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Whenever Mother's Day draws near, I must admit I go into overdrive reminiscing about my late mother and thinking of ways to pay homage to her and all that she ever taught me, through my writing. I have my fill of so many memories that I try to slip into those stories. Whether it's a fiction story about a family matriarch, a nostalgic essay about my mother's life, or a children's picture book story where she is the adoring Grandma doling out love, wisdom and peppermints, she is there, her voice, her advice, her mannerisms, the way she dressed, the wigs she loved wearing, the songs she hummed, the television shows she watched, the delicious meals she prepared, the prayers s…
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by Nancy Hayes Kilgore When I signed with Sunbury Press for my latest novel, BITTER MAGIC, I was given the option of using the publisher’s cover designer or choosing my own. Either way I could work with the artist to help shape the design. This is one of the perks of working with an independent publisher, and I was pleased, since I, like most of us authors, have a real emotional investment in how my cover looks. BITTER MAGIC is inspired by the story of Isobel Gowdie, whose witchcraft confession in 17th century Scotland, is one of the most famous of recorded confessions. The novel brings you into a world immersed in both religion and magic, a world where conflicting bel…
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There are a lot of posts and articles, conference talks and YouTube videos and classes, that tell you the dos and don'ts of picture book writing. (Click the link for one by our very own Sue Bradford Edwards!) There are a lot of rules and best practices for picture book writers, and so when I said a couple of weeks ago that I was writing about the dos and don'ts of picture book writing--you probably rolled your eyes. But bear with me. I want to present a different kind of dos and don'ts list--one that reaches into your writer's soul and grabs on. One that allows you to write the best book you can for our youngest readers. The only "rule" I'll mention before I go on to t…
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Bracelets used to be super popular that said WWJD (What would Jesus Do?). I'm more prone to looking for a WWSD bracelet--What would Sioux do?... and then advising everyone to do the opposite. You name the wrong fork in the road, and I've not only taken it, I've dilly-dallied along the way, I've backtracked to go along the wrong fork several times, I've bought houses situated on the wrong fork, I've set out a lunch on a blanket on the ground and gazed at the sights along the wrong fork in the road, I've... well, you get the picture. image by Pixabay Don't get me wrong. I've fallen into some i…
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Deborah Tomkins lives in the historic city of Bristol, UK, with her family. She gained an Honours degree in French & Linguistics, then became a dictionary writer, before educating her children at home for 15 years. She’s passionate about the natural world, and now works for a UK environmental charity. As a child Deborah loved reading, and secretly harboured the idea of writing fiction, but didn’t begin until her late forties. She writes novels, novellas and short stories, in inconsistent bursts of activity. Now We Are Seven is the first story in a science fiction novella-in-flash set in an alternate universe. A contemporary climate fiction novel has reached long and …
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I’ve always considered myself a pantser when it comes to writing, whether I’m working on a long or short work of fiction. With non-fiction articles, I tend to be a little more structured, fleshing out a rough outline with subheads and then filling in the sections with details. But lately, I found myself growing frustrated with my notebooks and lists of topics for my true crime podcast and for my blog. None of my ideas were in one central location and I needed to put some sort of plan in place, especially for the podcast content. Begrudingly, I went to my husband and asked him for his kit of Post-It Notes. He has them in every shape and color because he uses journey mappi…
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I often have the wonderful opportunity of interviewing authors, and a question I enjoy asking is: Even if you aren't a writer, that's a great question to ask yourself regularly. I find that giving this the thought it deserves helps me as a mother and as someone who interacts with younger people socially and professionally. This could also be a writing prompt for your journal or an essay. Like my own small children, I smiled a lot as a toddler and elementary student. Middle school kicked my butt and I wish I had known then what I know now...so this particular question really hits home for me. I think about the angsty teenage Crystal and just wish I could give her …
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Have you ever been faced by the good news/bad news question? Like when your first-born kid walks in the door and says, “I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” I always say give me the bad news first (“I flunked the Algebra test”). I like to have something positive to end the discussion/encounter on a high note ("But almost the whole class flunked it"). Granted, that’s not exactly good news anywhere except in a high school classroom, but the point is, there’s hope, right? Maybe the teacher will do a re-test. Or maybe she’ll allow half credit if the wrong questions are turned in with correct answers. Or maybe the students can drop their lowest grade. Se…
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Hello WOW Readers! I have been one of the first-tier contest judges for WOW’s quarterly flash fiction contest for over a decade, and it has been a huge pleasure to read your stories. I am writing this blog series on Flash Fiction Contest Tips to help you strengthen your flash writing and maybe even place in one of our contests! Tips are based on our scoring criteria and craft trends I’ve seen throughout the decade. I read a piece of flash recently that grabbed my interest from the first line. It was a magical realism piece with a strong character and an unusual voice and odd events and images, and I kept reading to see how the author would tie all these strands together.…
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Shala’s Bio: Shala Alert is a Jamaican living with her husband and three children in Trinidad. She has an MPhil in literatures in English and has lectured in literature at the university level. She has also taught English to high school students. Her love of literature started very early in life, and it has never let her go. With that love came the desire to write her own stories. Shala also has a keen interest in postcolonial studies, specifically as relates to the formation of black identity, and the experience of disenfranchisement experienced by many postcolonial “subjects” in a supposedly “post”-colonial world. This is a theme that necessarily informs her stories. …
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We are excited to be back with Nicole Souza and announce the blog tour of her dystopian fiction book Sins of Our Mothers. Join us as we interview the author, highlight upcoming spots on the blog tour, and giveaway a copy of her book. First, here is a little bit about Sins of Our Mothers: It has been fifteen hundred years since the solar flare devastation of the Global Catastrophe. Due to the radioactivity in the harvesting fields, society dismisses its defective children as nothing more than flawed products of the malfunctioned seeds in the field. But Lyratelle, a hyper-observant musical prodigy, believes these “defects” are intelligent, particularly her own sibling, th…
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When I get a new student in my nonfiction writing class, one of the first things I ask them is what they are writing. I don’t mean it as a trick question, but there are a lot of factors that go into identifying your nonfiction project. What is the age of your reader? When you give an age range, it helps to give a range that is similar to the ones recognized by publishers. Some of the ranges I see when I read marketing listings are 2 years to 4 years, 5 years to 8 years, and 9 years to 12 years. Figuring out the approximate age of your reader is only the first step but it is an important one. It impacts reading level, vocabulary and what they already know about your to…
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Sometimes we get into our cars knowing exactly where we should be heading to get to our destination but decide to head in an entirely different direction. Usually it's because we think another route will get us there faster or we'll avoid heavy traffic. What we often find though is that our traveling time wasn't shortened at all, and that heavy traffic was unavoidable. If we had just kept heading in the direction we'd traveled so many times before, and knew like the back of our hand, we would have gotten there exactly when we needed to or wanted to. Often, I've changed the course of my tried and true direction, looking for a faster, shorter route as a writer. I thought th…
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No matter how old people are or their feelings about reading, they have fond memories of picture books. These memories can range from reading with parents or grandparents at night books like, The Monster at the End of This Book or The True Story of the Three Little Pigs or just about any Golden Book. Memories, of row after row of hardback picture books with white tags on the spine in a school library or even a public one, are also front and center in readers' minds. Maybe some of these picture books were the first ones that you learned to read as a child, and now you are sharing your favorites with your kids--Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? or Don't Let the Pigeo…
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Without realizing it, I fell into a writing habit the past couple of months. It all started when I changed my weekend morning routine. Rather than turning on the coffee and skimming the news on my phone, I take out a notebook and write for a while. You see, this is remarkable to me because I've never been the type to embrace the idea of a writing habit. I've never thought it was for me. It reeked of the type of responsibility reserved for laundry, taxes, and Monday mornings. However, once I began to embrace this habit, I've started to write more. Not only that, my stories are better too. So, I wanted to share a bit of advice on how to find your writing habit. 1) A writin…
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FLAMES OF MIRA by Clay Harmon (COVER REVEAL)
Today we’re thrilled to host a cover reveal for Clay Harmon’s debut novel, Flames Of Mira. Described as an epic new fantasy series set in a world of ice, fire and magic, this is a tale of redemption with a magic system to rival that of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. Want to know more? We got you covered, here’s the official blurb: People like Ig are born from life-threatening trials that bind periodic elements to the human body, forged in the boiling volcanoes and subterranean passages under Mira’s frozen lands. One of the most powerful known elementals, he is forced to work as an -
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Writing in Both Directions
Start your story at the beginning, write until you reach the end, then stop. Then start your revisions with page one and work straight through from there, too. Although there is no best way to write a novel, a lot of writers take this approach because it’s the most natural. And it may work for you. But stories aren’t always so linear. Instead, they loop back and forth, with later events affecting earlier ones. Your characters might veer in unexpected directions, plot points that seemed minor when the story started may turn out to be critical, and vice versa. The ending can change the me -
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How the “Victorian Mystery” Was Born
The Victorian era is, for what seem like obvious reasons, defined by the life span of the British Queen Victoria, which dates from her birth in 1837 and ends with her expiration in 1901. Those early years, when she was an infant and then a toddler and then an adolescent (although it may be difficult to envision her as such) did not actually produce much in the way of what we recognize as “Victorian fiction,” which developed later in her life—and beyond. Indeed, much Edwardian fiction, if we read it without being aware of publication dates, has precisely the tone and attitude of the works prod -
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A List of YA Speculative Thrillers That Will Completely Blow Your Mind
If you’re anything like me, the books that tend to stick with you are the ones that simply blow your mind. The ones that take you away from reality and make you think about everything in a completely new way. My personal favorites are the ones where I can’t decide if I would really love the tech or speculative situation to be real, or if I’m super thankful that it’s not. Speculative fiction is a broad category of fiction, which includes any genre that has elements that do not exist in reality—we’re talking sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, etc. It’s these “what if” scenarios that my mind tends to -
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Five Thrillers Set In the Woods
A few years ago, when I decided to move from my city apartment into an old small house in the woods, everyone thought I was crazy. And actually, maybe I was, because the forest and I are not always best friends, to be honest. During the day, I love the surroundings – the peace, the specialness . Then again, some nights I cannot sleep: animals scream, the wind rushes through the trees, everything creaks. This is when my brain starts to develop dark visions and strange fears. So what else should I do but write thrillers? And is it a coincidence that so far all of my books are at least partially -
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John Banville Returns to Crime Fiction—This Time Under His Own Name
At the conclusion of the seven Quirke novels, starting with Christine Falls and concluding with Even the Dead, it seemed as though Benjamin Black, aka John Banville—(and more later about the name game he’s adeptly played) had achieved a perfect narrative arc. Over the series, we learned how Quirke had become the misanthropic misfit he is and how the repressive Catholic Church’s control of Dublin in the 1950s permeated all aspects of an often depressing, yet occasionally vibrant life. Quirke, a pathologist who seldom actually practices his trade, cannot help but involve himself in any number o -
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HaBO: Train Bridge Collapse
This HaBO is from Michelle, who wants to find this American historical romance: I’m looking for some help finding the name of a book that I read in the early 90s. It may have been published in the mid to late 80s as it was part of my Mom’s book stash. The setting is the American Old West when railroads were still fairly new-ish. The male main character may have been either raised by an Indigenous tribe or part/all Indigenous himself. I have no real memory of the female main character. Romance blossoms but is thwarted when the hero discovers he is a father and has a son who was born to a ric -
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Interview with D. Slayton Avery, Runner Up in the WOW! Spring 2021 Flash Fiction Contest
D. Slayton Avery, recently retired from teaching, now works at playing with words. Her fiction and poetry has appeared in online and print journals and anthologies—Boston Literary Magazine, The Hopper, Enchanted Conversations, and Santa Barbara Literary Journal among others. She is a regular contributor at Carrot Ranch Literary Community. D. has two books of poetry, Chicken Shift and For the Girls, and a collection of flash fiction, After Ever, Little Stories for Grown Children. D. Avery’s writings are available for online sampling at ShiftnShake. When not writing, D. Slayton Avery can be foun -
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New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2021
1. Story Statement After a soldier she’d just met at the Nashville USO Club rapes her, 18-year-old farmgirl Grace Pennington flees to Oak Ridge to work on a top-secret project. Promiscuity soon leads to pregnancy. Desperate, Grace chooses the older, more mature Royal DuPriest as the father. When he abandons a fiancée back home to marry her, Grace fully commits. Over the next 7 years, as Royal drinks to excess and bankrupts his business, young Grace reluctantly bears 5 children. When Royal dries out, they move to Pennsylvania where Grace feels isolated, but happy—until her first, favo -
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New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2021
1.Rampart Story Statement: Born into poverty, mama is a prostitute, papa is not around, Louis must make his own way. He luck will change when he starts working for brothers, Morris and Alex. He overcomes his life’s demons with the encouragement and support from the brothers’ family. He must face his own family, square up with the law, learn to blow the horn, all while figuring out a way into musical greatness. 2.Antagonist: Louis Armstrong Sr was too busy in his debauchery to give his son anything but a name. Louis Jr learns as a youngster that his papa wasn’t someone he -
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They Both Die at the End: A Lesson in Boring the Reader
Sometimes even death can be boring. I was drawn to They Both Die at the End when I saw it listed alongside my previous read, How To Stop Time. After watching the multi-year buzz for this book, not to mention seeing the raving reviews, I wondered if it might be worth finally giving it a try. Maybe it wasn't as melancholy and naval-gazing as I worried it would be. And the concept of a near future in which a faceless organization called Death-Cast calls people to let them know when they're going to die was intriguing. I checked it out almost two weeks ago. Reader, I still have not -
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Perfect on Paper: How to use a Plot Device
Elevate the mundane with an expertly-crafted plot device! I suppose it's no secret how much I enjoy a good romcom. If an author can make me laugh while also providing some of the romantic warm and fuzzies, then here, take my money! But the problem is that romance is heavily trodden ground. It's incredibly hard to find something that hasn't been done a thousand times, and better. In the game of publishing statistics, the odds of writing a novel romance (pun intended) are against you. Enter: plot devices. Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales has a lot of tropey elements. The -
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THE NEW GUARDIANS: DEADLY GENESIS, Young Adult Modern Fantasy - Luis Manuel Santiago III
Introducing the birth of the main character of the book, two major supporting characters, one of the major settings, one of the main antagonists is mentioned, and introduces the foundation for one of the main conflicts for the book and series. Chapter One New Pangea, an island nation residing in the North Atlantic, was the first sovereign state established on Earth following the Great Orb Wars. Located west of Ireland and south of Iceland, the country is roughly the size of Great Britain and Ireland combined. There are five provinces that divide the land--the Arncola Wilds in -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
Assignment 2 - Sketch the Antagonist - Sixty Eight by Brian Freeman The Johnson Administration existed during a time where the mantra of young people was "don't trust anyone over thirty." LBJ was one of our final WWII presidents, while members of his National Security Council shared similar views on foreign policy. Walt Rostow, one of the biggest hawks in Washington and LBJ's National Security Advisor, as well as Bob McNamara, the Secretary of Defense, played vital roles in exacerbating America's war efforts in Vietnam. They convinced LBJ that the war was winnable when it never was, incli -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
Assignment 1 - Story Statement - Sixty Eight by Brian Freeman A time and space bending tale of the massive challenges America faced in the late sixties, Sixty Eight centers on Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president of the United States. After losing his life to a heart attack on his ranch in Texas, he awakens in Vietnam at the height of the Tet Offensive. Unseen and unheard, like a revenant, he witnesses the chaos of the war around him while following a platoon of Marines. He’s then transported to Washington where he’s finally seen, overwhelmed by the challenges he endured before; the Civil R -
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Magical Realism, Non-Fiction, & More
Winter’s Orbit RECOMMENDED: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell is $2.99! Ellen read this one and gave it an A-: If you enjoy sci-fi, arranged marriage/marriage of convenience stories, courtly intrigues, and/or slow-burn romance, I think Winter’s Orbit is a great choice. Ancillary Justice meets Red, White & Royal Blue in Everina Maxwell’s exciting debut. While the Iskat Empire has long dominated the system through treaties and political alliances, several planets, including Thea, have
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