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Writers

Discussion: Using Descriptive Language

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description

Today’s topic comes from QSFer and Admin Angel Martinez: “How about descriptive language? What pet peeves do you have in authors’ descriptions in stories? (too long, certain items, certain words, etc.).” I’m on the fence with this one. One the one hand, I almost fell asleep reading one of Jean M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear books, where the devoted something like TWENTY NINE PAGES in an epic data dump describing all the plants and herbs of the prehistoric period – an apparent effort on the author’s part to show off all the stuff she had learned during her … Read more

Discussion: Creating Alien Races

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Alien

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Theo Fenraven: “How does one go about inventing a believable alien race? Where do you start? What resources do you tap?” For our purposes, it seems to me that there are two competing parts to this discussion. On the sci fi romance side, it’s necessary to have an alien race that isn’t TOO different, so they can still interact with, and fall in love with, humans. On the more strictly sci-fi side, the idea that an alien race evolving from a separate ecosystem on a planet hundreds or thousands of light years away would end … Read more

Word Nerding: Old Words We Miss

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words

Thought we’d have some fun today. As writers we generally LOVE words. And each of us has certain words we are fond of, no matter how many editors try to nix them from our writing. We were talking the other day about some of these words – specifically giveth, taketh, and thrice – and we thought it would be fun to have a chat about words that are no longer in general use that we still have a fondness for. This also applies to words like burnt (instead of burned) – although, curiously, we still say spent (not spended) and … Read more

Submissions Week: Do’s and Don’t’s

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Welcome to our first submissions week – were we’ll talk about all things submissions. This is a great opportunity for our newer authors to learn things from our veterans – how to prepare your story (whether it’s a short story, a novella, a novel, poem etc) for submission to a publisher. OK, folks, we’re at the end of our submissions week – I’m really happy with how it turned out, and we’ll do it again next year. :) The final topic is a little broad, and is a great recap for the week – what are some of the things … Read more

Submissions Week: Blurbs and Summaries

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Welcome to our first submissions week – were we’ll talk about all things submissions. This is a great opportunity for our newer authors to learn things from our veterans – how to prepare your story (whether it’s a short story, a novella, a novel, poem etc) for submission to a publisher. Today’s topic – writing blurbs and summaries. Let me start by saying that every author I know hates writing these things, but especially they hate writing blurbs. Few things a writer has to do inspire more fear and loathing. By their very nature, shortened versions of your story tend … Read more

Submissions Week: Cover Letters

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Welcome to our first submissions week – were we’ll talk about all things submissions. This is a great opportunity for our newer authors to learn things from our veterans – how to prepare your story (whether it’s a short story, a novella, a novel, poem etc) for submission to a publisher. Today, your first foot in the door. The cover letter. When you send in your work, many publishers will require a cover letter – something telling the a little bit about who you are and the story you are sending in. Many will also have guidelines for this, so … Read more

Submissions Week: Beta Readers

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Hey all, Welcome to our first submissions week – were we’ll talk about all things submissions. This is a great opportunity for our newer authors to learn things from our veterans – how to prepare your story (whether it’s a short story, a novella, a novel, poem etc) for submission to a publisher. Today we’ll tackle something many self-publishing authors neglect – having someone else proof your stuff before you publish it. They’re called “beta readers”, and they may or may not be professional editors. We’re all too close to our own work – we often can’t see the flaws, … Read more

Submissions Week: Writing Style and Grammar

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Submissions Week

Hey all, Welcome to our first submissions week – were we’ll talk about all things submissions. This is a great opportunity for our newer authors to learn things from our veterans – how to prepare your story (whether it’s a short story, a novella, a novel, poem etc) for submission to a publisher. Yesterday we tackled manuscript formatting – today we’ll tackle what’s actually in the thing. When you submit a story, you want it to be as good as it can possibly be. If you submit a perfectly formatted manuscript that is full or grammatical errors or style issues, … Read more

Discussion: Sexy Character Names

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character names

OK, I thought we’d do another fun one today. When writing, choosing names can be one of the hardest parts – coming up with great character names that help identify your character and color him/her/them in the way you want. This is especially true with sci fi, fantasy, and paranormal, where you often want an exotic sounding name that nevertheless doesn’t cross the line into absurdity. So I have three questions for you today: As a writer, how do you choose/find names for your characters when you write? As a reader, do character names ever get in the way of … Read more

Listening to Music While Reading/Writing

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Fantasy Music

When I’m writing, I often use (or create) a playlist of songs that help me get into the mood for the piece I’m writing. Sometimes it’s a particular song that has helped to inspire the story. Sometime’s it’s a genre – mournful celtic music is one that works particularly well for me – that helps me zone out of the world and into the story. On the flip side, sometimes music also helps me tune into a story I am reading. So how about you? Do you use music when you write? When you read? If so, what kind of … Read more