I’m very pleased to announce that I have a story now up at Cast of Wonders, the speculative fiction podcast for young adults. The story is “Taxidermy and Other Dangerous Professions” (originally published as “Heaven’s Lot” in Not One of Us), and it is narrated by the marvelous MK Hobson. Free to listen or read along, check it out!
Posts Tagged ‘Fiction’
Writing Objects, Not Ideas
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged abstractitis, creativity, deliberative practice, Fiction, John Maguire, teaching, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on May 2, 2014| 1 Comment »
Best writing advice I’ve read all week:
How to avoid abstractitis: “Write physically. Write with physical objects… No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.”
“What is a concrete noun?” a student might ask.
“It’s something you can drop on your foot,” I always answer. “It’s that simple.”
“So if I am writing about markets, productivity and wealth, I am going to….”
“Yes indeed — you are going to write about things you can drop on your foot, and people, too. Green peppers, ears of corn, windshield wipers, or a grimy mechanic changing your car’s oil. No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.”
From John Maguire’s 2012 essay in The Atlantic, “The Secret to Good Writing: It’s About Objects, Not Ideas.”
How Science Fiction Leads to Science Futures
Posted in Likes, Science!, Writing, tagged Center for Science and the Imagination, creativity, design fiction, dystopias, Eileen Gunn, ethics, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, MIT, science, science fiction, sff, society, speculative fiction, Writers, writing on April 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Writer and editor Eileen Gunn has a new piece out on science fiction writers and the art of possibility. For Smithsonian, no less.
How America’s Leading Science Fiction Authors Are Shaping Your Future
The literary genre isn’t meant to predict the future, but implausible ideas that fire inventors’ imaginations often, amazingly, come true
An instructor at MIT’s Media Lab “laments that researchers whose work deals with emerging technologies are often unfamiliar with science fiction. ‘With the development of new biotech and genetic engineering, you see authors like Margaret Atwood writing about dystopian worlds centered on those technologies,’ she says. ‘Authors have explored these exact topics in incredible depth for decades…'”
Check out the full article for more on the role of science fiction in imagining, and creating, potential futures.
GRRM: Rolling Stone
Posted in Entertainment, tagged artists, books, creativity, entertainment, Fiction, Game of Thrones, genre fiction, George R.R. Martin, GoT, GRRM, HBO, interviews, Rolling Stone, Writers, writing on April 24, 2014| 1 Comment »
What’s that? You’d like to read an interview with George R.R. Martin with lunch? Well, I happen to have just the thing for you, via the good people at Longreads:
George R.R. Martin: The Rolling Stone Interview
In which GRRM discusses his history as a writer, the evolution of his epic (and as yet incomplete!) The Song of Ice and Fire cycle and how, despite the great swaths of death that characterize those books, his “worldview is anything but nihilistic.”
The Gains of Brevity
Posted in Writing, tagged brevity, creativity, Danny Heitman, editing, Fiction, finishing, how to, John Kenneth Galbraith, literature, New York Times, Thoughts, Writers, writing, writing advice on March 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »
In writing, brevity works not only as a function of space on a page, but the time that an audience is willing to spend with you.
A friend sent me an excellent article this morning, with some of the most useful advice I can think of for writers. It can also be one of the least welcome suggestions:
Keep It Short.
Danny Heitman’s essay uses this pithy guidance to sum up a lot of bits writers hear when trying to improve their craft: be concise, be concrete, be on point, write for your audience, etc. This does not mean blindly banging away on the Delete button, mind you:
I frequently hear champions of brevity advising writers to cut their word counts by scratching all the adjectives or adverbs… The point of brevity isn’t to chop a certain kind of word, but to make sure that each word is essential.
Short version, keep it short. (Although I can’t help myself, here’s one more quote from the article, this time citing John Kenneth Galbraith):
The gains from brevity are obvious; in most efforts to achieve it, the worst and the dullest go. And it is the worst and the dullest that spoil the rest.
Draft your short story, essay, poem, novel or recipe, then if you have a little time, put it aside. When you come back to it fresh, make friends with that Delete button.
Amtrak Writers Residency Is Officially Official
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #AmtrakResidency, Amtrak, artists, creativity, Fiction, finishing, free, fun, train travel, work, working holiday, Writers, writing, yay on March 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Yes, after much social media back and forth, The Amtrak Residency for Writers Is Now Accepting Applications. Like the idea of riding the rails with nothing to do but be inspired by the scenery and write write write? I know I do:) Check out all the details at Amtrak’s site:
#AmtrakResidency was designed to allow creative professionals who are passionate about train travel and writing to work on their craft in an inspiring environment. Round-trip train travel will be provided on an Amtrak long-distance route. Each resident will be given a private sleeper car, equipped with a desk, a bed and a window to watch the American countryside roll by for inspiration. Routes will be determined based on availability.
A desk too? Heaven!
Harry Potter Fans Fight Dark Forces
Posted in Likes, tagged awesome, books, fantasy, Fiction, fight child labor, grassroots activism, harry potter, inequality, inspiration, life imitating art, writing, yay on March 4, 2014| 1 Comment »
8 Courageous Things Harry Potter Fans Did to Fight Real-Life Dark Forces by Katrina Rabeler.
If Harry Potter were a real person, he’d fight child labor, voter suppression, and poverty. Here are our favorite ways Harry’s fans have taken his values from the page to the real world.
For more details on what muggles can do when they put their minds to it, check out the full article at YES! Magazine.
New Story Out at SQ Mag
Posted in Writing, tagged Australia, creativity, Fiction, finishing, free, genre fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, SQ MAg, work, writing, yay on March 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I’m very pleased to tell you that my new story Catch of the Day is now out at SQ Mag, a delightful speculative fiction zine from Australia. This “tale of magical artefact smuggling, full of betrayal and twists and turns” is now freely available online. Enjoy!
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