Category for all my writer-related stuff
The number one most common answer when I asked “What should I blog about?” was “How do I get into Analog?” This is a rather presumptuous topic, considering I am not an editor nor in any way a part of Analog magazine, but having sold my ninth piece to that Read more
Most of us drop right into the setting of a writing workshop and we’re handed some sheets of someone else’s precious, undying prose, and set to work with no more guideline than “Tell us how you feel about this story.” This … is a recipe for more hurt feelings than Read more
Vera asked me to show how I change a story from one draft to another, so she could see clearly what happens. The concrete, bones-and-sinew workings! Bad news: I do not save drafts. I edit in the same file, deleting willy-nilly until the story sells. Good news: I belong to Read more
Over the past six weeks, I pledged to write 100,000 words for the Clarion Write-a-Thon, to raise money for scholarships to attend the Clarion Science Fiction Writing Workshop. The write-a-thon was exactly like it was back in the before-times since it’s an entirely online event, which feels … nice. Check Read more
I was a little surprised it was time to do the old “end of the year” publication summary, and then I thought, somehow, I’d already done it? My story “Single Malt Spacecraft” was upvoted a few times on the Nebula recommended reading list. (Not by me, I swear!) and I Read more
Writing fiction, like any other art form, is about absorbing truths and experiences, and transferring them to your audience. We often get so focused on talking about techniques and words that we forget what it’s all in service of — namely, this transfer of an emotion I once felt to Read more
This originally appeared on John Scalzi’s Big Idea Blog on March 9th, the launch day for Galactic Hellcats. My dad’s buddies were bikers. Guys whose legal names I still don’t know, but called Froggy or Uncle Um. Their wives and girlfriends with thick mascara and wind-burned faces had motorcycles, too. Read more