Word count: around 1.300 Fair warning: there'll be quite a few spoilers. I loved Gone Girl, and though luck always plays a part in these matters, I think it's success can to a very large part be contributed to the skill of the author, Gillian Flynn. The novel was suspenseful, thrilling, and Flynn used every … Continue reading Gone Girl – Believe in the Characters
Author: Tobias Backman
2019.02.01 – Story Recommendations
My focus the last couple of weeks has been on finishing my Daily Science Fiction backlog, which I did today (yeah!), finishing the Intergalactic Medicine Show anthology, going through a bunch of Anton Checkov stories, and reading stories from relatively new flash fiction magazine (as in it's only just over a year old as far … Continue reading 2019.02.01 – Story Recommendations
2018 – My Year as a Writer
With another year gone by, it's time to take stocks, summarize what've learned in regards to my writing, and, hopefully, figure out how to push forward. As always, it was a year with ups and downs. I landed my first publication at a professionally paying magazine, Grievous Angel Magazine (which sadly closed down later in … Continue reading 2018 – My Year as a Writer
Confirmation Bias and Self-delussion
Stepping out of your comfort zone, focusing on improving instead of getting praise. That's what drives us to become better artists. I highly recommend this brief article by Jason S. Riddler on confirmation bias, self-delussion, and how those leads to stagnation. It's worth a read to all us would-be writers (and other striving artists as … Continue reading Confirmation Bias and Self-delussion
Short Story Recommendations – 2019.01.07
All right. It's 2019 and the year's first short story recommendations are long overdue. I'm still catching on the Daily Science Fiction backlog in my inbox, which is definitely showing. But that doesn't make today's recommendation any less deserving. These Fine Vistas by Sandra McDonald (DSF): The story was mostly just okay. Solid sentence level … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations – 2019.01.07
2018 Reading List
Happy New Year's, everyone. In 2018 I created the goal for myself that I wanted to read 80 books this year. But as the list below reveals, I only got around to reading just above half of that. Even taking all the short stories I've read into account, I probably still haven't read more than … Continue reading 2018 Reading List
Story Recommendations – 2018.11.30
Wow, time has flown by and it's been way too long since I posted any short story recommendations (or anything else for that matter). So without further delay, here they are. In the End the World Will Break Your Heart by Kurt Hunt (DSF): An excellent story about the end of the world. What set … Continue reading Story Recommendations – 2018.11.30
Story Recommendations: 2018.11.11
I turned to catching up on my Daily Science Fiction (DSF) backlog this week, so they once again wheigh heavy on the list. As alway, any suggestions of your own are welcome in the comments. The Future of Parenting by Jules Jensen (DSF): The story puts a new twist on the familiar trope of a … Continue reading Story Recommendations: 2018.11.11
Short Story Recommendations 2018.11.04
The weekly short story recommendations are long overdue (more than a week), so here they are even though I don't have as many stories to recommend as I would like. This is despite having read quite a fair deal of short stories the last couple of weeks and from a wider variety of magazines than … Continue reading Short Story Recommendations 2018.11.04
The Power of Writing Exercises
A couple of weeks ago I started attending a weekly wall climbing workshop at my local climbing hall (stay with me; it'll tie into writing fiction further down). I didn't know what to expected, how we were going to practice, how much feedback we'd get. I wasn't even sure I would learn anything at all … Continue reading The Power of Writing Exercises
Toby Backman 