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Posts Tagged ‘Writers’

Can’t Stop the Feeling!

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

It’s International Women’s Day and while there are a lot of related events taking place, I’d like to highlight one with particular interest to writers. Tor.com has put together a short fiction collection spotlighting women, justice and persistence.

Here’s an excerpt from Tor’s announcement:

In collaboration with colleagues Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Lee Harris, Liz Gorinsky, Marco Palmieri, and Miriam Weinberg, we have assembled this flash fiction collection featuring several of the best writers in SF/F today. Together these authors share unique visions of women inventing, playing, loving, surviving, and – of course – dreaming of themselves beyond their circumstances.

Look forward to stories from:

Charlie Jane Anders
Brooke Bolander
Maria Dahvana Headley
Amal El-Mohtar
Kameron Hurley
Seanan McGuire
Nisi Shawl
Catherynne M. Valente
Carrie Vaughn
Jo Walton
Alyssa Wong

The stories are inspired by the words “Nevertheless, She Persisted” and will roll out starting May 8th.

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Happy Happy!

Posted in Holidays, tagged , , , , , , , on February 14, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

— Robert A. Heinlein

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

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We’ve Fallen Through the Trapdoor. Now What?

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2017| 1 Comment »

Slate has invited ten writers to envision the possibilities of a Trump future. As Ben H. Winters, author and the editor of this series explains, “fiction has a special power to clarify, galvanize, prophesy, and warn.” Writers include Héctor Tobar, Ben H. Winters, Nisi Shawl, Saladin Ahmed, Lauren Beukes, Jeff VanderMeer, Kashana Cauley, J. Robert Lennon, Edan Lepucki, and Elizabeth Bear.
Because as the motto says, it’s best to be prepared.

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Some of the Best of Tor.com, 2016

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Tor.com has put together a selection of its short fiction from 2016. If you’re interested in an e-book of same (rather than reading the material online) it’s available free for the next few days.

We are very excited to offer a free download of the 2016 edition of Some of the Best from Tor.com, an anthology of 25 of our favorite short stories and novelettes from the last year. Readers worldwide can download the ebook for free by signing up for the Tor.com Publishing newsletter from midnight EST on January 10th until 11:59 P.M. EST on January 17th.

Free fiction. Mmm, tasty.

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Stories to Tell, Futures to Build

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

It occurs to me that one of the things we really need now is storytelling. With a Republican-dominated government in the U.S., dissenters won’t have as many direct political options to make change via laws. That leaves hearts and minds.

And what’s best for changing hearts and minds? A compelling story.

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As I see it, an important part of our job right now as writers isn’t to bombard with facts and figures (or not only, of course there’s a place for that). Fiction writers have a special place in society. We imagine other futures, other paths, other worlds. We bring those experiences, those feelings*, to readers.

Our challenge is to inspire, to engage, to help others envision a better world. With a nod to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, to make them long for a kinder, more hopeful, and more just sea.

 

 

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* And as Ian Warren argues, at least part of what has happened with Brexit and the U.S. election seems to be that “what data and polling often misses, is how people think and feel” and that “the communication of effective emotional messages is currently beating data alone.”

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Life & Lapels

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I’m working on a new project and looking forward to finishing it up and getting it out the door. It’s been a busy month so far, but there never seems to be quite enough time to get everything done. It’s still fun to try.
maya1

My mother had this wonderful Maya Angelou quote illuminated and framed. (And who is that amusing young girl in the photo?:) She knew a thing or two about adversity, and about persistence.

Hang on, I’ve got to go take care of a few more things. Something about life and lapels…

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Working Hard?

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Ah, Wednesdays! That most glorious of days, when Monday’s want-to-do list meets Friday’s ruh-ro-must-do list in a big jumble of expectations, and it can all feel like a bit much. (Or is it just me?:)

Today I’m working on multiple fronts and happy to be making progress. That’s what I push for, most days, even when it’s not easy. On writing, I’m nibbling away at a novel, fixing up a couple of short stories to send out, and doing a workshop exercise. And oh yes, there’s the day job:)

When what I’m doing gets hard, it helps to remember that it’s not carrying a 50-pound boulder across the sea floor hard.

Color me impressed, and inspired.

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Nonfiction in General

Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Today’s Thing I Like is nonfiction writing in general, and author Mary Roach in particular. If you aren’t familiar with her work, check out the books linked below or this interview with Seth Shostak at SETICon 2012.

Nonfiction can be a fiction writer’s best friend. At its best, it includes detailed, character-driven explorations of real-life situations and challenges, and can provide the sort of solid foundation a more speculative piece needs to succeed. I’ve mentioned this before, but avoiding abstractitis is key to good writing.

Specifically:

No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.
— John Maguire

Nonfiction helps you do that, and Mary Roach is a great example of a quality nonfiction writer.

I have yet to read all of Roach’s books but Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal and Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void were terrific. Her books take a somewhat off-beat topic and delve in, deep. She’s also funny. The level of detail is satisfying and succeeds in painting an engaging portrait of her subject that is also educational. Packing for Mars, for example, is a great way for writers to familiarize themselves with the nitty gritty of space exploration, how we got to where we are now, and how we’ll get to where we’re going.

To note, if you’re interested in popular nonfiction about the intricacies of digestion or Mars exploration, check out Giulia Enders’ excellent Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ, and Steve Squyres’ Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet.

Read, then write:)

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Do It On Purpose

Posted in Funny, Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I realized that I have been trying to write a serious version of what is clearly a goofy, rollicking space pirate adventure. Obviously!

That led me to recall the following wisdom from a modern-day sage (who should know):

Figure out who you are. Then do it on purpose.
― Dolly Parton

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Stories Must Be Told

Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. We’ve been watching classic war movies all weekend, Patton and The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far. I’m thinking of my stepmother’s father, who campaigned in North Africa and Italy. I’m thinking of one uncle who served and came home with his humor and wits intact, and another who did not.

One set of parents is hosting a party to celebrate the hope of returning summer, another set is at the family plot cleaning graves and laying flowers. Both sides of memory are necessary, in my mind.

Part of what writers do is build creative narratives that interpret life, remember the past, reframe the present, and project into the future. Art is interpretation. Memory is selective. What we remember depends on who we are, and who we hope to be. When we stop telling stories, we start forgetting.

Today’s free fiction is Pamela Sargent’s “Too many memories” from Nature’s Futures division.

You already know what Dorothea’s most important insight was — that the reason our client had so much trouble with her memories was that she possessed no narrative structure on which to locate them.

“There’s no framework there,” Dorothea Singh said to me, “nothing to hang the memories on.”

Today, we are that framework.
 

 

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