Category Archives: Short Fiction

Monday Musings: A New Anthology and Submission Advice For Writers

Posted on August 19, 2024 by dbjackson

By now you might have seen the posts across several social media platforms: There is a new Zombies Need Brains Kickstarter campaign underway. For eleven years now, ZNB has been publishing quality short fiction from teams of established professionals and … Continue reading →

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Monday Musings: It ALWAYS Feels Good To Finish a Book

Posted on April 1, 2024 by dbjackson

I could have ended this post at the title. That really is the point. I have been writing fiction for close to thirty years. I have finished more than thirty novels and as many pieces of short fiction, and yes, … Continue reading →

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A Word of Thanks, and a Bit of Bragging

Posted on August 3, 2023 by dbjackson

My summer of releases continues tomorrow!! So far this year I have had releases in May (The Chalice War: Stone, the first book in my new Celtic urban fantasy), June (The Chalice War: Cauldron), and July (Artifice and Craft, which … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, part V — What Makes a Good Ending?

Posted on July 12, 2023 by dbjackson

Continuing my Professional Wednesday feature on “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings,” (previous posts can be found here, here, here, and here) I now turn to endings. And I will begin by stating the obvious: The ending to our story is likely … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, Part I — Openings

Posted on June 14, 2023 by dbjackson

This week, I launch a new series here in the Professional Wednesday feature — “Beginnings, Middles, and Endings.” Sometimes I focus on minute details of writing in these posts, arcane points of craft or business that are helpful to some, … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Learning From Each of Our Projects

Posted on May 3, 2023 by dbjackson

Ideally, every new book and story we write is not just an adventure in imagination, a chance to discover new characters and settings and narratives, but also a learning opportunity. I continue to improve my writing with each project, and … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Eliminating Excess Verbiage, Part II

Posted on April 26, 2023 by dbjackson

Last week, I revisited an old Magical Words post I’d done about eliminating excess verbiage in our writing, putting a new spin on the discussion. As promised, I would like to continue that conversation today. Before I dive back into … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: Eliminating Excess Verbiage, Part I

Posted on April 19, 2023 by dbjackson

As I mentioned in a recent post, I have been doing a tremendous amount of editing and revising these past several months. Between co-editing (with Edmund Schubert) the Artifice and Craft anthology for Zombies Need Brains, revising my upcoming Chalice … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: When To Fight an Edit, and When To Let it Go

Posted on April 5, 2023 by dbjackson

I know my knee-jerk response is not always my wisest response. All of us who have gone through the editorial process are familiar with the conundrum: We want to work with our editors. We want to cultivate reputations for being … Continue reading →

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Professional Wednesday: What Holds Me Back, part III — Imposter Syndrome and Other Insecurities

Posted on March 22, 2023 by dbjackson

Continuing my series of posts on “What Holds Me Back,” I turn today to more difficult issues. In my experience, the greatest challenges creators face are emotional ones, and I have struggled with such things throughout my career. This is … Continue reading →

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