January 5, 2015 by J.R. Johnson
There’s a very funny piece by Brian Staveley today over at the Tor/Forge blog titled “Three Ekphrastic Dialogues; or NO DUAL WIELDING UNTIL BOOK THREE.” Or at least it would be funny, if it weren’t so true;)
SCENE ONE
Setting: Book One of the Epic Trilogy
In the first scene the WRITER is bright-eyed, fresh-faced, and recently showered, perhaps even wearing a jaunty blazer. The CHARACTER looks confused, wary, even a little frightened.
…
Character: If I have a life of my own, why can’t I shave my…hey! HEY! What the hell just happened?
Writer: Your house burned down. That guy in the black cloak did it.
C: You made him do it.
W: Sorry. Needed an inciting incident.
Apologies to every character I’ve put through the wringer:) See the full post for the hilarious, somewhat potty-mouthed conclusion…
Posted in Writing | Tagged artists, Brian Staveley, creativity, Fiction, funny, genre fiction, sadly true, speculative fiction, Tor.com, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
January 4, 2015 by J.R. Johnson
Hello and welcome to 2015. You may remember that back in July I noted that CC Finlay will edit two issues of Fantasy & Science Fiction for this year, and that he will accept electronic submissions. Excellent news! The second of those submission periods is open now through January 15th. For more information, check out his blog post on the subject. Good luck to all who submit!
Posted in Writing | Tagged artists, CC Finlay, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction, genre fiction, Motivation, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, submissions, Writers, writing, yay | Leave a Comment »
December 25, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all. If you have time between the presents and the eggnog and family celebrations, consider spending a few moments with The Atlantic’s series on writers, writing and the creative process, “By Heart.” I spotlighted the By Heart interview with William Gibson a few weeks ago, but there are dozens of other perspectives on creativity here as well.
…we live so many lives, contain so much experience, that even the people who know us best don’t know.
— Claire Messud
Featured artists start with a favorite line from literature and go from there, discussing how that line shaped them, sharing practical advice on getting started, revision, productivity, genre fiction and more. Joe Fassler has a nice summary column called “How to Write: A Year in Advice from David Mitchell, Yiyun Li, and More” with highlights from the past year; the full series lives here.
Posted in Holidays, Writing | Tagged artists, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, literature, persistence, The Atlantic, Thoughts, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
December 20, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
While I don’t post on Twitter some tweets do come across my desk from time to time. Emergency kittens. Puppy vines. And, more significantly, writers in need.
Right now Katherine Kerr, author of the Deverry series and more, is in need of support. Her husband has Alzheimer’s and as his sole caregiver she barely has time to check her email, much less write. If you love her books or just want to provide her with a bit of breathing room in a difficult time, there is a YouCaring page set up for contributions.
Because writers are people too. And so are readers.
Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged Alzheimer's, artists, Deverry, fantasy, Fiction, fundraiser, Katherine Kerr, Thoughts, Writers, writing, YouCaring | Leave a Comment »
December 15, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
David Farland put out a nice piece last week titled Be Excited, and (unsurprisingly:) that pretty much sums up his thesis. Essentially, he says that the writers he sees who are the most productive are those able to get and stay excited about their work. That hit home for me, not just in terms of quantity, but also quality. I find that my best stories tend to be those I find most entertaining. Granted, I may be biased, but what’s more fun than… fun?
With that in mind, I recommend a short fiction from the September issue of Lightspeed.* Holly Black’s Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind) is everything I love about a story: it’s funny, poignant, trying and triumphant. And fun.
* This story also appeared in the excellent Monstrous Affections anthology edited by Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, which I read on the strength of this piece.
Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged creativity, David Farland, Fiction, fun, Gavin Grant, genre fiction, Holly Black, inspiration, Kelly Link, Lightspeed, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing, yay | 1 Comment »
December 12, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
I have an extra busy day today so I bring you a quote and a pretty picture:)
Just because things hadn’t gone the way I had planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong.
― Ann Patchett
Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged Ann Patchett, inspiration, quotes, work, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
December 8, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
Writing is simple, right? Writing is considered a basic skill in our society and as such, people often look down on it as, well, a basic skill. Sadly, thinking that you can write an effective book/story/memoir/etc. because you are literate is like saying that because you can run down the block, you have what it takes to do the Boston Marathon.
As always, the devil is in the details. Sorting out those details, by understanding the process and which of the many aspects of art and craft you should work on, is key to becoming (and staying) a writer.
Much of what I read and write is speculative and genre fiction, and a few of my specific suggestions and references are colored accordingly. If speculative fiction isn’t your thing that doesn’t mean you can’t use these references. It just means that you may need to ask yourself questions like, “This is great, but how would an alien sea monkey’s need for interstellar love translate to a tailor in modern-day Calcutta?” All the better to exercise your creative faculties, I say. As you’ll see, though, most writing advice translates well across boundaries.
Here are a few pointers to get you started…
Resources I’ve Found Useful:
It will shock no one to learn that there are also a lot of writing resources on the web; often the problem is sorting through them all. Search for talks, interviews and essays by authors whose work speaks to you, see if their ideas or suggestions offer fuel for your fires. I’ve mentioned some links in previous discussions on writing and creativity already, and there are many (many, many) more. To get you started:
Life rewards action…. That story isn’t going to unf*ck itself.
— Chuck Wendig [asterisk mine]
There are all kinds of writers. Fiction vs. not, certainly, but also binge writers, morning writers, middle of the night writers, must have my pencils just so writers, deadline writers and cabin in the woods writers, can only write on used envelope writers, take your pick. Find what works for you.
Then write.
Posted in Writing | Tagged Ann Patchett, Anne Lamott, creativity, Damon Knight, Dwight V. Swain, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, john scalzi, on writing, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, Stephen King, TED, work, writer’s block, Writers, writing, Writing Excuses | 1 Comment »
December 2, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
In the wake of NaNoWriMo, I thought it instructive to point out Jim C. Hines’s new book, Rise of the Spider Goddess. This is an annotated version of a novel he wrote in his formative years. In other words, it is a bad book. And he’s sharing it, on purpose, for entertainment, for edification, and to help other writers recognize that we all start somewhere.
So, fair NaNo’ers (and others), as you review your 50,000+ word opus, do not despair if you realize that the draft over which you slaved is actually really very awfully bad;) And as Jim says in his introduction to the book on John Scalzi’s Whatever:
Writing a bad book is nothing to be ashamed of, because dammit, I still wrote a book. Then I wrote more of them. And with each one, I got better.
Posted in Writing | Tagged arts, books, creativity, Fiction, finishing, funny, genre fiction, Jim C. Hines, john scalzi, Motivation, nanowrimo, persistence, sff, speculative fiction, work, Writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
December 2, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
Erik Wernquist’s lovely short film “Wanderers” is making the rounds online, and deservedly so. The piece uses dramatic visualizations of our solar system and is narrated with audio excerpts from Carl Sagan’s book Pale Blue Dot. If you have four minutes and a yen for optimistic futurism, let this film help you imagine humanity’s future on the open road, “out there.” And it’s always good to hear Carl Sagan.
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Science! | Tagged awesome, carl sagan, entertainment, inspiration, NASA, nature, science, space | Leave a Comment »
November 25, 2014 by J.R. Johnson
Hey, I hit 50,194 words for NaNoWriMo today! The novel still needs work, of course, but I’ve reached my November target. Now I can concentrate on shaping the story… after a little break to celebrate:)
For those of you still at it, keep going!
Posted in Writing | Tagged awesome, Fiction, finishing, genre fiction, nanowrimo, persistence, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, work, Writers, writing, yay | 2 Comments »
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