Nor A Real Bastard
Here’s a quick little piece I dashed off this afternoon. It’s just for fun, so I figured I’d post it here. Enjoy! Nor A Real Bastard
Category: Writing
Most of this blog is about writing, so most of the posts will be categorized, ‘Writing’. You can select this if you don’t care about anything that’s not writing.
One Year of Submissions
I’ve mentioned here before that when I was in high school and college I wrote pretty prolifically. Not great fiction, but plenty of short stories and most of a novel. I submitted one story in high school, got a half-page rejection (Asimov’s, I think? I can’t find it) and more or less kept my stories […]
The Body and the Bomb
Good news, everyone! My short story, “The Body and the Bomb” has been published over at Crossed Genres for this month’s issue on Mystery, linked from the front page. If you haven’t seen it yet, I hope you enjoy it! (And don’t just read mine! There’s some great stuff there)
Stages of Creativity
I spend a lot of time thinking about the creative process from a practical point of view, but not much thinking about the nature of creativity itself. So, I was intrigued when I came upon a reference to Graham Wallas’s Stages of Creativity. (quoting Wikipedia here) (i) preparation (preparatory work on a problem that focuses the […]
I’m Still Here For an Argument
I haven’t given up on the argument posts, don’t worry. My blogging has had to slow down due to a confluence of events: kitchen renovations, a lengthy bout with a stomach bug, and general business. I also picked up a copy of Stephen Toulmin’s original book on the philosophy of arguments in which he introduced […]
Unintended Consequences (Flash Fiction)
Mr. Chuck Wendig, esq put up a flash fiction challenge earlier this week: spin a thousand-word yarn riff off the term “Irregular Creatures”. Now, I’m exactly the sort of person to say no to a challenge, but I had a look at some of the excellent entries (don’t miss Marko Kloos’s Seeds if you have […]
Atlanta Nights
As someone who is still trying to get published, I see a lot of outfits trying very hard to milk people like me for money. They play to our egos and our vanity. I’ll be honest, I sometimes get rejections back and think bad thoughts to myself about editorial taste — but I shake it […]
I’m Here For Some Feedback
Hello! I hope you all have been enjoying the Argument posts. I’m getting a new batch ready, which will take some time, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get some feedback. Uhh… what do you think? 🙂 I hope I’ve made plain that I’m not an expert on this subject: this […]
I’m Here For an Argument, Part 5: Ethos
This will be a short one, I think. In the broader subject of rhetoric, there are five canons, one of which is the systematic search for argument, the Inventio. The subject of stasis, which I discussed last time, comes out of the Inventio. So does the subject of ethos, which I’ll talk about today. These two […]
Thanks, Boskone
I’m very glad I allowed myself to be talked into attending Boskone — I had a real blast. I got to see a number of people I knew (though I’m sorry that I had so little time to talk to most of them) got to meet a number of people I knew only from conversations […]
John P. Murphy 