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Margery Bayne (she/her)
Margery Bayne (she/her)

2.4K Followers

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Object Impermanence: Weird and Fantastic Stories
Object Impermanence: Weird and Fantastic Stories

How do you know the world still exists when you’re not looking? A collection of the weird and wacky, mythic and mystical, fearsome and fantastic.

2022

·
Margery Bayne
Margery Bayne

Stories

Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·Sep 20

How (Not) to Swear In Fiction

A guide to writing in, writing around, and writing out curse words — I’m no Puritan. I like to swear. I think it’s fun to pepper them into conversation… when in the appropriate company and in the appropriate circumstances. Maybe it is just my perception as an adult, or maybe it is the rise of cable and streaming television that doesn’t have the…

The Short Of It

6 min read

How (Not) to Swear In Fiction
How (Not) to Swear In Fiction
The Short Of It

6 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·Sep 6

Self-Publishing Retrospective: What I’d Do Differently Next Time

And what I’d recommend for other self-publishing first-timers — In December 2022, I self-published a book of short stories Object Impermanence: Weird and Fantastic Stories with modest but earnest expectations. I didn’t expect to take the indie charts by storm, but I wanted to learn the self-publishing process, wanted to have a book of fiction with my name on…

The Short Of It

5 min read

Self-Publishing Retrospective: What I’d Do Differently Next Time
Self-Publishing Retrospective: What I’d Do Differently Next Time
The Short Of It

5 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·Aug 26

Redraft with Purpose: A Guide to Getting Beyond the First Draft

How to rewrite short fiction with a plan — So you had a story idea, and you wrote it into existence. You’ve completed the first draft. Huzzah! But what’s next? Well, first, give yourself a pat on the back. A lot of people won’t ever make it this far. But while the first draft is often about bringing something…

The Short Of It

6 min read

Redraft with Purpose: A Guide to Getting Beyond the First Draft
Redraft with Purpose: A Guide to Getting Beyond the First Draft
The Short Of It

6 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·Aug 9

Can You Write a Short Story in One Draft?

The art of one and done — I’ve recently written about the story drafting process before. But that begs the age-old question — do you always have to write more than one draft? Can you, in fact, write a story in one draft? One and done? Hit it out of the park on the first go? Homerun…

The Short Of It

4 min read

Can You Write a Short Story in One Draft?
Can You Write a Short Story in One Draft?
The Short Of It

4 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·Jul 12

Soft Skills Every Aspiring Author Needs

Intangible qualities for a long-term writing life — Let’s start with definition time. What are soft skills? They are intangible, transferrable skills that can be used and are useful in manys sort of professions. Knowing how to code in HTML, perform CPR, or fix a transmission — those are tangible, career-specific, hard skills. Knowing how to communicate, manage…

The Short Of It

7 min read

Soft Skills Every Aspiring Author Needs
Soft Skills Every Aspiring Author Needs
The Short Of It

7 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·Jun 28

Dialogue Basics Every Fiction Writer Needs to Know

Fundamentals for fantastic dialogue — I won’t go so far as to say dialogue will make or break a piece of fiction. But I will say that realistic and engaging dialogue makes a story more readable, and poorly done dialogue is jarring. …

The Short Of It

4 min read

Dialogue Basics Every Fiction Writer Needs to Know
Dialogue Basics Every Fiction Writer Needs to Know
The Short Of It

4 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·Jun 14

A Story Inside a Story: Using Framing Devices in Fiction

A story about stories within stories — Creative writers along all facets of fiction need to know about framing devices. You’ve read or seen one even if you haven’t known the name for it yet. Framing devices are a secondary story that frames the main story. The secondary story appears, at the minimum, at the beginning and…

The Short Of It

5 min read

A Story Inside a Story: Using Framing Devices in Fiction
A Story Inside a Story: Using Framing Devices in Fiction
The Short Of It

5 min read


Jun 7

Recommended Reads from the Authors I’ve Read the Most Books From

A surprising top 10(ish) countdown — After seeing someone else write a similar article, I trekked through my own Goodreads records and calculated which authors I had read the most books from. From the outset, I suspected that it would be a lot of children’s and YA authors with series that I read as a tween…

Book Recommendations

9 min read

Recommended Reads from the Authors I’ve Read the Most Books From
Recommended Reads from the Authors I’ve Read the Most Books From
Book Recommendations

9 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·May 31

Is The Short Story Dead?

Dissecting the past, present, and future of short fiction — Is the short story dead? Are short stories dead? A bit of a strange question for someone who has been writing a column on short stories since 2020 and published a collection of short fiction within the last six months. …

The Short Of It

6 min read

Is The Short Story Dead?
Is The Short Story Dead?
The Short Of It

6 min read


Published in

The Writing Cooperative

·May 10

(Almost) Every Type of POV Writers Need to Know About

There is more than just the first and third — Point of view is one of the elements of story. As the lens the reader sees the story, POV can shape character, plot, and theme in subtle and powerful ways. In that way, writers should fully equip themselves with the knowledge of all the possible different POVs out there for…

The Short Of It

9 min read

(Almost) Every Type of POV Writers Need to Know About
(Almost) Every Type of POV Writers Need to Know About
The Short Of It

9 min read

Margery Bayne (she/her)

Margery Bayne (she/her)

2.4K Followers

Book Author

Margery Bayne is a librarian by day and a writer by night. Find more at www.margerybayne.com.

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