2009 December at SF Novelists

Archive for December, 2009

Chris Dolley December 30th 2009

Book Cover Design 101: Unleashing the Monster

Authors are capricious gods. We’re always interfering in the lives of our characters. We hate it when life’s too easy for them. We crave conflict and struggle and whenever the momentum sags, we think: what can I do to really inconvenience my characters? Some authors send for the ex-boyfriend that the heroine never really got [...]

Kate Elliott December 18th 2009

When What We Think We Know, Is Actually Wrong

Some years ago a reviewer on amazon.com took me to task for a blindingly ignorant mistake I had made in my work. He was disgusted, it seems, by my complete lack of research and knowledge about the military in history. In either King’s Dragon or Prince of Dogs (volumes 1 & 2, respectively, of the [...]

Marie Brennan December 16th 2009

Virgins and whores

I swear I didn’t plan my “pitfalls of writing women” series so I would end up making this post in the Christmas season. But since that’s how it’s fallen out . . . let’s talk about virgins and whores. On the one hand, you have the Madonna, the Virgin Mary, the ideal of womanly goodness. [...]

S.C. Butler December 15th 2009

Write What You Like

Sounds like a simple rule, doesn’t it? But sometimes it’s harder to do than it seems. People get caught up in what’s selling, in what’s hot. They try to write for the market instead of writing the story that’s inside them. I learned that when I tried to write a thriller. It was the last [...]

David B. Coe December 14th 2009

My Latest Challenge (And Why This Post is so Short)

I don’t have much time or energy for today’s post, and so thought I’d used the post to explain to you exactly why.I have a new writing project, something that is utterly unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I am writing the novelization for a movie, specifically for the new “Robin Hood” movie coming out in May [...]

Kelly McCullough December 11th 2009

Sometimes Even Writers Need A Break From Writing

For me this is one of those times. I just got a book series proposal out the door along with the rewritten copy of an old trunk novel, but fundamentally there wasn’t a lot of new writing to be done there, maybe 800 words this week since it was all in polish mode. The main [...]

Alma Alexander December 5th 2009

The Power of Nothing

Watched an episode of Torchwood last night (“Out of Time”, for those who want to go back and keep tabs) and I was struck by how this is the SECOND good show on TV to use ‘nothing’ in a way that has a visceral power over people. In Torchwood, an evil force targets the [...]

Mindy Klasky December 1st 2009

DidYouNaNo?

I’ve always said that NaNoWriMo isn’t for me. (For those of you still in the dark, NaNoWriMo is fun Internet shorthand for National Novel Writing Month – thousands of brave authors designate November as the month when they’re going to draft a 50,000-word novel, from start to finish.) My concerns about NaNo are legion. Most [...]

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.

Kate Elliott

Kate Elliott is the author of multiple fantasy and science fiction novels, including the Crown of Stars series and the Novels of the Jaran. She's currently working on Crossroads; the first novel, Spirit Gate, is already out, and Shadow Gate will be published in Spring 2008. 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.

David B. Coe

David B. Coe is the author of eleven fantasy novels, including the books of the LonTobyn Chronicle, Winds of the Forelands, and Blood of the Southlands. He has also written the novelization for the Ridley Scott production of ROBIN HOOD, starring Russell Crowe, that is due out in May 2010. In 1999 he received the Crawford Fantasy Award, given annually by the IAFA to the best new author in fantasy. He has a Ph.D. in United States environmental history and lives on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with his wife and daughters. Visit site.

Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough is a fantasy and science fiction author. He lives in Wisconsin with his physics professor wife and a small herd of cats. His novels include the WebMage and Fallen Blade series—Penguin/ACE. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues including Writers of the Future and Weird Tales. He also dabbles in science fiction as science education with The Chronicles of the Wandering Star—part of an NSF-funded science curriculum—and the science comic Hanny & the Mystery of the Voorwerp, which he co-authored and co-edited—funding provided by NASA and the Hubble Space Telescope. Visit site.

Alma Alexander

Alma Alexander is a Pacific Northwest novelist whose new YA trilogy, "Worldweavers", debuted with "Gift of the Unmage" in March 2007 ("Spellspam" follows in 2008, and "Cybermage" in 2009). Her other books include the internationally acclaimed "The Secrets of Jin Shei". 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.