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Writers

Your Own Personal Sea Monkey Kit

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Today’s topic comes to us from QSF member Jim Comer: “Constructed cultures”. So I’m going to take this one and run with it. Anyone who grew up when I did, in the 70s and 80s, probably remembers sea monkeys. They were these amazing little critters featured in the back of comic books that you could order for a nominal fee. You would receive a kit that you could put into an aquarium, and instantly have your own little kingdom of “sea monkeys.” The ads showed these cute little creatures breathing air underwater with a castle in the background, often with … Read more

Buwahaaaahaaaahaaaa…

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Today’s topic was submitted by QSF Member RW Urbina: “Do villains deserve redemption? Or how evil is too evil when writing the big bad? It’s something I’ve been struggling with during the last month.” I have to admit, I’ve struggled with this little bit too. I have a hard time writing villains. I want all of my characters to be happy and friendly and nice. And I realize that this can make for very dull characters. But I think it comes from my near-pathological desire to have everyone like me. The other problem I often see is that many villains … Read more

Finding the Perfect Ending

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I’m on the home stretch of my latest story, closing in on the final two scenes. I actually plotted this one out fairly carefully from the get-go – a first for me. And while I didn’t stick to the plot summary exactly, the general outlines do apply. So I have a pretty good idea of where I’m going for the ending. But the exact nature of it is still a little bit of a mystery to me. Ideally, an ending will take everything that came before and suddenly put it into focus, giving the reader that “aha” moment, or at … Read more

Writing a Transgender Character

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I’ll start by saying that I’m not transgender. I am a gay man, and so to a limited extent, I think I can relate to someone who is transgender – at least in terms of struggling with something inside of me that’s different – and with society’s reaction to it. But I’ve always imagined that coming out as transgender must be like coming out as gay or lesbian, times ten. In my writing career, I’ve mostly stuck to writing straight characters and gay men. But I’m starting to challenge myself to write in some of the other parts of the … Read more

The Amazing, Expanding, Oozing Plot Line

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As I mentioned last week, I’m embarking on a new project – a novella that I want to hit a certain length, and need to finish by a certain date. A date that’s coming up all too quickly. So for the first time in my little writer life, I’ve actually sat down and plotted out the whole thing, scenes and all. It’s a new experience for me, as I usually fly by the seat of my pants. I’m finding that I rather like having the structure. But two scenes in, I’ve already been surprised by several things that happened. They’ve … Read more

Building a Magical (Gay) World

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QSF member Edmond Manning has graciously allowed us to cross-post this one, which originally appeared on RJ Scott’s blog: I have always loved fairy tales. I love stories sculpted out of ancient prophecy and malicious curses, magic healing tears and quests to recapture jewel-encrusted chalices. The problem is that I always wanted to believe in these stories but I had a hard time letting go of reality and explanations. What powers the spells? How does a 900 lb. unicorn fly through the sky on such delicate, prissy wings? How exactly do you make the jewel-encrusted chalice so that it doesn’t … Read more

I’m Just a Regular Guy (In a Wolf’s Body)

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I’m wrapping up a short story about spaceman and wolf shifters, and one of the things that’s come up during the writing of the story is how wolves (or at least shifter wolves) think and act while they are in Wolf mode versus how they think and act in human mode. For instance, in some shifter stories the human mind is entirely subsumed by the Wolf mind, and the shifter acts entirely is an animal, or almost entirely, when in Wolf mode. In other stories, the Wolf is essentially a human in wolf form. And of course there are all … Read more

Writing in Another Land

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Okay, so we’ve talked about writing a different kind of person than you actually are – maybe you’re a straight woman writing gay romance. Or maybe you’re a gay man writing a transgender character. Or someone in Iceland trying to imagine the experience of someone in South Africa. That last one gets to today’s point. There’s an old adage – “write what you know.” But so often, we are challenged to write things and places that we don’t know it all, especially in science fiction, fantasy and paranormal. And these often require research to get the details right. Recently I … Read more

Preferring to Perfectly Plan My Plot

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I’ve been writing for a long time. I mean, like a really long time. I wrote my first short story when I was in fourth grade, and submitted it to a contest at the University of Arizona. It won, and you can probably still see it somewhere in the dusty archives there. In my teens, I embarked upon my writing career in earnest. But I had one big problem. I didn’t like to plot out my stories. Instead, I like to be surprised by what might happen next, like my readers. So I would sit down in front of a … Read more

To Be Takei

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A gay sci fi icon is profiled in a new documentary: The third feature-length project from filmmaker Jennifer M. Kroot, whose previous endeavors include the 2003 sci-fi/fantasy Sirens of the 23rd Century and the 2009 biographical doc It Came from Kuchar, details the professional achievements, political activism, and personal life of Takei, who proves to be as accomplished as he is downright likable. The weight with which Kroot approaches the three principal aspects of Kroot’s life tends to vary, leaning in favor of his work for gay rights, but we find ourselves duly engrossed in his personal and professional stories … Read more