Author Archives: smwright

Character Series: Fears and Phobias

Everyone is afraid of something — heck, even Indiana Jones is. And you know what? That only makes us human. We all know what it is like to be afraid, whether it’s snakes, heights, confined spaces, fire, death, rodents, flying, aliens, dogs, drowning, etc. I personally have an almost debilitating fear of heights; I getContinue reading “Character Series: Fears and Phobias”

You’ve Got to Spend Money to Make Money: How Much Does it Cost to Self-Publish?

Often times as we write our stories, we seldom consider what the cost of seeing them to print can be. Currently, one of the books I’m reading (will post a full review very soon) states in its “Publish Thy Self” section that in an ultimate worse-case scenario an self-published author can end up with $20,000Continue reading “You’ve Got to Spend Money to Make Money: How Much Does it Cost to Self-Publish?”

My Origin Story

Origin stories aren’t just for comic book heroes: Every writer has one, whether it all started with that one book/author, person in your life, or experience. Recently on Twitter, a person a I follow asked writers what book really inspired them to write. For me, my answer came to be instantly: Gilbert Morris books, particularlyContinue reading “My Origin Story”

Who Said What: Dialogue Tags and Properly Punctuating Them

Dialogue tags play a vital rule in fiction. They provide clarity to readers about who is speaking. Of course, not every quote requires a dialogue tag, but it should be a rule of thumb that where there is the potential for confusion, a tag should be placed. So what is a dialogue tag? They areContinue reading “Who Said What: Dialogue Tags and Properly Punctuating Them”

World-building Series: Diversity

Diversity is the spice of life and has brought humanity several great things from tasty foods, fun festivals and a variety of sports to different arts and music. However, diversity can serve as a double-edged sword, resulting in conflicts, because — let’s face — it humans often have a fear of “otherness.” Whether that “otherness”Continue reading “World-building Series: Diversity”

Retribution

Never burn down your bridges, Pappy used to say that. Well, I didn’t burn them down per se, just lit a few kegs of gunpowder under them. Turning in the saddle, I catch the billows of orange flame engulfing wooden frame buildings. The fire probably would spread, all that dry prairie grass. I brush myContinue reading “Retribution”

Five reasons I’ll never read ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’

Well, at least never read it straight through, because I have to admit to having read exerts — often aloud. What can I say? I like sharing bad aloud, and the great thing about “Fifty Shades of Grey” is I can flip to any page and get bad. Now if I were clever, I wouldContinue reading “Five reasons I’ll never read ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’”

Pause before you place that comma

Just because you have two or more adjectives before a noun doesn’t necessarily mean you need to place a comma between each one. This is one of my biggest pet peeves as a copyeditor, right up there with hyphens attaching a -ly adjective to another adjective (ex. publicly-owned building should be publicly owned building)  orContinue reading “Pause before you place that comma”