Friday: 11AM: "Punching up your endings" 2PM: "Plotter VS Pantser" 3PM: Marketing your work 6PM: Has Disney Ruined Star Wars? 8PM: Ice Cream Social 9PM: Improv Storytelling Saturday: 11AM: Kathleen and I both do autographing! 12:30PM: Reading from Kathleen's and my Fall of Veils novel _French Roast Apocalypse_ and maybe teasing _Jamaica Blue Magic_ 1PM - 4PM : I run "On-Site for the Apocalypse", an RPG (D20 Modern) set in the world of _Princess Holy Aura_. Maximum 6 players. 3PM: Kathleen will be in the Essential SF Films [ Continue reading... ]
On Writing: The Maintenance of Belief
December 15, 2016 By 2 Comments
Anyone heavily involved in SF/F fandom will have encountered something that shattered their "WSOD" – Willing Suspension of Disbelief – and kicked them out of their immersion in the story to say, in one way or another "What the heck? That made no SENSE!" As an author, of course, I have to be very sensitive to this; I don't want my readers cranking along happily and then suddenly having their train of thought derailed. This is not, of course, something it's possible to avoid in a universal fashion; things that won't bother 99% of readers will [ Continue reading... ]
Under the Influence: The Black Stallion
September 27, 2016 By Leave a Comment
When I was young, there were quite a few things that interested me, but aside from reading, I had two personal passions: volcanoes… and horses. I loved horses. I had multiple horse models. I imitated horses. And I read about horses, read stories about horses, fictional horses and real horses, racehorses and wild horses, little prehistoric Eohippus all the way to the many modern breeds that ranged from tiny miniature ponies to the gigantic Shire workhorses. One of the only live shows of any kind that I insisted on attending when I was young [ Continue reading... ]
False Dichotomies of Publishing
September 13, 2016 By Leave a Comment
I've touched on this subject in some of my prior posts, but after having yet another discussion on this general topic, I thought it might be worthwhile to visit this particular issue in a separate post. Often, both those published in the traditional fashion and those who are self-published present their approaches as though they were equal choices which need simply be chosen between (and naturally extol the virtues of their chosen approach while pointing out all the deficiencies of the other method). But this is, put simply, wrong. The [ Continue reading... ]
The Author and Criticism
August 25, 2016 By 1 Comment
One consequence of putting your writing up for sale and public view is that, naturally, people will express opinions about that writing. For most authors, their stories are pretty near and dear to their hearts, and so they always hope that people will say nice things about their writing. This is, of course, not always the case. More generally, this is always not the case for stories in general. There isn't a novel published that doesn't have someone expressing negative opinions about it. Even a book received with great enthusiasm will still [ Continue reading... ]
Authorial Musings: Ideas Are Not Valuable
July 21, 2015 By Leave a Comment
One of the most pernicious – and ultimately damaging – myths that newbie or would-be authors often buy into (and I do not exclude myself from this!) is that "my ideas are valuable!" Specifically, they think their ideas are so valuable that they must HIDE those ideas to keep other authors or publishers from stealing them. In almost all circumstances, this is utterly untrue. Believing this myth severely constrains a prospective author (or other artist) because they look at other authors and editors as, at best, competitors, and at [ Continue reading... ]
GamerGate: My Comments
October 27, 2014 By 1 Comment
WARNING: Some strong language, especially for me, ahead. I rarely make what could be considered political or activist posts. This is mainly because of two things; I am rarely 100% certain of everything I say, contrary to many people's impressions of me. On important subjects, I hear people talking, with apparent authority, and saying things that come to opposite conclusions. I'm not equipped any better than most of these people to decide who's right and who's wrong. I may come to a conclusion of [ Continue reading... ]
Music and Writing
April 28, 2014 By Leave a Comment
One of the key elements of the way in which I write is that I must have music playing. Quiet – as in dead silence – intrudes on my consciousness. I write best when I have sound that helps evoke emotions in me, so that I can try to evoke emotion in my words. This has naturally evolved into a habit of constructing a "soundtrack" for my books as I go along. In many cases the soundtrack becomes quite detailed, with a dozen or even two dozen tracks each representing a character, piece of the setting, or event. This helps me keep [ Continue reading... ]
The Mechanics of (My) Writing
April 23, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I often get asked various questions about how I write, what my approach to writing is, how long it takes,and so on. This piece tries to cover all of these questions. The simplest way to describe how I write is the wiseass version: I sit down, open my computer, bring up the file, and write until I run out of story or time. Naturally, it's not quite so simple as that. If I know what I'm writing – that is, I have the plotline clear in my head and I know the characters and so on – it can be about that simple. For the [ Continue reading... ]
Musings on “Internet Piracy”
April 14, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I have something of an unusual perspective on intellectual property infringement of the type that's called "piracy". First, I put that word in quotes because I dislike it. It is an inadequate and inaccurate description of the problem which both romanticizes and exaggerates it. The word "piracy" in modern ears usually (especially in the sheltered civilized areas where real pirates, who still exist in some of the seas of the world, don't prowl) evokes a dashing, romantic imagery of swashbuckling action and cheerful [ Continue reading... ]
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