It was at the Illustration Masters Class where I first heard Greg Manchess declare that there is no such thing as talent. A rather startling premise to tell a bunch of aspiring artists. But no, Greg stated that artistic skill “is built, not possessedâ€, created by hard work and training. I wonder about this idea, […]
Category > Going Pro
Working With An Agent: Personality Counts (guest post by Mercedes Yardley)
Today’s guest post comes from the talented, kind, and very lovely Mercedes Yardley! She graciously made our blog a stop on her tour promoting her new short story collection, Beautiful Sorrows, which you should probably go buy and then devour like a box of tiny dark chocolates. Me: Hello, Brilliant Agent? Brilliant Agent: Hello, Talented […]
On Gatekeepers and Making Our Own Rules
My SF-writing dreams are as traditional as they can get. I want to make a living by selling my fiction to publishers. I long to see my name nestled with other SF-award nominees, on the cover of Asimov’s, on the New York Times Bestseller list, and on the shelf of the local bookstore. The […]
Write a Bad Book
Earlier this year, I finished my third novel. After feedback from different beta readers, I’ve decided I need to start over from scratch, keeping the same premise and main characters, but making a lot of major changes. Am I discouraged? Hell, yeah. Do I want to just be done with it and be published already? […]
The World According to Lou
Lou Anders is the editorial director of Prometheus Books’ science fiction and fantasy imprint Pyr as well as several anthologies. He’s been nominated for multiple awards multiple times, including the Locus Awards, Shirley Jackson Award, Philip K. Dick Award, Chelsey Award, World Fantasy Award and the Hugo Award. He’s won the Chesley Award and […]
Guest post from Vylar Kaftan: Submission statistics and revision habits
Today we bring you Part 2 of Vylar Kaftan’s ultra-nerdy guest post on her submissions data. This post originally appeared on her blog. Thanks again to Vylar for letting us repost it here! I’m often asked about when to revise rejected stories, and whether I change stories before sending them to another market. Previously I […]
Guest Post – Literary Mercenaries: Is Media Tie-In Writing Right For You?
James L. Sutter returns to Inkpunks today with a guest post on writing media tie-ins. Feel free to ask James any questions in the comments. Thanks for your contribution, James! Literary Mercenaries: Is Media Tie-In Writing Right For You? by James L. Sutter As writers of fiction, most of us follow a time-honored pattern […]
The Benefits of Being a Hack (Or: Why You Don’t Want to Be Ted Chiang)
Today’s guest post comes from writer and editor James L. Sutter, whose anthology Before They Were Giants should be on every writer’s bookshelf. Thanks for contributing, James! There’s a thing that happens to me a lot, which I’ll bet happens to you as well. I’ll get a story idea–whether driving to work, talking science with […]
The Dos and Don’ts of Your Online Presence
You’ve heard it before: Fake it ’til you make it. In a larger sense this means that if we want to be viewed as professionals, we need to act like professionals. In this particular instance, we can use it as a guide toward how to comport ourselves online. Eventually we are going to make that […]
Lessons From the Slush Pile: Your Cover Letter and You
The following is a slightly modified repost from my personal blog, http://inkhaven.net. Submitting to short fiction markets can be very scary for newcomers, and there is a whole lot of confusing advice out there. I’m here to help. First, though: you guys with the long lists of publications, who have your editors on your Christmas […]
