Posted on August 16, 2020
The Do Over
I finished the work in progress that will go out to agents once beta readers have provided their feedback. That leaves me with too much time on my hands and no story to work on. In this situation,… Read More
Posted on February 23, 2020
The Reason? Mace Windy.
Hi, my name is Jake MacMillan and I’m a rewrite-aholic. And apparently I’m also a hack comic who just puts “aholic” on the end of everything as a punchline. Whatever you want to call it, I’m addicted to… Read More
Posted on February 15, 2020
The Beta Bounce
I just go the comments back from a beta reader for my upcoming dark fantasy. As usual, the results were a mixed bag which is exactly what you hope for. All positive remarks are not the goal here,… Read More
Posted on July 21, 2019
Horror vs Fantasy Redux
I’ve written before about the key differences between horror and adventure (a term I use to include all the flavors of fantasy that are not horror), specifically here: horror-vs-adventure Now I have a reason to talk about this… Read More
Posted on July 14, 2019
Finding Your Voice
Everyone starts the same way, I think, by imitating their favorite authors. I was a Heinlein clone, then a knockoff Hemingway, for a while I was a poor Vonnegut. No matter who you are impressed with or how… Read More
Posted on March 21, 2019
Isolation & Rescue
Stephen King said in On Writing that he believed most writers spent some part of their childhood physically isolated in a way that books became their whole world for a time. I don’t know if that’s true about… Read More
Posted on September 28, 2018
Self Publishing
I’ve never wanted to be self-published. Nothing against it, but personally my goal has been to do it the old fashioned way: get an agent, sell a book, get a contract. I know I’m a good writer, I’ve… Read More