Every fledgling writer hears all sorts of “dos and don’ts”, rules that you NEED to follow if you want to have ANY CHANCE of getting published. Most of these things […]
Read moreCategory: perils of the writer
Perils of the Writer/Worldbuilding: Avoiding the Chakotay Problem
I’ve talked before about worldbuilding and the challenges of just doing a copy-and-paste of Earth cultures, which, of course, you don’t want to do. Draw inspiration from real-world cultures? Sure. […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Sequel Grinding
Some more experienced writers have told me that writing the second book is much harder than the first. So far, with Thorn of Dentonhill II (new working title: Elements of […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Real World Politics and SF/F
I don’t usually bring up real-world politics here. But it’s been drumming around the circle for a while now, so I might as well address it. I might be something […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Knowing When to Deviate from the Outline
So, earlier this week, the long running series How I Met Your Mother had its final episode. And, despite some excellent moments in there, its ending left me cold, and […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Ego in Check
Many years ago, I worked for the English department at the University of Texas at the main office front desk. This meant I also answered the main phone line for […]
Read morePath to Publication, Part II: Early Days Of Writing Garbage
So, way back in 2000, I was talking a certain amount of talk about the idea of writing novels, and had a number of little snippets of stories. Fits and […]
Read moreThe Path To Publication
I’ve been asked, especially recently, why I chose the path of traditional publishing over trying one of the avenues of self-publication. Frequently in the past, I was more or less […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Fanfic of Yourself
I was thinking about one of my trunked projects, Crown of Druthal, as well as the process of novel midwifery that has brought Banshee to the point where it is […]
Read morePerils of the Writer: Clavicle and other crucial word choices
This week’s work on Banshee brought me to an interesting point, somewhat unintentionally. In brief, my main character, Lt. Samantha Kengle, was injured on a mission (a nasty creature managed […]
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