Blogs

I'll be giving a workshop on the craft of short fiction via Zoom to the National Capital Region chapter of the Canadian Authors Association tomorrow, Sunday October 17, from 1:00-2:30pm.

You do not have to be a chapter or CAA member to attend, but you do need to register and there is a suggested non-member fee of $10. All the information on the workshop and registration can be found here.

I'll be focusing on how to make decisions about story structure in your short fiction. Topics covered will include crafting characters, choosing the right point-of-view, pros and cons for POV options, stories with multiple POV characters, use of flashbacks and non-linear plots, handling scene changes, POV and character voice, plotting as character decisions, openings, endings, recommended resources…and more if time allows.

I recently had my Aurora Award-winning story, "The Walker of the Shifting Borderland," reprinted in Amazing Stories. The great cover is pictured here. Mountains, forests, red-and-white spaceship with the maple leaf, robot moose...what's not to love?

The venerable genre magazine dates back to 1926 and has been published with some interruptions for over 90 years. It was resurrected a few years ago yet again, first as an online website and then, just before the pandemic, once more as a print magazine.

My first major professional sale was to Amazing back in the late 90's. That was a particular thrill because one of my favourite SF & fantasy writers, the late Roger Zelazny, got his break selling to AS in the sixties, an era that saw Amazing publish the first stories of other writers who, like Zelazny, would go on to become giants in the field: Ursula K. Le Guin, Piers Anthony, and Thomas M. Disch.

This one is an all-Canadian issue, and it's a special treat for me to appear alongside such a great lineup of Canuck authors, so many of whom are friends as well as colleagues.

On Sunday September 12, from 1:30-4:00 EDT, I'll be giving a virtual (Zoom) workshop on the craft of writing short fiction as part of the annual Open House meeting of the Writers' Community of York Region (WCYR). Details of what I'll be covering and how to register can be found here.

The workshop and the open house are both open to non-members of WCYR. There is no charge to attend, but you do have to register at the above link.

York Region (where I live) is a large community north-east of Toronto. The WCYR is "is a collective of local authors, poets, and industry professionals who endeavour to build a supportive and encouraging framework for writers and their craft."

If you're a writer, I hope you'll check out the workshop. If you're a writer in York Region, I hope you'll consider joining WCYR.

This Thursday, April 29 at 7:00-8:30pm, I will be giving a webinar on marketing and selling short fiction, jointly sponsored by the Canadian Authors Association and SF Canada.

Drawing from my writer's guide, PLAYING THE SHORT GAME: HOW TO MARKET & SELL SHORT FICTION, I'll cover rights and licensing, finding short fiction markets, a strategy for selecting markets, submission advice, key contract clauses, and leveraging second rights for such things like reprints, foreign language rights, audio markets, and publishing a collection.

This webinar is free due to COVID-19’s impact on the writing community, but space is limited to the first 100 attendees. You can register for free here. Hope you'll be able to join me.

BookBub is currently offering a great deal on The Wolf at the End of the World, my urban fantasy novel set in my Heroka universe.

Up until March 16, you can pick up the ebook edition of the novel for only $0.99 (or the equivalent in your country).

The deal is available here and is offered in Canada, US, UK, Australia, and India, via Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo, and Google Play.

But it only runs until Tuesday March 16, so don't miss it!

I'll be giving a free webinar on marketing and selling short fiction on Thursday, March 25 from 1:00-2:00 pm, as part of the Indie Author Project's "Expert Session" series. You can register for free here.

The Indie Author Project's mandate is to encourage strong relationships between indie authors, local libraries, and readers by partnering with curators and libraries across the U.S. and Canada to find the best indie-published books.

My presentation will be drawn from my writer's guide, Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction, and will focus on rights and licensing, finding short fiction markets, a strategy for selecting markets, submission advice, key contract clauses, and all the ways to leverage second rights (reprints) to keep selliing your fiction.

Here's the webinar summary:

Take your first step to becoming a professional short fiction writer, join best-selling author, Douglas Smith, for this Expert Session on how to leverage short fiction in your writing career. In an engaging and conversational style, multi-award-winning author Douglas Smith will share how to market and sell short stories—and much, much more. Even experienced writers will find value here as Smith takes you from your first sale to using your stories to build a writing career.

Again, the webinar is free, so if you're a short story writer or always wanted to be, I hope you'll tune in! You can register here.