2010 March at SF Novelists

Archive for March, 2010

Jim C. Hines March 24th 2010

First (Pro) Novel Survey Results

We talk a lot about how to break in as a novelist, and every working author has a story. Many of us will offer a disclaimer up front: “The way I broke in isn’t the normal route…” But then, what’s normal? A month or so back, I decided to do some research on how authors [...]

David B. Coe March 23rd 2010

More on Allowing Yourself Not to Write

Last week, Kelly McCullough and Diana Pharaoh Francis reminded us eloquently that sometimes the tragedies and difficulties we face in life can get in the way of our creativity. For today’s post, I thought it might be helpful to point out that there is no shortage of mundane interruptions that can have the same effect. Life can be brilliant [...]

Kelly McCullough March 18th 2010

Writing, Grief, and Stress

You can only do as much as you can do, and there’s no point beating yourself up over the fact. Two years ago yesterday my grandmother died. She was a wonderful woman and the person most responsible for me making it through to adulthood relatively intact. For reasons I’m not going to go into here, [...]

Diana Pharaoh Francis March 17th 2010

And So It Goes

Have you ever noticed how when the shit of your life hits the fan, that everything else in the world keeps going? Other people’s lives don’t stop and drop everything because yours does? I’m reminded of this now, as the my proverbial fan whirls. As I write this, I’m getting ready for an unexpected surgery [...]

Marie Brennan March 16th 2010

First Girl Ever

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a girl who wanted to be a knight. (Or a wizard, or whatever.) But girls weren’t allowed to be knights, so she disguised herself as a boy (or strongarmed the king into letting her try, or whatever), and after many difficult challenges, she proved that [...]

S.C. Butler March 15th 2010

Write What You Don’t Know

I’m being a bit disingenuous. Some of what you write has to be what you know. Compelling characters are difficult to write without at least some life experience. I would argue, however, that what you know should be the internal story, not the plot. Or the setting, either. For most of the twentieth century write [...]

Alma Alexander March 5th 2010

Are you enjoying the journey?

Depending on what writing bible you follow, there are only 3 real plots in the universe – or 12, or 37, or ONE. It doesn’t matter what the number is, so long as you realize that the basic idea is distilling EVERY book into its constituent parts If you do that to a [...]

Mindy Klasky March 1st 2010

Cleansing the Palate

Last week, I finished a proposal for a new book, and I sent it off to its prospective editor. Last week, I picked up my work-in-progress, BITE AFTER BITE, and I wrote a few thousand words in a new chapter. Those two sentences were very easy to type, but they don’t begin to capture the [...]

Author Information

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.

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's first novel in the WebMage series, WebMage, was released by Ace in 2006 to considerable critical praise. Cybermancy, and CodeSpell followed in '07 and '08. His 4th, MythOS, is slated for late May '09 with SpellCrash to follow in '10. His short fiction has appeared in numerous venues including Weird Tales, Writers of the Future, and Tales of the Unanticipated. His illustrated collection, The Chronicles of the Wandering Star, is part of a National Science Foundation-funded middle school science curriculum, Interactions in Physical Science. 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.

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.