They will not force us…They will not control us…Rise up and take the power back! How many of you have read Northern Lights? (that’s The Golden Compass to you northamericaners.) Remember those animal daemons that followed the characters around? They were human souls made manifest. I sometimes picture our Muses in a similar fashion, except […]
Category > Writing
Guest Post: Surviving A Critique Without Killing Yourself, Or Even Other People, by Ferrett Steinmetz
In the past three years, Ferrett Steinmetz became bishopual, and became revitalized. In June of 2008, he went to the the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and then Viable Paradise in 2009 – and they supercharged him, allowing him to publish seventeen stories since then. (It should be noted that in twenty years’ of effort before that, […]
Aspiration to Perspiration: Making Time to Write
One of the most common complaints from aspiring writers is that they “don’t have time to write.†It’s true that life has a way of filling up your time with things both mundane and important. Your job is stressful and you’re working lots of OT. Kids. Family obligations. Opportunities to see friends you haven’t seen […]
Famously Rejected
As writers we spend a lot of time doubting ourselves. Are we talented enough? Is this idea terrible? Will everyone hate it? Would a publisher ever want it? That’s before we even send it out. Then the question becomes, how many rejections can I take? I thought my background of competing* and getting up on […]
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 […]
Awareness and Writing
Disclaimer: I do not claim to be someone who knows. I only claim to be someone who tries. This post is addressed to all writers. Even the ones who don’t think this applies to them. Because, however much we try, we will always make mistakes. The world is really diverse, and I mean, really diverse. […]
Know your markets
I occasionally overhear part of a conversation where someone mentions Duotrope and the other person admits that they’d never heard of it before before. What? I think to myself, How can you not know the holy grail of market research known as Duotrope? Then I remember that all knowledge is subjective and that, one day, […]
Naming Your Characters
Tales have often told of the great power behind our names and that giving someone your name can allow them mastery over you. J.K. Rowling’s villain is only referred to as You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, for fear the mere mention of his name, Voldemort, would bring his wrath. It’s no wonder then, as writer’s we often […]
Getting Started: The Hardest Part
Getting started is hard. In fact, I’ll even admit to having had a hard time starting this blog post. I procrastinated in every way I could: attending to other projects, watching Youtube videos (even horrible ones, I’ll spare you a link), cleaning, tweeting, talking on the phone, exercising, etc. I knew I had to write […]
On SpecFic Writers as Visionaries and Mystics
Among my people, girls born blind were sometimes apprenticed to mediums. When they first bled, they entered into a long initiation of hard labor, sleep deprivation and exposure to the cold to force their sight into Anoyo, the Other World. Then they traveled on foot from village to village, and the poor folk would gather […]
