Archive for the 'the business of writing' Category
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 [...]
September 15th 2011
Is Harry Potter YA?
Not the most important writing question in the world, but one that’s been bugging me for several months. So, I thought I’d ask what you think (after giving my own two cents first): are the Harry Potter books YA? Curmudgeon that I am, I scoff. Nobody called Harry Potter YA when the books first came [...]
September 1st 2011
You Don’t Know Me
There’s a T-shirt that vendors sell to tourists near the National Mall. It purports to be from the Federal Witness Protection Program, and it says: “You Don’t Know Me”. For the first time in my life, I’m thinking of buying one. Because, for the first time in my life, I’m writing a novel under a [...]
August 23rd 2011
A Year To Remember
When I first started writing professionally, I had a vision of what my career path would look like. I understood, from all that I had been told by people wiser and more experienced than I, that success wouldn’t come easily, and that the first several years of my career would be a struggle. But I [...]
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 [...]
May 31st 2011
The Skill List Project: Viewpoint Selectivity
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 and Story Experience…but since I consider viewpoint to be the #1 key to story success, I want to dig into it [...]
May 23rd 2011
Google and Piracy: One Author’s Perspective
On Friday, a friend brought to my attention a blog post that was written by Richard Curtis, a big-name agent in the SF/fantasy genre. Curtis’s post was a response to an announcement earlier in the week by Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt. Essentially, Schmidt said that Google would not make any effort to stop its [...]
May 7th 2011
Experimenting in eBooks
Last month, I self-published a contemporary fantasy, THE WOODS, which had been my Masters capstone project. I teach Creative Writing, and I have had decades of experience in the ‘traditional publishing area, so I felt that for the sake of my students, I also needed to know more about the e-publishing alternative — and experience [...]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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