Hello and welcome to Telling Tales, a newsletter covering writing and reading.
The newsletter comes out on the first Tuesday of the month, and will include one or two of the following:
Recommended reading (flash fiction, short stories, and craft books I’ve found useful) with an emphasis on Black voices
Writing tips
Short essays on the writing journey
And other surprises
I hope you’ll find the content entertaining and useful.
Recommended Reading
As a Black speculative fiction writer, I'm ashamed that I have not read as much Black spec fic as I should. Oh, I've read many of the big names: Butler, Jemisin, Okorafor, etc. But I've missed so many excellent writers. Author Gerald L. Coleman's "Beginner's Guide to Black Science Fiction and Fantasy" is helping me remedy this. This three-part guide is an excellent introduction. Includes an easy link to Bookshop.com. Check it out, and while you're there, check out Coleman's own poetry and speculative prose. I loved the first two books of The Three Gifts series and can't wait for book three.
For writers: Craft book recommendation
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi
I have a hard time conveying character emotion without bumbling into cliché. The Emotion Thesaurus is my go-to for physical cues, sensations, responses, and so much more. It includes:
Body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for 130 emotions
A breakdown of the biggest emotion-related writing problems and how to overcome them
Instruction on how to show hidden feelings and emotional subtext through dialogue and nonverbal cues
And a great deal more
I highly recommend.
About Me:
My writing ranges from mainstream and literary fiction to fantasy/sci-fi to creative nonfiction. Currently drafting a contemporary fantasy novel, I’ve been writing flash and microfiction for about ten years. My work has been published in journals and anthologies, including Flash Fiction Online, Lost Balloon, Pithead Chapel, Vestal Review, Bending Genres, MetaStellar, and Writers Resist. My stories have been nominated for multiple awards and have appeared in the Wigleaf Top 50 Longlist. You can check out my website to read my work.
See you next month, and thanks for coming along with me on this journey!
~Claudia