posts on writing
The other day, may daughter finally bought an ereader. It’s a bit sad that my kids wanted to read “real” books long after I’d gone digital, but the physical size of a particular book that she wanted to read on public transport finally won her over. Anyway, having read said…
Writers, especially when they don’t see immediate success, often get told “It’s a marathon, not a sprint!” and this statement often leads to a discussion at least as heated as whether quality and speed are mutually exclusive or whether there needs to be one or two spaces after a full…
Calling a Rabbit a Smeerp is one of the items listed in the the Turkey City Lexicon in the section about worldbuilding in science fiction and fantasy. It is phrased in terms of making reading unnecessarily hard for readers by adding “unnecessary” strange names for the sole purpose of ramping…
Anyone who knows me will also know that I’m not a great fan of romance. I’ve read a good deal of it (eons ago) and while I don’t hate reading it, I find other genres much more interesting. But I think to be able to write contemporary romance is a…
Last week, on 9 December to be precise, was what I consider the anniversary of my writing career. In December 2004, I took the decision to take my writing seriously and joined SF-OWW. I’ve done my seven years in the vein of ‘It takes seven years to become an overnight…
I have to admit that I am rather puzzled at people who declare that they don’t use swear words in writing. Oh, I totally understand why the decision is made, and this post is not to tell them that they should decide differently, or tell them that the sky will…
When talking about point of view (POV) and writing in first person, inevitably someone will bring up that it’s OK, as long as ‘it’s done well’ and that ‘it’s not for beginning writers’. Invariably also people can’t quantify what is meant by these statements and the sentiment against writing in…
This is a question that gets asked a bit in writer’s forums, and frankly, I have some trouble with it. I mean, it’s called Science Fiction, isn’t it? Yes, I know there are many stories out there that don’t seem to have any science at all. Look at Star Wars,…
To be taken with the usual grain of NaCl. It seems to me that during the learning process from beginning science fiction writing to pro-level, we writers have to successfully hurdle three stages. None of these are exclusive of each other, neither do they have to be traversed in a…
Notes from a Worldcon panel led by Kaaron Warren with Jack Dann and Kim Stanley Robinson. This post is based on my own interpretation of the information. Feel free to comment below if you wish to correct anything. Write what you know is one of the things workshop leaders and…
