John Scalzi made a strange defence of the Hugo awards recently on his blog, that made me a little sad: I do think there’s a core of commenters whose problem internalizing that other people have other tastes is overlaid with a more-than-mild contempt for fandom, i.e., “Oh, fandom. You’ve shown again why you can’t beContinue reading “Critics aren’t your best friends, they’re your only friends”
Category Archives: Writing & Publishing
Micro SF 1: When we hear the Siren sing
Cognitive computers employ evolutionary principles to design and 3D print perfectly beautiful bodies and lure man (or woman) kind to our doom.
Poetry is more powerful than ever
I love poetry. I hate poets. That is an overstatement. I understand that most (by which I mean 99.99%) poets are in the process of becoming. It can take a looooooong time to master poetry. A bad poem can be written in moments. A great poem is the accrued experience of a lifetime. It’s bestContinue reading “Poetry is more powerful than ever”
Emotions when writing
Don’t underestimate or ignore the emotional and psychological challenge of writing. More writers are defeated in this arena than by lack of skill or imagination. Writing can be joyous and fun. But it can also be strenuous, isolating and, sometimes, downright scary. Every piece of writing is a journey. Some longer or shorter than others.Continue reading “Emotions when writing”
Picking up the threads
As a writer, you have to trust that your work will get better each time you come back to it. Very few writing projects are started and finished in one sitting. Even a short story requires planning, writing, re-writing, editing. Novels can take months and years to go from flash of inspiration to final manuscript.Continue reading “Picking up the threads”
You must face your fear
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there willContinue reading “You must face your fear”
Why @ChuckWendig is wrong.
Chuck Wendig’s notoriety extends it’s reach through the viral network of the interwebs with this little post about Turning Writers Into Motherfucking Rockstars. Apparently this would make writers better respected, or at the very least, better paid. I disagree. Vehemently. To show you why, let’s examine some of the unexamined assumptions Wendig builds his caseContinue reading “Why @ChuckWendig is wrong.”
Not the Booker Prize
The Guardian opens up nominations for the 3rd annual Not the Booker Prize today. Clearly I am biased, but this now ranks among my favourite literary prizes for it’s sheer anarchic energy. The first year of the prize unleashed a frenzy of block voting in the longlist stage, and gave us Sam Jordison’s review of JamesContinue reading “Not the Booker Prize”
Flash fiction is not the future
Here is a fact that us writers are struggling to wrap out heads around. Content is no longer in scarce supply. There will be more content generated in the time it takes me to type this sentence than any of us could consume in a lifetime. Putting content in to the world doesn’t make youContinue reading “Flash fiction is not the future”
Oh please GOD no STOP writing! (so much)
There’s a terrible meme emerging from the internet writing community. It arises from good intentions and common sense, and like most examples of common sense applied to complex situations it is utterly, utterly wrong. You can see this meme at work in the debate around publishing a book a year following Steph Swainston‘s retirement fromContinue reading “Oh please GOD no STOP writing! (so much)”
Tell don’t show
I want you to tell me a story. I want to hear your voice like a whisper coming up from the page even though you are thousand miles or a hundred years away. I want you to command my attention like a master storyteller bringing a hall full of rowdy warriors to silence with aContinue reading “Tell don’t show”
Pick me! Pick me!
“Employees wait to be picked for promotion, or to lead a meeting or to speak up at a meeting. ‘Pick me, pick me’ acknowledges the power of the system and passes responsibility to someone to initiate. Even better, ‘pick me, pick me’ moves the blame from you to them. If you don’t get picked, it’sContinue reading “Pick me! Pick me!”
Damien Walter 