Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, first drafts, genre fiction, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“This afternoon, burn down the house. Tomorrow, pour critical water upon the simmering coals. Time enough to think and cut and rewrite tomorrow. But today-explode-fly-apart-disintegrate! The other six or seven drafts are going to be pure torture. So why not enjoy the first draft, in the hope that your joy will seek and find others in the world who, by reading your story, will catch fire, too?”
— Ray Bradbury
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I’m toying with an idea and I can’t decide if it’s crazy or cool. Here’s a peek inside my head:
“Hey self, maybe we should try something a little bonkers.”
“Why not? Sounds fun. What do you have in mind?”
“What about writing a bunch of drabbles?”
“One-hundred word stories? We do that all the time, so sure.”
“What about writing a hundred drabbles?”
“A hundred? As in, One hundred? 100? Ten times ten? Roman numeral C?”
“Yep. Because numerical symmetry. One hundred hundred word stories.”
“I know you like challenging goals but that’s completely bonkers.”
“Yeah?”
“Absolutely. Also… pretty cool, actually. Hmm.”
So there you have it, my current writing target dilemma. A project like this would be a fun challenge but the real question is whether it would help my writing or distract me from larger projects.
What do you think, is this idea too much or not enough? Crazy? Cool? Bit of both?
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, Writers, writing on August 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Apologies for the delayed announcement, but in case you were looking at the clock and idly wondering, “Who do you suppose won the Hugos this year?” I am here to help!
The awards are announced at the annual Worldcon, and this year it was held in Glasgow. I’ve never been, but it sounds like a lovely, storied locale.
Right, ahem, the envelope please!
2024 Hugo Award Winners | Glasgow 2024
Best Novel
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)
Best Novella
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)
Best Novelette
“The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)
Best Short Story
“Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, May 2023)
Best Series
Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
See the above link for the complete list of winners.
I haven’t read all of these yet but I do love the feeling of having good stories waiting in the wings.
/rubs hands with glee!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf39, creativity, editing, genre fiction, perfectionism, Thoughts, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on August 21, 2024| 2 Comments »
Consider this: when you over edit something, you polish off the edges that made it unique and vibrant. A little polish is good, but not too much. Nobody wants a diamond polished into a ball bearing. They want something unique. Something sparkly. The world is full of uniform ball bearings. Be a flawed diamond.
— David Hankins, award-winning writer, author of Death and the Taxman, and all-around good duck
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, fantasy, genre fiction, history, inspiration, Robin Hood, sword and sorcery, Thoughts on August 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
So, here’s the thing: I don’t really like the Middle Ages. I feel a little bad about that because if you have a History degree it seems like you are obligated to keep an open mind about even the worst centuries, but it’s true. The Middle Ages are very much middling in my book.
Is this bias a result of the (relative) lack of historical records, the goofy headgear, or the whole Black Death, Inquisition, feudal lords fighting over tiny territories, and “Bad Times All Around” vibe that so many of those centuries have?
Well, maybe.
However! While reading an interesting article on a medieval herb garden (as one does), I realized that the era was into some of the things that I am into: the many uses of plants, bookbinding, woodturning, weaving, dyeing, and a wide variety of handmade hacks designed to moderate the vicissitudes of life. (The fantasy genre also owes a lot to that time period, and to be fair the bycocket, or Robin Hood hat, was pretty cool.)
So, yeah. It’s possible that I might have a touch of the medieval in me. Which goes to show that I shouldn’t rule out whole swaths of history, or people, or things. (Except the Plague, I continue to be very much down on pandemics. For, you know, reasons.)
So while I’m never going to be a fan of petty monarchs, famine, uncertain hygiene or strict class divisions, the next time the topic of the Middle Ages comes up, I’ll do my best to keep an open mind.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on August 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Where did my imagination take root? In a yellow-brick house on a quiet country road, filled with bright windows and built-in bookshelves containing a wide range of genres, including science fiction and fantasy.
I remember that house well, not least because a friend recently sent me a listing for it on a rental site. It was odd to see the rooms looking so empty, with none of the life that still populates my memories. Even so, it was good to visit the house again.
And to remember what it was like to look out at the old willow shading the little creek behind our house, and dream.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf, #wotf40, #WritersOfTheFuture, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Kal M, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »
If you are a writer, an illustrator or creator of any kind, this Writers of the Future winner has a message for you.
You Don’t Need to Fit In | Kal M
Hey, you. Yes, you, the one fretting in front of the computer because you’re too nervous to start on that story you promised yourself you’d work on. Come here a second; I have something to tell you.
Ready? Okay, here it is: you’ll be fine.
Maybe today is the day you need to hear this. If not, put it in your pocket and save it until you do.
Then pick yourself up and make something. It will be beautiful.
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Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf39, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, learning, science fiction, sff, Thoughts, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on August 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »
It’s Monday and my day job brain is a little tired. So why not take a little time to stretch my mind in other ways, like listening to a couple of cool dudes chat about a nice light topic… like controversies in quantum mechanics;)
Neil deGrasse Tyson and Sean Carroll Discuss Controversies in Quantum Mechanics
(We’re also watching 3 Body Problem, the series based on Liu Cixin’s award-winning novel, so it’s maybe kind of like semi-related big brain study material?)
Yeah, I don’t understand most of this at a deep level but I really like that there are other humans on this planet who do.
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Speaking of science, this is also an excellent opportunity to celebrate a new blog by scientist, award-winning author and friend Arthur H. Manners. He is currently working on The Sci-Fi Writer’s Guide to Reality, a series with the goal of helping SF writers understand the fundamentals of science.
I love this idea so much. One great session at last year’s Writers of the Future workshop was given by Dr. Beatrice Kondo. It was Day 6 of a long week. Many of us were half asleep, until the good doctor started talking in a serious, straightforward way about what it would take to make some of the crazy stuff in our heads work in real life. Really terrific stuff.
Writers & Illustrators of the Future Workshop Week 2023 – Day 6
Kondo talked the writers through the science of several common writing scenarios. Why can a submarine only travel at certain speeds underwater? What would happen to someone’s body if they tried to lift a car? How do exoskeletons work?
Then she touched on tissue engineering, stem cells, 3D bio-printing, breathing underwater, genetic engineering, and whether human wings or human photosynthesis would actually work.
Chatting after the session, a lot of the writers expressed a desire for a collection of introductory information on various scientific topics. Not a thick textbook for students of the field, but the sort of material one might need to both ground a story and to better imagine the possibilities of those topics.
I am so happy to see that Arthur has taken up this challenge.
New Release: Writing About Remote Sensing in Sci-Fi – Arthur H. Manners
I’ve just finished the first 6-part primer in my new blog called the Sci-fi Writer’s Guide to Reality. The blog aims to help science fiction writers with the fundamentals of science. The first primer focuses on remote sensing (the act of trying to determine what’s going on over there, i.e., at a distance, through means other than physical contact). This topic is rich and essential to many aspects of science fiction, from spaceship sensors to astronomical observations.
Yes, please!
Here’s the first installment of his six-part primer on remote sensing:
Sci-fi Primers- Remote Sensing – Part 1
Ensign: “Captain, the long-range scanners indicate that the aliens’ blood-type is O-negative.”
Captain: “My God… Universal donors. What else is on the scanners?”
Ensign: “That the aliens think Star Wars Episodes Seven through Nine were the best.”
Captain: “Monsters! Arm the photon torpedoes!”
So if you’re wondering how remote sensing works, what is handwavium (official writer terminology alert!), and what crosses the boundaries between science and magic, check out this guide:
Sci-fi Primers- Remote Sensing – Part 1
Sci-fi Primers- Remote Sensing – Part 2
Sci-fi Primers- Remote Sensing – Part 3
Sci-fi Primers- Remote Sensing – Part 4
Go, science!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, aliens, genre fiction, sff, writing on July 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I need to add the stories I’ve posted here to my Fiction page. I tend to post many of the shorter stories here and it’s easy to forget a piece or three.
I stumbled on this one the other day, from March 15, 2023.
I came from the stars to meet you. I was happy. Excited, even. First contact with your verdant world. Think of all that we could share with you.
“You” could have meant a lot of things. I started with one of the most populous. An insect.
I remember little of what it was like, a flash of light, a warm wriggle in a puddle after rain. The feel of wind in my wings.
It’s embarrassing to say this now, but I was promptly eaten.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, ideas, Writers, writing, writing advice on July 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
How does science fiction author Charlie Jane Anders record history that hasn’t happened, build cities that may never exist, and ground her stories in unreal realities? And what advice does she give for those of us working to build our own fictional futures?
…I kind of start by daydreaming the wildest stuff that I can possibly come up with, and then I go back into research mode, and I try to make it as plausible as I can by looking at a mixture of urban futurism, design porn and technological speculation. And then I go back, and I try to imagine what it would actually be like to be inside that city. So my process kind of begins and ends with imagination, and it’s like my imagination is two pieces of bread in a research sandwich.
Whatever works for you, works. So go ahead and dream.
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J.R. Johnson 
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