Posted in Writing, tagged Book View Cafe, books, creativity, fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, Kazuo Ishiguro, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, Ursula Le Guin, Writers, writing on March 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Ursula Le Guin has an interesting piece up at the Book View Cafe blog about Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel The Buried Giant. She has issues with specific elements of the book but the part that caught my attention was the reason she felt compelled to write the piece in the first place.
In an interview, Mr. Ishiguro wondered whether his readers would label the book as fantasy. And, as Ms Le Guin says, “It appears that the author takes the word for an insult.” Regardless of Ishiguro’s intentions, this provides Le Guin with a jumping off point for discussion. Her defense of fantasy is concise and compelling.
Fantasy is probably the oldest literary device for talking about reality.
As she lays out the case for fantasy as more than “childish whims,” I am again reminded that the value of imagination lies not in its escape from reality, but in its distillation of significant questions of life and death, purpose and perils, loss and joy. In short, the human experience writ across the universe.
That’s big. I’d better get back to work.
Posted in Funny, Likes, Writing, tagged artists, creativity, criticism, Fiction, Iain S. Thomas, learning, Motivation, persistence, quotes, rejection, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on February 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, j k rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Nora Roberts, persistence, publishing, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on January 26, 2015| 1 Comment »
Here’s an encouraging article for writers via HuffPost:
New Authors, Fret Not. Most Successful Authors Made Their Mark After 30
The headline sums it up but if this topic interests you it’s worth checking out the attached infographic. It allows you to highlight author age at first published book, at their “breakthrough” book, and also shows a nice timeline of the number of books published before and after death. J.R.R. Tolkien was 46 when The Hobbit was published (also, Nora Roberts is a publishing machine, and I mean that in the best possible way).
So fret not, and keep at it. Because writing well is a skill, and skills take time.
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, boundaries, creativity, David Farland, Fiction, inspiration, John Cleese, Monty Python, persistence, that pesky muse, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on January 13, 2015| 1 Comment »
There are a lot of books, essays, posts and (no doubt) scratchings on cave walls discussing ways to be more creative. One of the most useful and compact versions I’ve found so far is a talk (via David Farland) by John Cleese, Monty Python funny man and deep thinker on this and other topics.
The video is only ten minutes long but does a terrific job of summarizing the essential requirements one needs to be creative. You don’t have to quit your day job or win a year-long fellowship or even trap your very own Muse. It’s simple really, and not what one might guess when thinking about the problem. We don’t need “more,” we need less. We need boundaries. Specifically, boundaries of time and boundaries of space.
If you’d like to hear Cleese in a longer discussion on the topic, check out his speech from 1991 as well.
Enjoy!
Posted in Writing, tagged creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, writing on January 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Someone asked me why I write fantasy and science fiction. Even better, the question was posed with the sort of genuine interest and curiosity everyone hopes to hear in a personal question that holds meaning. I gave an involved answer that I won’t repeat here because I’m going to give you a better one:
It’s what I love. So that’s what I do.
It’s that simple, and that complicated:)
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged artists, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, literature, persistence, The Atlantic, Thoughts, Writers, writing on December 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »
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.
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 Likes, Writing, tagged Alzheimer's, artists, Deverry, fantasy, Fiction, fundraiser, Katherine Kerr, Thoughts, Writers, writing, YouCaring on December 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »
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.
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