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Writers

What the Frak?

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: “Profanity from books and conworlds – The swearwords in my made-up worlds tend to be very odd, such as “Puyurh baVasola”, which means “By the Flames of Paradise!”, or “Chochvort ve’amet!”, or “Go fuck a house-ape!” (um, those are in two different made-up languages, but I think you see what I mean).” So I thought it would be fun to take a look at swearing in theoretical worlds. I loved when Anne McCaffrey used “shards’ (form the idea of dragon’s eggs) as one of her curse words in the Dragonriders of Pern books. … Read more

Moving Beyond MM in Fantasy, Sci Fi and Paranormal

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I know I came to the party a little late. I’ve been writing since I was in my early years, and really made a go of it in my early twenties. But then after a string of rejections, I put things on the back burner, and didn’t really pull it off again until about a year ago. I’m now in my mid-forties. I always kind of figured that I would do some of my best writing at this point in my life, when I had more life experience under my belt. So anyhow, the party. As I’ve gotten more and … Read more

Writing Bad Characters

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: “What does one do when everyone is evil? How to handle narratives when “good” is solely defined through POV”. I’m gonna tackle a particular piece of this, and Hank can jump in and steer things his own way too. The best “evil” characters, IMHO, are often the ones who don’t know they are bad, who truly believe in the (usually tragically wrong) cause they are supporting. This allows the writer to create a more complex villain – see Disney’s retelling of the Sleeping beauty tale in Maleficent, a character who did terrible … Read more

Plot Bunny Time

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Hi all, I thought we’d have a little fun today. I know all you writers constantly have lots of plot bunnies at your feet (probably playing with the dust bunnies down there, but that’s a different story). So let’s unleash some of them into the world – maybe they will find a loving home. Readers, feel free to jump in too. What are some of your wild, fun, silly, deadly serious, never-gonna happen, or just plain average ideas for a sci fi, fantasy or paranormal story? Extra points for an LGBT tie in. Please mind the bunnies underfoot.

Letting Go of Your Work

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I just finished the third (and final) draft of my latest work – a 24k novella that mixes Faery elements with post-global warming San Francisco. It was fun to write – as I’ve mentioned before, it’s the first time I’ve sat down and plotted out – from start to finish – an entire work. And then (pretty much) followed my outline. But now I’m at the end. As I look it over, I’m fairly satisfied. But then I think… is the language ok? Do I need to research the mythology a little more? Is the dialogue good? All these little … Read more

QSF’s First Annual Flash Fiction Contest

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Hi all, Today we’re announcing our first annual Flash Fiction Contest. For our purposes, we’re defining Flash Fiction as 300 words or less. Stories can be Sci Fi, Fantasy, or Paranormal, or any combination of the three. The theme? Endings – something that’s ending, whether it’s a life, an era, a relationship, a planet, a world, a society, an idea. So be creative – come up with something that wows us in a short space – stories must be no longer than 300 words (not including title) and must fit the theme. Fiction with or without an LGBT romance. HEA … Read more

Paying Markets for LGBT Fiction

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Today’s topic is from QSFer Bob Hole: “Paying markets we may not have heard of, especially short stories.” There are so many great publishers out there doing journals and anthologies and novellas and full-length novels in LGBT genres. I’d nominate the new MCB Quarterly from our own Angel Martinez and friends. So what other great paying venues do y’all know about for LGBT work?

Dismantling the Closet Door

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Today’s topic comes from one of our QSFers, but I have to apologize – I misplaced the name of the person who submitted this one – if you wanna come forward, I’ll happily give you credit. Nevertheless, it’s a great topic: “Are we past telling ‘coming-out’ stories? Are we past ‘being LGBT makes you a pariah’ stories? Do we need new sources of dramatic tension?” LGBT stories in general have gone through some historic periods. In the fifties and early sixties, they were all about how terrible it was to be gay – the repercussions in society once you were … Read more

World Building Tricks and Tools

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer Conlangs: “World building.” We’ve talked about this before, but it’s one of my favorites – especially for sci fi or fantasy. Today I wanna break it down a little. As a whole, this generally means creating a convincing, immersive experience – when it’s done well, you feel like you are inside the author’s world, and no matter how strange or futuristic (or fantastic), it works. Some of my favorite sci fi and fantasy worlds for their immersive qualities are (in no particular order) Majipoor, Pern, Middle Earth, Dune, The Land, and Shannara (ok, … Read more

Writing the Future

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Andrew Sullivan at the Dish flagged this great piece by David Mitchell: When you’re writing about the future, you simply try to work out what people in that future point will be taking for granted. In The Bone Clocks, there are two future sections. 2025 one is only about 11 years away–there’s just a few gizmos about the place and we’re basically there already. In the 2040s, however, more dramatic changes have taken place. There’s no more oil–or very little oil left. So you think about what people at that point will be taking for granted about travel, about the … Read more