Stephen L. Thompson's Blog, page 47

Wednesday Writing Prompt

You can read all you want about writing, but the real test is to actually write something. Hence, a short exercise for those of you wanting to hone your craft.

Just like people, not all characters are loveable. Some day, in some story, you may have a despicable character who, say, sets off bombs to kill innocent people. What words would you use to describe such a character. Leave them as a comment.

“Lonely Phoenix” now available

My short, scifi story “Lonely Phoenix” is now available for $0.99 on Kindle. Here’s the description:

Partway to a new colony world, board member Geoffrey Ames is woken from hibernation by the caretaking crew of the Lucian. They require him to look into the matter of their fellow crewman Morgan Heller. Morgan’s claims – such as being over 1500 years old – would normally land him in the psychiatric ward, except he can back up some of his other claims.

Half-a-million words

I started keeping track of how many words I write each day back in 2005. After writing a bit this afternoon, by recorded total now stands at 500,101 words. Not bad. And it was just a little over a year ago that I hit 400,000. On to 1,000,000.

Writer’s Stew

I’m a member of the Inspirational Writers’ Fellowship, and we just put out a small collection of poetry, prose, photos, etc., titled Writer’s Stew.

I have a haiku and short story in it.

If you would like a copy for yourself, you can find one – while supplies last – at the Rebecca M. Arthurs Memorial Library for the price of a donation.

Cover question, Part 2

So last week I posed a question about the working cover for “Lonely Phoenix,” the story I hope to publish in the next few days. After reading through the comments and what was, and wasn’t, said, I’ve made a few changes. This is the new version of the cover.

Not only would I like your thoughts on it, but also your thoughts on my working description of the story.

Partway to a new colony world, board member Geoffrey Ames is woken from hibernation by the caretaking crew of the Lucian. They require...

Wednesday Writing Prompt

You can read all you want about writing, but the real test is to actually write something. (Another test is to actually put up the Wednesday Writing Prompt on Wednesday.) Hence, a short exercise for those of you wanting to hone your craft.

Quick, compose a sentence using the words “late” and “still.” Leave it as a comment.

Between cheeses and monsters …

… and next to bondage. Interesting. This weekend, I’m doing a free promotion for A Man of Few Words. I was checking on it’s placement on the free Kindle anthology list and saw the above.

Cover question

I’m working on finishing up a short story that I plan on publishing on Kindle in the next week or two. But I need a cover for it. So I played around and came up with the following. I’m just wondering what people think of it.

Wednesday Writing Prompt

You can read all you want about writing, but the real test is to actually write something. Hence, a short exercise for those of you wanting to hone your craft.

Quick, compose a sentence using the words “walk” and “why.” Leave it as a comment.

Short stories for April

For the first three months of this year, I promoted my three short story anthologies. But since I’ve run out of them, this month I’ll be promoting four of my short stories.

Like most people, Jason Fisher wanted to make the world a better place. But he doubted he would ever have the chance to make much of a mark. Then a “woman” came to him, asking his help to save humanity by threatening it.

“An Ounce of Prevention” is available on Nook for $0.99.

“The Price to Pay” is a flash fiction story deali...