Reed is a fiction writer primarily of secondary world Fantasy. “I write about whatever shiny has currently grabbed my attention, usually with magic, talking animals, and/or mythological creatures, wrapped up with hope.” she says. She started writing about the characters in her tabletop role-playing games when they wouldn’t stop pestering her, and eventually gave them their own worlds to play in. From those worlds, many tales have been spun.
In the transition from hobby writer to professional, Reed has had to find teachers, advisors, and resources to hone her craft. Over the course of many family gatherings, I got to pick her brain on the subject. I am excited to share some of that here.
Make sure you check out the rest of the Writing Series –
Series Intro: Conversations About Writing with Reed Mingault
Her Favorite Way to Improve Your Writing:
Read.
Read widely, read short fiction, novels, and read often.
One of the biggest things that you can do to improve your writing is to read everything. Read outside of what you normally read and what you normally write. You can learn something from every genre.
- Mystery and thriller writers will teach you good pacing and suspense.
- Romance writers will teach you good characterization and teach you how to love characters quickly.
- Nonfiction is great for research.
- Historical fiction can show how well the research has been done.
- Short fiction and flash fiction have different structures and constraints. We are in a golden age of short fiction right now.
Here are Reed’s favorite online magazines of short fiction:
- Home – Uncanny Magazine – www.uncannymagazine.com
- Strange Horizons – strangehorizons.com
- Apex Magazine – apex-magazine.com (also a podcast version)
- Fantasy and Science Fiction – www.sfsite.com (this magazine is in print)
- Home of the World’s Leading Science Fiction Magazine | Asimov’s Science Fiction – www.asimovs.com
- The Deadlands: Speculative Fiction – thedeadlands.com
- Beneath Ceaseless Skies – An Online Magazine of Literary Adventure Fantasy – www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com – this is the genre that Reed enjoys writing
- Home | Escape Artists – escapeartists.net
- Escape Artists is a network of short fiction Podcasts. EscapePod for science fiction, PodCastle for fantasy, PseudoPod for horror, Cast of Wonders for young adult, and CatsCast for, well, cat-themed speculative fiction.
- Fun Fact: CatsCast started out as an April Fool’s Joke but was so popular it came back as a regular feature.
- Escape Artists is a network of short fiction Podcasts. EscapePod for science fiction, PodCastle for fantasy, PseudoPod for horror, Cast of Wonders for young adult, and CatsCast for, well, cat-themed speculative fiction.
- Daily Science Fiction!- dailysciencefiction.com
- Fantasy Magazine – www.fantasy-magazine.com
- LIghtspeed Magazine: edited by John Joseph Adams- www.lightspeedmagazine.com
When she suggested this to me I cringed a little. I read stacks of non-fiction but I get annoyed by “bad fiction”. I have a hard time committing to reading a fiction book.
Her response was:
- What is my definition of bad fiction and why?
- Why do I consider it bad?
- What is making that book annoying to read?
- Is the craft bad? Is it poorly written?
- Is it the content or topic that I don’t personally enjoy?
I enjoyed this way of looking at fiction and my disdain for it. Reading out of my comfort zone is something that can stretch my writing. It will help me grow in my skills.
Resources for Fiction Writers:
All writers need inspiration and new perspectives. Here are some resources that have helped Reed in her writing life. We hope they bring you encouragement too!
Anne Lamott wrote Bird By Bird & this Ted Talk 12 truths I learned from life and writing
Betsy Lerner: The Forest for the Trees (Revised and Updated)
- Delilah’s Twitter and her #tenthings hashtag has great writing advice
- Great writing advice with no holds barred language.
- A podcast by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and an ever-changing series of guest authors, editors, literary agents, and experts.
Brandon Sanderson
Mary Robinette – an excellent teacher and fiction writer
- Mary Robinette’s lecture on Structuring Short Stories
- via the MICE Quotient
- Mary Robinette’s TikTok of excellent writing and life advice in short clips
- Training your Inner Editor: ABCD Method for beta readers
Humans are storytellers by nature. Everyone can tell a story it is just a matter of practice. It is what we do, how we learn, pass on information, and how we connect.
Even though our genres are very different, her ideas have been helpful to me.
I am sure that you will find something useful here for your writing life!
Happy Storytelling! – April & Reed Mingault
Visit her author page to see what she is up to lately!
Author Bio: https://reedmingault.wordpress.com/
Photos by Dorka Kardos-Latif, micheile dot com , on Unsplash
Here are all of the articles in this writing series:
– Series Intro: Conversations About Writing with Reed Mingault
– Resources for Fiction Writers
– Plotting, Pantsing & Progress Trackers
– Writing: From Drafting to Publication
– Words Have Power (written by Reed)
Everything we are sharing in these articles is what we have learned from others. Think of these as a curated list of resources that we have tried and found value in. Sharing knowledge contributes to the writing community.