Where some of my fiction has appeared. |
When I grew more serious about my writing, I wanted to hone my writing to the point where I felt confident enough to seek publication. My rejection letters far outnumber my acceptance letters, but listed below are my recent works editors decided to publish. Also, listed with each entry are market links that might be of interest to writers of mystery fiction, horror fiction, and poetry. Thank you. For a glimpse at who and what inspires me on my writing journey, please visit "Shelter from the Storm Awards" and "Award I had Chosen " . "A story begins when something out-of-the-ordinary happens. People die every day. Ho-hum. Man dies because a dwarf falls out of the sky and lands on him? That's the beginning of a story. People lead happy marriages all the time. Ho-hum. Wife walks in the door and announces she's running off with a circus clown. That's the beginning of a story. People drive through rush hour traffic to get to work every morning. Ho-hum. Traffic is backed up because a flying saucer landed in the middle of the northbound lane? That's the beginning of a story." - Michael Bracken http://www.CrimeFictionWriter.com "If you don't understand what's motivating your characters, you won't know what they should be doing." - Sue Grafton "Write it out, send it in, and start writing the next one." - Robert B. Parker (R.I.P) "Remember this brief metaphysical fact: You mean nothing. The story is all." - Scott Bradfield "Horror does not need to shock or disgust; if it evokes a quieter sense of the eerie or uncanny, it still counts as horror." - submission guidelines, The Harrow "A writer takes a sentence, cuts it within an inch of its life, adds a clause, tucks in a few adjectives and then--when it can hardly stand up--hacks away at it again. It is hard work, and don't let anyone tell you it's not." - Helen F. Brassel "You'll find that someone will always think you're the greatest, and someone will always think you're the worst." - a Simon & Schuster editor "The function of creative fiction is merely to express and interpret events and sensations as they are...with the author always acting as a vivid and detached chronicler rather than as a teacher, sympathizer, or vendor of opinion." - H.P. Lovecraft "Conduct your fiction as you would a love affair. Write fast and furiously and hard. And then, later come back to the work and rewrite it with the cold precision--the awful distance--of a divorce lawyer." - Frederick Busch |