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Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Apropos of Nothing
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on October 1, 2022| 1 Comment »
Agree to (Mostly) Agree
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Growing up, we were taught to give books the first sentence test. If that first sentence drew us in we’d move on to the first paragraph. I consider that mindset excellent training for authors running the editorial gauntlet.
Here are a few examples of good openers. While I may not love every one, it’s a good collection, made even more useful by the side-by-side comparison with other great literature.
Literature’s greatest opening paragraphs – the best opening lines in novels
As with pubs and shoes, you know you’re reading a great book from the second you’re inside it.
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What You Can, Where You Are
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Jo Miles, Nature's Futures, Writers, writing on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
My afternoon disappeared with a giant sucking sound, so please enjoy this story about hope, the power of community, and doing what you can where you are.
Her branches reach for the stars (Jo Miles in Nature: Futures)
Lieutenant Auri Murr knew the exact moment when her grandmother died.
She was on duty in engineering when Grandma Shanna’s dappu-wood bead on her kin-necklace cracked: a sharp, dry, quiet sound, unmistakable to anyone from Darmindu Colony. It could have woken Auri from a sound sleep.
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What Words Can Do
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, historical fiction, inspiration, Writers, writing on September 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Hilary Mantel, celebrated author of Wolf Hall, dies aged 70
The Booker prize-winning author of the Wolf Hall trilogy, Dame Hilary Mantel, has died aged 70, her publisher HarperCollins has confirmed.
Mantel was regarded as one of the greatest English-language novelists of this century, winning the Booker Prize twice, for Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, which also won the 2012 Costa book of the year.
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Writer and broadcaster Damian Barr said her death is “such a loss”.
“With every book she redefined what words can do,” he tweeted, adding: “She’s the only person I ever interviewed that speaks in whole, flawless paragraphs. I can’t believe we won’t have another book from her.”
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“The pen is in our hands. A happy ending is ours to write.”
— Hilary Mantel
Exposure Therapy 101
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, inspiration, rejection, resilience, submissions, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 20, 2022| 1 Comment »
Are you a writer? Afraid of rejection? Wish you had a thicker skin? Practice getting rejected with the Journal of Universal Rejection!
The founding principle of the Journal of Universal Rejection (JofUR) is rejection. Universal rejection. That is to say, all submissions, regardless of quality, will be rejected. Despite that apparent drawback, here are a number of reasons you may choose to submit to the JofUR:
• You can send your manuscript here without suffering waves of anxiety regarding the eventual fate of your submission. You know with 100% certainty that it will not be accepted for publication.
• There are no page-fees.
• You may claim to have submitted to the most prestigious journal (judged by acceptance rate).
• The JofUR is one-of-a-kind. Merely submitting work to it may be considered a badge of honor.
• You retain complete rights to your work, and are free to resubmit to other journals even before our review process is complete.
• Decisions are often (though not always) rendered within hours of submission.
Folks, I conducted my exposure therapy the old-fashioned way, submitting story after story to multiple venues until my skin grew hard as nails. If only I’d known about the JoUR sooner!*
* Seriously though, it’s worth getting past this particular hurdle. Whatever works for you!
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“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt
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The Rise of Fat Alberts
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Mary Roach, nonfiction, Thoughts, wildlife, Writers, writing on September 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I’ve always enjoyed Mary Roach’s science writing (especially Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void and Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal). I also have family in Colorado, spent many of my formative mountain-biking and blueberry-picking years trying not to encounter bears*, and passed a conservation truck with a (reassuringly sturdy) bear cage in the back just the other day.
All of this means that Roach’s essay caught my attention, and so today’s fun bit of reading is about the perils, and promise, of life with bears. It’s an excerpt from her latest book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.
Black bears are back and in your back yard | New Scientist
With a growing percentage of Fat Alberts, will coexistence eventually become a possibility? Or even a policy? Could we live with bears in the backyard the way we live with raccoons and skunks?
* I grew up around black bears like those in this article. Large and potentially dangerous, sure (the rule was never get between a bear and her cub, because yeah, just no), but they’re not grizzlies or polar bears. They can be a very different kind of story. (One that starts with “nom” and ends with… you may not be around for the end.)
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Funny Bone
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, Fireside Magazine, genre fiction, Tina S. Zhu, Tuesdays, Writers, writing on September 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday, so you almost got an encouraging quote and pretty picture, but this short story appeared in my inbox.
I was never a philosophy student but the message still tickles my funny bone (I probably would have taken that job, though).
You might like it too.
Recipe by Tina S. Zhu
Makes one reluctant vampire hunter.
Ingredients:
1 desperate jobseeker
4 YouTube videos on cooking with tomato sauce
2 fire alarms, batteries not included
1 friend willing to smuggle blood
4 cloves garlic
1 gallon expired holy water
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Building Worlds
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, genre fiction, Thoughts, worldbuilding, Writers, writing on September 12, 2022| 1 Comment »
Whether your story rests on a historical foundation or you’re starting a world from scratch, writers, game-builders, and creators of all kinds can benefit from an in-depth understanding of how social and economic systems operate.
There is a lot of related material out there but I came across this guide, specifically aimed at creators of fiction, and thought I’d share.
Resources for World-Builders by The Pedant, a.k.a. Dr. Bret C. Devereaux
I know a lot of my readers are interested in constructing fictional worlds which follow historical rules and patterns, where things like agriculture and armies make sense. So I thought I would gather together some of the material I’ve written that might be of use.
As an example, here’s an analysis of what it took to for pre-modern farmers to make bread. It certainly makes me appreciate the ease with which we can now access high-quality flour (and legal protections, and insurance).
Bread, How Did They Make it? (I, II, III, IV, A)
And finally, just to point out the obvious: farming labor is hard. It is back-breaking, uncomfortable stuff.
The resource collection includes material on the following categories, with examples from history (fictional and otherwise).
- Premodern Economics
- Armies and Logistics (example: Punching Through Some Armor Myths)
- Religion
- Society and Politics
- Armor and Weapons
- (Star)Ship Design (example: Where Does My Main Battery Go?)
This site has a Lot of other interesting material as well, so if (for example) you’ve ever wondered why the Industrial Revolution didn’t happen under the Roman Empire, this is the resource for you.
* Also note, for more on what and how people ate in the Western Middle Ages, SF Canada writer Krista D. Ball has a detailed and useful book on realism in fantasy food: What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank.
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One Step at a Time
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, Fiction, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I drafted a drabble. I drafted a haiku. I drafted another drabble. None of these pieces are ready to share, so instead I’ll leave you with this back-to-school story from Fireside ok, that was too scary so I’ll just go submit a story to an anthology!
Such is the writing life.
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The 2022 Hugo Awards
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Fiction, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on September 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The winners of the 2022 Hugo Awards have been announced!
- Best Novel – A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine (Tor)
- Best Novella – A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
- Best Novelette – “Bots of the Lost Ark”, by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, Jun 2021)
- Best Short Story – “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”, by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)
Click through the links above for free access to the winning novelette and short story, or visit the awards page for the full list of awardees.
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