Archive for the 'reading' Category
February 25th 2012
The Skill List Project: Word Choice and Wordspace
This is another post in The Skill List Project: an attempt to list all the skills involved in writing and selling fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy. Last time, we began discussing descriptive passages, and I laid down what I think is the fundamental principle of writing description: A descriptive passage is the story of [...]
January 31st 2012
Drawing on Literary Traditions: THE HUNGER GAMES and THE MAZE RUNNER as Case Studies
A graduate student in writing, someone I am mentoring, asked me a question some time back about what she should do if she came up with an idea for a story that she really wanted to write, but that had been written about previously by other writers. My answer to her was basically this: “First [...]
November 25th 2011
The Skill List Project: Scene Design
This is another post in The Skill List Project: an attempt to list all the skills involved in writing and selling fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy. Last time around, I talked about the flow of plot from scene to scene. This time, we’ll be looking at the skill of designing a single scene, once [...]
November 23rd 2011
What Are Your Favorite Re-Readable Books?
The Thanksgiving holiday is looming, and I’m actually traveling right now, so I’m going to keep this fairly brief, and I probably won’t be able to respond to comments due to lack of internet access. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t continue this discussion amongst yourselves. I’m doing some graduate student mentoring at a [...]
October 15th 2011
What Is YA?
My post last month, Is Harry Potter YA?, turned into a more general discussion of the definition of YA in the comments, so I decided I might as well continue the discussion this month. I first heard the term Young Adult applied to books in the early ‘70s. It described fiction written for adolescents, who weren’t [...]
July 20th 2011
Birds, Dinosaurs, and the Secret Life of Labels
Well, another month has passed, and here is another post from me that contains more questions than answers. This post is particularly question-ridden because it arises from a very recent experience that I’m still digesting. I went to Readercon last weekend, where I spoke on several panels about gender in science fiction. Most of those [...]
July 15th 2011
Does Heinlein Matter?
He used to. He used to be the be-all and end-all of ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s SF. This despite the fact that most critics think his later output is far inferior to his Golden Age writing and juveniles. Even during the rise (and fall) of the New Wave, Heinlein’s star, no matter how scorned, never [...]
June 21st 2011
The Skill List Project: Avoiding Viewpoint Mistakes
This is another post in The Skill List Project: an attempt to list all the skills involved in writing and selling fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy. Last time around, we talked about Viewpoint Selectivity. This time, we’ll dig into viewpoint again because I want to talk about something that really makes beginners look amateurish: [...]
June 20th 2011
The Book is Dead, Long Live the Book!
I have a confession to make. I’m not proud of it, but here it is: I don’t buy books anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I love books. I love the feel and smell of the paper. I love the pretty pictures on the covers. I love the sight of all my books lining the walls [...]
June 1st 2011
Summer Time… And the Reading is Easy
When I was a kid, I loved summer vacation – those long, uninterrupted days, just perfect for reading book after book after book. Sometimes, I worked through the recommended books on my school’s so-called grade-appropriate list. Sometimes, I indulged in re-reading favorites, well below my grade. Sometimes, I stretched to “grown-up” books, using the extra [...]
Author Information
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner got his M.Math from the University of Waterloo with a thesis on black holes...and then he immediately started writing science fiction instead. He's been a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards, and has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award as well as the Aurora award (twice). He's published seven novels (beginning with "Expendable"), plus a short story collection and (for street cred) a Lara Croft book. He cares deeply about words and sentences, and is working his way up to paragraphs. 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.
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner got his M.Math from the University of Waterloo with a thesis on black holes...and then he immediately started writing science fiction instead. He's been a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards, and has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award as well as the Aurora award (twice). He's published seven novels (beginning with "Expendable"), plus a short story collection and (for street cred) a Lara Croft book. He cares deeply about words and sentences, and is working his way up to paragraphs. 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.
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.
Chris Moriarty
Chris Moriarty has been making a living writing science fiction and fantasy for over a decade. Chris's books include SPIN STATE, SPIN CONTROL (winner of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award), and THE INQUISITOR'S APPRENTICE. Chris also has a regular review column with the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. 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.
James Alan Gardner
James Alan Gardner got his M.Math from the University of Waterloo with a thesis on black holes...and then he immediately started writing science fiction instead. He's been a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards, and has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award as well as the Aurora award (twice). He's published seven novels (beginning with "Expendable"), plus a short story collection and (for street cred) a Lara Croft book. He cares deeply about words and sentences, and is working his way up to paragraphs. Visit site.
Chris Moriarty
Chris Moriarty has been making a living writing science fiction and fantasy for over a decade. Chris's books include SPIN STATE, SPIN CONTROL (winner of the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award), and THE INQUISITOR'S APPRENTICE. Chris also has a regular review column with the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. 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.
Topics
- announcements
- Blogroll
- Contributors
- Diversity
- featured posts
- For Novelists
- genre
- Hard SF
- language
- launchpad
- learning to write
- Mindy Klasky
- Not Remotely Writing Related
- otherness
- our authors
- our books
- publicity and promotion
- publishing
- publishing trends
- reading
- sampler
- the business of writing
- Uncategorized
- video
- women in SF
- writing humor
- writing life
- writing process
Archives
Browse our archives: