2008 November at SF Novelists

Archive for November, 2008

Chris Dolley November 30th 2008

How do you make your book the best it can be?

With the second draft of Medium Dead complete and winging its way towards beta readerdom, I’ve been thinking about the honing process. You’ve done the research, you’ve written the book, you’ve revised it … what more can you do to make sure it’s the best it can be? Back in the eighties I worked in [...]

Stephen Leigh November 27th 2008

Not Much of a Life…

In my Novel Writing class, I generally use one of my last classes of the semester to answer “Frequently Asked Questions” from my students, giving them the chance to get at stuff I might not have covered, or ask questions that might not have been asked in class, or to get at information that needs [...]

Stephanie Burgis November 26th 2008

Writing for love

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means that the next day, according to the marketing slogans I grew up with, is…yes, it’ll be the “first day of the Christmas shopping season!” It’s enough to inspire me with a feeling of sinking dread and the desire to hide under the covers until December is safely over. I love [...]

Mindy Klasky November 25th 2008

Continuing the “Thanks” Theme…

Yesterday, Jim Hines posted a public thank you to Tobias Buckell, the author who brought all of us SFNovelists together. I’d like to continue the theme started by Jim, first by adding my voice to the “Thank you, Toby!” chorus, then by noting some other writing-related things for which I’m thankful. Those things include: 1. [...]

Jim C. Hines November 24th 2008

Thank the Maker

Years ago, back when Clarion was still held at Michigan State University, I remember crashing a Clarion reunion party and meeting Tobias Buckell for the first time. Little did I know that years later I’d be sharing a hotel room with the man, or leaving fingernail prints in the plastic of his car, or– Wait, that [...]

Jeri Smith-Ready November 21st 2008

Time of the Season

I just wrapped up the rewrite on my next novel (BAD TO THE BONE, May 2009), the events of which take place from Halloween to New Year’s (bookended by big parties, of course). It got me to thinking about seasonal choices I’ve made in the past, and how in determining setting, the question of when [...]

Simon Haynes November 17th 2008

What I like about NanoWrimo

• Kills procrastinators stone dead. • Seeing fellow writers blog about falling in love with Nano, and vowing to do it again next year. • All the intense word wars which crop up across the blogosphere. • The huge amount of traffic on the NanoWrimo forums as tens of thousands of people talk about writing [...]

Diana Pharaoh Francis November 17th 2008

Time Keeps Twisting

I am in the process of revising my next book in my Crosspointe Series, The Turning Tide. I’m in the middle of a tricky bit. Essentially the problem is time. When I read, I generally don’t like a lot of flashbacks, and so I don’t tend to include them. Also, I tend to write fairly [...]

Marie Brennan November 16th 2008

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

When I was in graduate school, one of the things I studied were role-playing games. (Yes, my university let me write papers on Dungeons and Dragons and all its intellectual descendants.) I learned all kinds of fascinating things, taking apart my hobby to see how it worked, and one of those things had to do [...]

S.C. Butler November 15th 2008

More Thoughts on David B. Coe’s Post

I agree with David. If you don’t threaten your characters in some way, you lose a certain amount of dramatic tension. Which is fine if you’re writing a romance, where the reader loves the book precisely because they know how the book is going to end (it’s how you’re going to get there that’s all [...]

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Author Information

Chris Dolley

Chris Dolley is an English author of SF mysteries and fun urban fantasies, a pioneer computer games designer, and the man who convinced the UK media that Cornwall had risen up and declared independence. His novel Resonance (2005, Baen) was the first book to be plucked from Baen’s electronic slush pile. He now lives in France with his wife, a dolmen, and a frightening collection of animals. His memoir French Fried (2010, BVC) has just been released. Visit site.

Stephen Leigh

Stephen Leigh (aka S.L. Farrell) is a Cincinnati author with 25 novels and several dozen short stories published. Booklist called his Cloudmages trilogy "Good enough to cast in gold." He teaches creative writing at Northern Kentucky University, and is a frequent speaker to writers groups. Visit site.

Stephanie Burgis

Stephanie Burgis is an American writer who lives in Yorkshire, England, with her husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, their son "Mr Darcy", and their crazy-sweet border collie mix, Maya. Her Regency fantasy trilogy for kids, The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, will be published by Atheneum Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, beginning with Book One: A Most Improper Magick. She has also published short stories in a variety of magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, including Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Escape Pod. You can find out more, or read/listen to her published stories online, at her website. Visit site.

Mindy Klasky

Mindy Klasky is the author of eleven novels, including WHEN GOOD WISHES GO BAD and HOW NOT TO MAKE A WISH in the As You Wish Series. She also wrote GIRL'S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL, and MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL, about a librarian who finds out she's a witch. Mindy also wrote the award-winning, best-selling Glasswrights series and the stand-alone fantasy novel, SEASON OF SACRIFICE. Visit site.

Jim C. Hines

Jim C. Hines' latest book is THE SNOW QUEEN'S SHADOW, the fourth of his fantasy adventures that retell the old fairy tales with a Charlie's Angels twist. He's also the author of the humorous GOBLIN QUEST trilogy. Jim's short fiction has appeared in more than 40 magazines and anthologies, including Realms of Fantasy, Turn the Other Chick, and Sword & Sorceress XXI. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. He's currently hard at work on LIBRIOMANCER, the first book in a new fantasy series. Visit site.

Jeri Smith-Ready

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Simon Haynes

Simon is the author of the Hal Spacejock series, featuring intergalactic loser Hal and his junky sidekick, Clunk. His website contains a number of articles on writing and publishing, and he's also the programmer of several freeware apps including yBook, BookDB and yWriter. In his spare time(!) he helps to run Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Visit site.

Diana Pharaoh Francis

Diana Pharaoh Francis has written the fantasy novel trilogy that includes Path of Fate, Path of Honor and Path of Blood. Path of Fate was nominated for the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award. Recently released was The Turning Tide, third in her Crosspointe Chronicles series (look also for The Cipher and The Black Ship). In October 2009, look for Bitter Night, a contemporary fantasy. Diana teaches in the English Department at the University of Montana Western, and is an avid lover of all things chocolate. Visit site.

Marie Brennan

Marie Brennan is the author of more than thirty short stories and the Onyx Court series of historical fantasy novels, concluding in the upcoming With Fate Conspire (due out September 2011). Visit site.

S.C. Butler

Butler is the author of The Stoneways Trilogy from Tor Books: Reiffen's Choice, Queen Ferris, and The Magician's Daughter. Find out what Reiffen does with magic, and what magic does with him... Visit site.