Short Stories
Lalabet, a monster, is conquered by their (teenaged) boy, but their boy promises to stay a little bit afraid so long as the monster is willing to help. Only, monsters aren't all that good at helping, and being fearless changes people. Can Lalabet get back the fear they need to survive?
A Little Bit Scared is published in the amazing anthology Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Volume Three, by Worldstone Publishing.
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Based loosely on my father's stories of his brief experience as a young door-to-door vacuum salesman, and the hopelessness he encountered in his potential customers. But where my father could do little to help with a vacuum, I wanted to place my salesman in a position where he could truly make a difference.
Door to Portal placed third in the short story category of the 2022 National Capital Writing Contest, and received the highest rating (three stars) from the 2022 Tangent Online Reading List!
Free to read online in DreamForge Anvil Issue 10 - or available in print via Amazon in DreamForge Magazine issue 11.
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Will Destroy for Food is a metaphor for our treatment of 'other', from the eyes of an unusual protagonist.
Placing third in the short story category of the 2021 National Capital Writing Contest, Will Destroy for Food is published alongside the other contest finalists in the Building Community anthology, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Authors Association.
It has also been reprinted in the wonderful anthology Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Volume Two, by Worldstone Publishing.
Guest Blogs
You have likely been told that characters in your story should want something, and it would be a frightfully dull novel if your characters got everything they wanted without any effort (or, as Agent Smith puts it in The Matrix: a dream our primitive cerebrums would keep trying to wake up from).
The duology of protagonist vs. antagonist provides your narrative with the conflict that keeps readers up way past their bedtimes, wondering if your main character will succeed. Your protagonist wants something, and wants it deeply, and your antagonist stands in their way. This opposition drives your story.
This blog post, written for The Novel Factory will help you understand what the roles of protagonist and antagonist mean for your story, and offer suggestions to make your protagonist and antagonist stronger.
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Writing great dialogue is hard.
You'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. People talk - some people constantly. From parties with friends to the dinner table with family, from our own inner thoughts to the media we consume, our lives are filled with endless chatter.
But dialogue isn't idle chatter. Dialogue has to propel your plot and reflect your characters' desires, or your readers will get bored - or worse, abandon your story and mock you on social media.
This blog post, written for The Novel Factory discusses techniques and tricks to help you better your dialogue craft.
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Poetry
Wash is a poem about the erasure and rewriting of history. It was accepted for publication in the March 2022 Poetry Corner of the Glebe Report.
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On Writing expresses the author's journey, both in terms of the toil of the writing process and the decision to become an author.
Winning an honourable mention in the poetry category of the 2021 National Capital Writing Contest, On Writing is published alongside the other contest finalists in the Building Community anthology, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Authors Association.
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