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!
Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’
Seeing Daylight
Posted in Writing, tagged awesome, Fiction, finishing, genre fiction, nanowrimo, persistence, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, work, Writers, writing, yay on November 25, 2014| 2 Comments »
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!
Shake Hands with the Unknown
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, books, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, The Atlantic, Thoughts, William Gibson, Writers, writing on November 24, 2014| 1 Comment »
What draws a reader into a book? What breaks their connection with the material world and plugs the brain into an alternative dimension? Sure, cover design, a known author and positive publicity blurbs all have something to do with it, but as speculative fictioneer William Gibson argues in The Atlantic, the first sentence is what invites you in.
The First Sentence Is a Handshake – The Atlantic
For William Gibson, author of The Peripheral, a kind of invitation is extended—and readers will or won’t feel what he calls “the click.” But it’s not just about connecting with an audience. In a conversation for this series, Gibson explained how first sentences invite the writer, too: they contain a blueprint for the book that will be written.
I don’t write the way Gibson does, laboring over the first line until it is worthy of the effort the rest of the book will take, but I do go back to it and rewrite. Ahem. A lot.
The article is full of interesting thoughts from the man who coined the term “cyberspace.” For more on Gibson’s method, his views on the proper balance between mystery and clarity, and a discussion of his newest book, The Peripheral, check out the full article at The Atlantic.
Ursula Le Guin Steals The Show
Posted in Writing, tagged amazon, arts, books, fantasy and science fiction, genre fiction, Hachette, literature, National Book Awards, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin, Writers, writing on November 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »
At the National Book Awards yesterday, our Lady Le Guin accepted an award for distinguished contribution to American letters. In her acceptance speech she went to bat for speculative fiction writers in particular. See this link from Parker Higgins for the full text of the speech.
As NPR reports:
“I rejoice in accepting [this prize] for, and sharing it with, all the writers who were excluded from literature for so long: my fellow authors of fantasy and science fiction,” Le Guin said.
She also had some choice words on the recent Amazon-Hachette battle over pricing:
“We just saw a profiteer try to punish a publisher for disobedience, and writers threatened by corporate fatwa,” she said. “And I see a lot of us, the producers, accepting this — letting commodity profiteers sell us like deodorant!”
It just goes to show that writers tend to be anything but boring. Especially writers of science fiction and fantasy.
[Edited to add speech text and video links.]
Bad Writing Advice Explained
Posted in Writing, tagged creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Martian Ballet, Mary Robinette Kowal, pithy advice, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on November 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Mary Robinette Kowal, that font of wisdom and Regency fashion tips, has a nice column on bad writing advice.
There’s a bunch of aphorisms about writing that started as good, pithy advice in part of someone’s lecture. Then they got pulled out of context and then misapplied.
Mary breaks down the standards that every beginning writer hears and talks about what they really mean, and when they are useful (spoiler: not always!). Write what you know, show don’t tell, raise the stakes, and kill your darlings, all so often repeated as gospel.
If you’ve ever tried to merge the advice to “write what you know” with the burning desire to write about Martian ballerinas and the prospectors who love them, well, fellow speculators, this is for you.
/totally going off to write a story about Martian ballet… right after I finish my novel!
How Do People Get New Ideas?
Posted in Writing, tagged arts, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Isaac Asimov, literature, MIT’s Technology Review, nanowrimo, science, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on November 14, 2014| 2 Comments »
Like many of you I’m doing NaNoWriMo and as such I am more than usually interested in questions of creativity and how to help it along. The following is from an essay in MIT’s Technology Review by Isaac Asimov, in which he asks that most fundamental of questions, “How Do People Get New Ideas?”
… what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected… Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring.
And so to you I say (with a nod to Theodore Roosevelt), dare greatly!
Bootstrapping A Solar System Civilization
Posted in Science!, tagged creativity, future of civilization, inspiration, io9, Office of Science and Technology Policy, rocket science, science, science fiction, space, space exploration, Writers on October 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »
via io9, a call for creative new ways to get the heck off this rock:
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is planning ahead — way ahead. The agency wants you to email ideas for how “the Administration, the private sector, philanthropists, the research community and storytellers” can develop “massless” space exploration and a robust civilization beyond Earth.
Tell me that this challenge isn’t exactly in our wheelhouse, people. Hard sci-fi writers, mechanical and other engineers, and practical dreamers of all stripes, your skills are needed!
Shadow Unit 1: Free
Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged awesome, books, Elizabeth Bear, Emma Bull, Fiction, genre fiction, Sarah Monette, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Will Shetterly, writing, yay on September 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »
This has been true for a while but Shadow Unit 1 is available to download for free:
Shadow Unit is a contemporary science fiction series about a group of FBI agents struggling to protect humanity from the worst monsters imaginable. Except some of our heroes may be on the road to becoming monsters themselves….
Get started on this reader-funded series with writing by Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, and Will Shetterly for nothing, nada, zip, tipota!
Kindle version at Amazon: Shadow Unit 1. Epub, pdf, and other formats at Smashwords: Shadow Unit 1.
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