Okay, so I’m probably a total freak, but I love structure. This is what gets me through first drafts (which I loathe). It’s what makes a nebulous idea sort itself out in my head. There are some wonderful books on structure out there, and I’d advise you to heed the wise words of writers much […]
Category > Writing
A Novel in Ninety Days
When I started my first novel in 2009, I emailed my mentor Diana Rowland and told her I was writing 1000 wds a day and was that enough? I remember her saying, “1000 words is good, but you might want to try for more.†That set me off on a new mission to write 1500 […]
Have Deadline, Will Travel.
Earlier this summer, as I packed to go to the cabin with my family, I nestled my laptop and portable wacom tablet between my hiking shoes and s’mores. During that weekend in the mountains I was able to carve out an hour or so every day, between hiking and hanging out, to get some drawing […]
Writing in Retrograde?
In recent weeks, there has been much speculation on the internet over the announced sale of Weird Tales and what that means for the future of weird fiction. Surely, the loss of Ann Vandermeer at the helm of a very successful magazine stings more than just a bit, and has caused many to worry […]
I Love You, Hon, Will You Critique This For Me?
Writing partners and romantic partners? Best of both worlds or trap? That’s pretty much going to vary on a case-by-case scenario. However, there are many well-known couples who collaborate on projects. The Girl Genius creators, who finally withdrew themselves from Hugo eligibility so that someone else could win, are an excellent example. However, since every […]
Critical reading means criticizing your reading
Today we are lucky enough to have a guest post by Robert Jackson Bennett, the Shirley Jackson award-winning author of MR. SHIVERS. His second novel, THE COMPANY MAN, is out now, as is his first published short story, “A Drink for Teddy Ford” in the BROKEN TIME BLUES anthology. He currently lives in Austin, Texas, […]
Folding Socks w/Nick Mamatas
The Inkpunks have asked me to discuss my fiction-writing process, which struck me as an odd request. The process one uses to write fiction hardly matters as far as the end result goes. One may as well ask how writers fold their socks. Do they roll them up in balls, just lay them flat, fold […]
A thousand words
I had a conversation recently about world building, and if it was more effective to make up places stitched together from real ones, like Capital City or Metropolis, or to take an existing one and make subtle changes to fit the story. I argued that, when writing a story set in the modern world, that […]
Fuel
What’s your writing fuel? Whenever I hear that question, I think of a big mug of black coffee perched precariously by the keyboard or an IV drip of tea plugged right into a vein. Some writers might suggest a good bar of dark chocolate (with sea-salt on top) or a ginormous hunk of pie. In […]
Control the spice of your universe
Let’s talk about sandworms. Whoah. Those are some pretty amazing monsters. They grow to the size of mountains; they live in an inhospitable desert where barely anything else can survive; they hunt via vibrations; they secrete mind- and body-altering drugs that change the shape of an entire universe. Whoah. Nice monster, Frank Herbert! There’s […]
