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.
Posted in Writing, tagged creativity, David Bowie, Elizabeth Bear, Fiction, genre fiction, narrative, rejection, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, voice, Writers, writing, writing advice on September 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The excellent Elizabeth Bear has a good post on how to get past “rave rejections.” You know the ones, where they tell you how great the story is but sorry, can’t use it.
Her advice? Focus on Voice and Narrative. While these suggestions are hardly new she does frame them in concise, useful language that cuts through the extensive “how to” checklists so often found in writing advice. Here she is on how to grow a voice:
Write a lot. Work at identifying and expunging cliches and lazy word choice from your prose. Find sharp verbs and strong, observed details. Read things out loud and if you don’t like how they sound, change them. Embrace whimsy and quirkiness, but only inasmuch as it is natural to you: otherwise you run the risk of becoming twee. Play with pastiche. If you have a natural wit, let it shine through. Be playful.
On narrative drive and creating characters readers care about:
A character who loves something, or who holds fast to an ideal, is humanized and becomes approachable. A character who takes action lures us unto caring about what she cares about.
…
We love people who fight.
It’s a great post, short, approachable, with a “manageable bite-sized helpful chunk” of useful information. Also, bonus points for using a funny video of David Bowie to make her case.
Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged books, Fiction, genre fiction, Jason Sheehan, john scalzi, Lock in, NPR, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, writing on August 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Jason Sheehan over at NPR has a very nice review of John Scalzi’s Lock In today. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy:)
Lock In is a cop story first… There is blood, a body, a couch pushed out a hotel room window from a high floor… Once he’s gotten past the tricky part of building a near-future world and putting a dead body in it without getting bogged down in the details of either, the rest is all cake and hand grenades.
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged Alaska, Canada, creativity, David Mack, diversity, editing, Elmore Leonard, Fiction, fiction editors, food, genre fiction, hooptedoodle, Iceland, literature, Mount Everest, NPR, science, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, William Gibson, Writers, writing on August 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, books, creativity, fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Lev Grossman, literature, NYT, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on August 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a nice piece by Lev Grossman in The New York Times on “Finding My Voice in Fantasy.”
We — as a whole, as a culture — seemed to be getting more interested in the kinds of questions fantasy deals with: questions about history, and about our connection to the natural world, and about power, how to find it in yourself, how to master it, what to do with it.
…
Fantasy is sometimes dismissed as childish, or escapist, but I take what I am doing very, very seriously. For me fantasy isn’t about escaping from reality, it’s about re-encountering the challenges of the real world, but externalized and transformed.
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, tagged aliens, awesome, cheer me right up, fun, Guardians of the Galaxy, inspiration, movies, recommended, Redbone, science fiction, sff, work, yay on August 12, 2014| 1 Comment »
Yeah, I saw Guardians of the Galaxy. If you haven’t, it’s a damn fine movie. Damn fine!
Posted in Writing, tagged creativity, home, inspiration, persistence, sff, work on July 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Ah, Friday! I am coming to the end of this week’s work and so have the time for efforts of a less, shall we say, prosaic nature. My project for this weekend will be to build a Museum of Lost Things.
I imagine it will be just as difficult and interesting as one might expect:)
J.R. Johnson 
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