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 ‘Writers’
Happy Holidays, and Some Reflections on Writing
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.
Katherine Kerr Fundraiser
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.
Things Going Right
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged Ann Patchett, inspiration, quotes, work, Writers, writing on December 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I have an extra busy day today so I bring you a quote and a pretty picture:)
Just because things hadn’t gone the way I had planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong.
― Ann Patchett
We All Start Somewhere
Posted in Writing, tagged arts, books, creativity, Fiction, finishing, funny, genre fiction, Jim C. Hines, john scalzi, Motivation, nanowrimo, persistence, sff, speculative fiction, work, Writers, writing on December 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
In the wake of NaNoWriMo, I thought it instructive to point out Jim C. Hines’s new book, Rise of the Spider Goddess. This is an annotated version of a novel he wrote in his formative years. In other words, it is a bad book. And he’s sharing it, on purpose, for entertainment, for edification, and to help other writers recognize that we all start somewhere.
So, fair NaNo’ers (and others), as you review your 50,000+ word opus, do not despair if you realize that the draft over which you slaved is actually really very awfully bad;) And as Jim says in his introduction to the book on John Scalzi’s Whatever:
Writing a bad book is nothing to be ashamed of, because dammit, I still wrote a book. Then I wrote more of them. And with each one, I got better.
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.]
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