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Blog / Articles / Reviews
- It’s in the Cards
- Really Lost (Trail of the Lost by Andrea Lankford)
- Targeted Chaos (The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher)
- Nothing More (All That Is by James Salter)
- Beautiful (Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano)
- Winning Wager (The Wager by David Grann)
- Silent Reader (The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides)
- Not Too Good Night (Good Night, Irene: by Luis Alberto Urrea)
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*Finding Your Fiction: Concise Steps To Writing Successful Fiction
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Tag Archives: askwritefish
Untitled and Unpublished – Marketing Basement Manuscripts
While cleaning out the basement, I found an unpublished and untitled manuscript, read the first page, and instantaneously launched into revision. But then I stopped and flipped through the 300-plus pages. Did I really want to do this to myself? Again! Wasn’t it just a few months ago when I had exhausted myself revising my last ms, a 30-year effort, Roobala Take Me Home, which lays dormant (again) while I try to figure out what … Continue reading
Confessions of a Failed Fiction Writer
As I was hiking along the Meramec River (St. Louis, Castlewood State Park), I mulled over a sort of memoir concept that I’ve been thinking about for over a year now. The only thing stopping me is that I know I will expend lots of time, energy, hard work, getting it as perfect as I can and it will go nowhere. That is the crux of the story. As I near 60 (I’ll be 58 … Continue reading
“Dry Fly” of the St. Louis Ozarks
There’s no “matching the hatch” when I fly-fish clear Ozark streams near St. Louis, Missouri. While I am interested in insects, bugs, and so on, I’m more interested in catching smallmouth on my fly rod. I also enjoy seeing snakes slither acorss the water’s surface. So I’m often asked the common question, “What are you using for bait?” No worms, no stinkbait, or mechanical gagets, but simply “poppers.” My first choice is a yellow popper, followed by … Continue reading
Posted in Ask, Fish, Uncategorized
Tagged askwritefish, bluegill, fly fishing equipment, fly fishing gear, fly fishing Missouri smallmouth, fly fishing St. Louis, Hubpages, Jeffrey Penn May, largemouth bass, Missouri streams, rock bass, smallmouth, St. Louis fly fishing, St. Louis Stream Adventures, St. Louis streams, sunfish
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Dry Clothes and Clean Feet – Fishing Tips
Here’s a tip or two for those of you driving on long gravel roads to clear streams, then wading for hours into the night and returning when the tempature has dropped significantly. Always have a change of clothes in your car, including dry socks and shoes. Carry an old blanket or sleeping bag in the trunk so that you can stand on it while you change. Took years of driving back in wet clothes before … Continue reading
Posted in Fish
Tagged askwritefish, fishing tips, fly fishing, fly fishing bass, fly fishing equipment, fly fishing gear, fly fishing Missouri smallmouth, fly fishing St. Louis smallmouth, largemouth bass, Missouri streams, smallmouth, smallmouth bass, St. Louis fly fishing, Where the River Splits
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Are We All Great Writers?
Warning: I’m going to act as if I were younger and full of braggadocio like most of you young writers who boast about your voice, your muse, your “work” and fearlessly market like crazy because you are full of yourselves, as I was. What a handicap age and experience is beyond the obvious! It’s a cliché of course but as we age we increasingly understand that we know very little. While young, we understand, theoretically, … Continue reading
Kindle Crossing – Why Buy an ebook Reader?
I went to turn the page but there was none. I had crossed over. I had forgotten that I was reading an electronic device. I suspect, like many of you, I was fond of explaining why ebooks would never replace real books. Throw them both on the ground and which one could you still read? Which would you rather have at poolside, a $150 dollar electronic device or a five-dollar used paperback? A friend recently … Continue reading
Posted in Write
Tagged amazon, askwritefish, ebook, ebooks, Ficiton Writing, fiction, fiction writing, how to write fiction, kindle, nook, smashwords, writing, Writing Ficiton
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Finding Your Fiction: Concise Steps to Writing Successful Fiction — Character
Establish Characterization Reveal Character Change character for good or bad If you become enamored with your plot twists and turns, you risk creating characters “beyond belief.” Your character can be a Terminator or a talking Sunfish and still be believable if their actions make sense. If our meek sunfish suddenly acts like a shark only to serve a plot twist, then Mr. Sunfish is no longer believable. On the other hand, if Mr. Sunfish has … Continue reading
Finding Your Fiction: Concise Steps to Writing Successful Fiction — Plot
Note: “Finding Your Fiction: Concise Steps to Writing Successful Fiction” – blog posts derived from my popular “Finding Your Fiction” workshop in association with St. Louis Writers Workshop and St. Louis Writers Guild. Completed guide will be available as an ebook, likely on Smashwords. (Feedback, incisive or otherwise, welcome.) Section I Choosing plot over character is dangerous. Plot is presented here first mainly because it might be “easier” to comprehend. On the other hand, characters … Continue reading
Why This Blog?
Why am I writing a blog? Aside from the usual cynical self-centered reasons, a significant part of me wants to help you. (My “other careers” were devoted to helping others also.) For almost 40 years I have been trying to become a paid fiction writer, and I wrote my first short story when I was about ten. (I was the goofball who volunteered to recite poetry in my eighth grade class. Sound familiar?) Becoming a … Continue reading
Posted in Write
Tagged askwritefish, blogging, delusions, dreams, fly fishing, Jeff May, Jeffrey Penn May, Pushcart Prize, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Where the River Splits, writing
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