i like too many things

my name is Alyssa and I often try too hard.

[thisblyss]

II. Welcome to The Fun House

II. Welcome to The Fun House

Happy Tuesday, Readers and Writers!

Just popping in to say that Part II of my miniseries with Channillo, The Fun House, is up now. If you haven’t read Part I, read that first!

Here’s a little sneak peak of Part II Welcome to The Fun House.

~

“I’ve only been here once before when I was younger, but it’s not how I remember it,” Wylie said. “There’s no…”

“Atmosphere?”

“Yeah. Maybe that’s it.”

When…

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[thisblyss]

New Horror Series: The Fun House

New Horror Series: The Fun House

Hello Everyone!

So I have a good reason for not posting any flash fictions the last few weeks…

*drumroll* or *whistle* or *other silly noise*

I’m writing a series for Channillo!!!

If you don’t know, Channillo is a subscription-based digital publishing platform that allows writers to share their work with readers in regular installments, home to hundreds of great series by talented writers from…

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[thisblyss]

100-Word Flash Dash #4: Swim On

100-Word Flash Dash #4: Swim On

Setting: Lake

Genre: Contemporary

Word: Exercise

Swim On

Ducks etch shapes in the water as they swim, exercising their little webbed feet as they chase each other. I watch from the edge of the lake-shore, wishing I had a package of bread. Draw them in. Then, they’ll want to stay by my side because of who I am.

I should have known he would abandon me. The moment I met him he said, “Don’t trust…

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[thisblyss]

100-word Flash Dash #3: Bathroom Break

100-word Flash Dash #3: Bathroom Break

Setting: Cornfield

Genre: Scifi

Word: Joy

Bathroom Break

On the back-roads of Kansas, we stop for a bathroom break. Mellow trots joyfully into the cornfield, tongue lolling. I squat behind the car on a patch of straw-covered dirt while Evan, proudly displaying his manhood, lets his pee fly all over the stalks.

Zipping my pants, I call for Mellow. A bark overlaps with another bark. Seconds later,…

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[thisblyss]

100-Flash Dash #2: Toxic Fling

100-Flash Dash #2: Toxic Fling

Setting: Lab

Genre: Romance

Word: Increase

  Toxic Fling

The wheel of Mark’s mop bucket swivels a protest against the sterile floor. The lab technicians are gone for the night, their equipment like covered statues in a museum. She’s still there, waiting. The increase of his heart rate thumps in his ears. God, she’s gorgeous. Hair let down, eyes sparkling with mischief. He wouldn’t be resisting…

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[thisblyss]

100-Flash Dash #1

Starting a 100 word flash fiction challenge thingy. On Friday, I’ll have a random Genre, Setting, and Word. Today, I’m doing a 100 word (total) continuation of one of my Twitter #vss365 posts from last week. The Rules are that I can’t change the original story post and must add to continue the story to 100 words. If you want to join the challenge, tweet me @alyssafduke on the Twits.

Hope you…

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[thisblyss]

The Nervous Twitch of a Querying Author

The Nervous Twitch of a Querying Author

refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh refresh…

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[thisblyss]

T-MINUS 25 Days Until Novel Completion

T-MINUS 25 Days Until Novel Completion

Hello to all my fellow hardworking Writers out there! Here I am, trying to be just as hardworking. In the past two weeks, I have edited and finalized ten chapters. Those are big steps for me, considering I finished a complete draft of my novel in January and only made it to chapter fifteen as of two weeks ago. I’ve found a new motivation in the form of my three year anniversary with this project…

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[thisblyss]

For Lady Gaga as her documentary aired today

[thisblyss]

https://youtu.be/Ewe9p8RPRH0

Welcome to our Candy Store

[thisblyss]

Honey whatcha waitin for?

[thisblyss]

Candy Store | Lyss and the GBFs

"Candy Store" from Heathers the Musical by Lyss and the GBFs. Three friends. One song. A whole lot of attitude. Heather: Alyssa Duke Heather: Kendall Phillip...

For those musical theatre nerd and 80s fans!

[thisblyss]

Review of "The Last One" by Alexandra Oliva

Review of “The Last One” by Alexandra Oliva

Spring break week for me! And that means a week of reading and attempts at novel milestones. Hey, I got the reading part down. I finished “The Last One” by Alexandra Oliva, which was a novel that I had seen on Good Reads and was immediately intrigued by the synopsis. The title drew me in and back cover did its job in convincing me to read. Here is my no-spoiler review: I will almost always pick…

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[thisblyss]

Voices in my Head

Voices in my Head

Hello! Alyssa here! I haven’t posted a blog in a long time. Mostly because I’m balls deep (excuse the euphemism) editing my final draft of the novel that has been two and half years in the making. Also because, like I mentioned in my previous post, those Buzzfeed quizzes keep calling my name. But I’m back for now and can surely find things to vent about when it comes to writing. Can’t we all?…

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[thegabecole]

Writability: How to Condense Without Losing Anything Useful

It’s not uncommon for writers to rely on filler words while writing—and especially while first drafting. From filter phrases to adverbs all over the place, drafts that aren’t scrutinized to condense the writing are often full of words that unnecessarily clog up the writing.

Good news is while this is totally not something you should worry about while first drafting (seriously), when the time comes to take care of this issue, it’s relatively easy to do. Time-consuming and painstaking, yes, but thankfully not too difficult to do.

To make it even easier, however, I’ve decided to add to my how to make cuts without losing anything useful post with more easy-to-remove words to look out for.

Starts/begins to. This is actually a tip I picked up from my editor, and it’s a good one—9/10 times when you preface an action with “starts to” or “begins to” you don’t need that phrase. Just by describing the action, the readers assume it’s just started unless otherwise stated.

Immediately/without warning. Like “suddenly” these words are usually unnecessary. I’ll refer you to the other post for a longer explanation.

That. I’m not going to say you never need “that”, but oftentimes I find “that” is super overused. In sentences like “She said that I should go,” for example, removing the “that” improves the flow and we don’t lose anything by cutting it.

Up/Down. For these two I only mean in very specific cases: sitting up/down, standing up/down, etc. In those cases, the up/down is unnecessary.

Dialogue + action tag. I see this a lot, and tend to do this a lot when first drafting and just slapping words down, but when you have a dialogue tag and an action tag, you usually only need one—and oftentimes I go with the action tag because it’s more visual (although there are exceptions, of course). So, for example: “‘Where’ve you been?’ he said, scowling” could be condensed to “'Where’ve you been?’ He scowled.”

-ly adverbs. One of my last condensing steps is to go through and do a search for “ly” to cut down on my adverbs. While I definitely don’t recommend removing all of them (adverbs can be useful!), writers in general tend to use them more than necessary, so it can be good to go through and do a quick sweep.

So those are some words I look out for when condensing my writing—what phrases or words would you add to the list?

[thisblyss]

Why You Can't Stop Taking Buzzfeed Quizzes and Just Write

Why You Can’t Stop Taking Buzzfeed Quizzes and Just Write

I’m a Hobbit. Scored a 20/20 in the Office trivia. I can decipher which twin is Mary-Kate and which one is Ashley. If I were a 90s accessory, I would be a slap bracelet. Turns out that my bookshelf isn’t very hipster. Do you know how I know all of this? BECAUSE I WASN’T WRITING. I didn’t need an online quiz to tell me that I’m a homebody creature with big feet or that I know the Office like the…

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[thisblyss]

Terrified to venture into the ocean of creative writing classes and criticism? I’ve been there.

My new writers blog: Writelationship. Check it.