Self Assignment

Mississippi writer John Floyd (jfloyd "at" teclink.net) has sold more than 500 short stories and fillers to 100+ publications, including Strand Magazine, Grit, Woman's World, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. His stories have been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and the Derringer Award.

in other words, a writer whose advice should be heeded.

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http://www.writing-world.com/mystery/floyd.shtml

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What is a Mystery Short Story?
(And How Do You Write One?)

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John Floyd's thoughts:

I'll begin by answering part of that question:

I think of a short story as a piece of fiction less than around 20,000 words in length (usually between 2,000 and 5,000 words). It often focuses on one event, one problem, and one character or a small set of characters.

(an anonymous thank you goes out to that very cool stranger, oxling)

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megatokyo is a website not too dissimilar from the cult. in otherwords, it's badass.

the site is an online web comic/manga art and story driven site. i spent some time there a few years ago, reading on writing for perspective, and came across a thread by a veteran member there named oxling that proved well worth the mindful ingestion. titled Ten Common Writing Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

that particular thread is located here:
http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1678118

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i think that it is important to read them, to see what you agree with..

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Literary Review Quick Tips..

it delights me to see new members asking questions about the best advice threads
unfortunately, between the move (the board switch from VB) and some hacker messing with some of the vital threads here, so many of our best advice threads are down for the count. but we’ll work a summation thread.

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new members and a new workshop
time to refresh some ideas about the art of critiquing
and how to craft a helpful review

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The Cult's Resource Page can't get enough attention

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http://chuckpalahniuk.net/workshop/resource

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this page has been here for a few years now, but was updated (and rewritten) this year for the new site. it is the perfect haven for the novice writer because it provides tips and generates knowledge via articles and essays that can be easily navigated anytime. also, easy to find lists of places that accept submissions, and how to find agents and links to writing competitions et cetera. many writers from here put a lot of time and energy into crafting this page. like the homies e-j, and the big dog mark. a whole lotta research and time and what came out is this beautiful polished cornerstone cleaved directly from the too-widely spread branchings of the interweb.

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this article is killer and deserves refreshing

for those of us who experience curiosity when pondering publishing
and the financial in and outs of the publishing world
this will satiate some of that brooding curiosity
well worth taking the time to read thoroughly

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The Greatest Mystery: Making a Best Seller

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WHEN Shana Kelly, a literary agent at the William Morris Agency, submitted Curtis Sittenfeld’s first novel, “Cipher,” to book publishers in 2003, she had high expectations. She contacted nearly two dozen high-ranking editors at major publishers, expecting every one to make offers for her client’s coming-of-age story set at a boarding school.

14 common writing mistakes in fiction manuscripts

found this in the backlog of very old threads
instead of upping a thread from march of oh-four with comments from so many people who aren’t here anymore at all, I decided to create a new one for new members here

this is the start of what I affectionately refer to as the writing theory threads

this list of 14 most common mistakes by jerry gross is definitely a list to read and hopefully we’ll get around to examining what we agree with and what we outright don’t like. All for perspective.

For those of us who have been putting off writing, let this start your writing brain back to writerly thinking and lets discuss..

14 Most Common Mistakes I See in Fiction Manuscripts -- And What to Do About Them
by Jerry Gross © 1996 Editor of EDITORS ON EDITING

Hey, voice from beyond the grave here, I have been spewing words on paper ala Jackson Pollock these days, and have finished what I started a year ago in Craig's first Intensive, (Object of Hostility, for those with long memories or access to the locked forum(s)) and I'm in the "editing" phase (think Saw) of that little pool of primordial fiction...

So to occupy the other twelve minutes left in my day, I, Kasey Carpenter, of unsound mind and a BAC of at least .06, have signed up with this Boston Marathon of a writing gag known as NaNoWriMo. I will forgo the tedious explanation, as 1) you already are aware, and/or 2) Google works much, much faster than I at this ungodly yet familiar hour.