Craft Matters: On Writing Strong Endings
We want the reader to participate in the stories we write, so we need to leave room for them to do so.
Craft Matters: On Plot and Plotting
There seem to be two camps of popular thought when it comes to writing fiction: Character-driven or plot-driven. As if they were mutually exclusive…
On “Creating” Characters
The line extended as far as the eye could see, each of us hoping that today we would be among the lucky ones chosen to be part of some writer’s story. I’ve led many lives; a pregnant teenager, the father of a murdered son – that was a tough one – a prison...
Happy Hour with Cathy Ulrich and Jayne Martin
HAPPY HOUR WITH CATHY ULRICH AND JAYNE MARTIN A Fantasy INT. THE MAKE BELIEVE BAR – EVENING Wooden paneling like the bars they remember from when they were girls, slipping in under-aged with laughing crowds; soft velvet barstools that never get whiskey-stained;...
Tender Cuts Is Here!
It’s Just Like Christmas! That’s how I felt as I ripped open the box containing copies of “Tender Cuts.” “You knew what was in the box, Jayne, so it wasn’t really like Christmas,” you may say. “But ah,” I respond. “I was an incorrigible snooper as a child.” The only...
So You Wrote A Book… Interview by Nancy Stohlman
Kicking off Season 2 of So You Wrote a Book? is the one and only Jayne Martin and her debut flash fiction collection, Tender Cuts! From my blurb: “Tender Cuts is about seeing and not seeing, what we are blind to and what’s right in front of us. In this debut flash...
When Good Things Create Bad Dreams …
In my dream, I haven’t graduated from high school. I need just one more class, but somehow I can never find the classroom or I arrive days after the class has started. I haven’t got the right book and there are no desks left so I give up and go home vowing to try...
“Let’s Talk About Fear”
At Kathy Fish and Nancy Stohlman's wonderful website for her writing retreats, I've published an essay about fear. This is how Kathy introduces the piece: Nancy and I were so thrilled when the lovely, funny, and talented Jayne Martin, who’d participated in our debut...
“The Tumbling Tomasellos” at Five2One Magazine
His tiny casket was carried from the church by Samson the Strong Man, followed by Billy on his unicycle, Elvin the Stilt Walker, Frederick the Fire Eater, me and Mom. Turns out for such a small guy, my dad had an enlarged heart. Doctors were stunned that he lived as...
Jayne’s Latest Book
A Lobster Walks Into a Laundromat
”None of the women could recall when the lobster first appeared, his large claws clacking against the floor as he folded his laundry along with the rest of them.”