i’m working on a new story, this one for the end-of-year-holiday anthology for Dreamspinner. I have a great concept, but as I’m writing it, something just isn’t right. What do y’all do when a story just isn’t flowing the way you thought it would? What are your tips and tricks for getting things back on track?
It’s been a big week for my nascent writing career. I’ve been making contact with some great gay writers on FB, making plans to put together an online writing group and queer writers’ community, and just submitted my next story, Translation, to Dreamspinner for consideration for an anthology they are doing. It’s always a bit nerve-wracking to wrap up and submit a story – is it ready? Is it in the right format? Did I miss any errors? Will they like it? But it’s done. And two and a half months before the deadline! Now I can move on to … Read more
Found this great post on medium.com: Sci fi has a problem with gay and lesbian characters. This is especially true of TV science fiction, but print is almost as guilty, and most games with a sci fi flavour are exercises in testosterone-fueled head-stomping (which, while good fun, does not generally make for nuanced or diverse characters). I can probably name on the fingers of maybe both my hands the number of gay or lesbian characters I’ve come across in the genre as a whole, across all media. For a category of fiction predicated on imagining worlds stranger than and off … Read more
I’ve just about completed my next short story – “Translation”. It’s the first story I’ve written in a long time that has no paranormal or sci fi twist – just a fairly straightforward gay romance. Well, there is a twist, but not my usual Faery or alien sort of thing – instead it’s more of a plot twist – or two. It was a bit strange writing something like this without my usual seasoning of sci fi. I haven’t yet decided if I liked it, though I’m fairly happy with the story itself. “Translation” is for submission to a forthcoming … Read more
I’ve been working on a few stories for submission to Dreamspinner – a gay romance publisher. Most of them have had a bit of a sci fi twist – but my latest one, Translation, is a straight-ahead mainstream romance short. It’s a little weird for me – I enjoyed writing it, but I missed having the twist. I’m not sure that I enjoy writing mundane fiction, even if it is gay-themed. I finished my second draft and sent it off to several people (including my hubby) for review – so far one rave. We’ll see if Mark likes it. Now … Read more
Just submitted The Bear at the Bar – the first story I’ve written specifically for an anthology. It’s adifferent experience for me to write something to order – not good, not bad – just different. Normally, I start off with a sentence and see where it goes. This time I started off with a whole concept. Now the waiting begins. I’m trying to get enough short stories going that I can submit them one after the other out there – once one comes back, another goes out to the same source. And eventually I will get one published. It’s working … Read more
My husband Mark just finished reading my new story The Bear in the Bar and he loved it. Doing a happy dance – Mark reads a lot of gay fiction, so if he likes it, it’s good! While it ‘s not, strictly speaking, sci fi, there is a supernatural Freaky Friday element to it. I’ll get it off to B.g. Thomas for consideration for his Bear anthology for Dreamspinner. In other news, I got my 15th story rejection – this one for Seedling, the first part of the Aurora cycle of novellas – the precursor to my novel rewrite. Don’t … Read more
At the moment, I’m working on three separate pieces. All of them are short stories, though two verge on being novellas. The first is Oberon, my love story on a foreign world that’s been split in two. I’m having a lot of fun working with Jameson, a shy geologist, and Xander, a leather-wearing wingman with a lust for danger. The second is my background series on Forever – my novel I wrote and sent out maybe 15 years ago (to a chorus of rejections) – I’m writing a group of novellas that lay out (for me and the reader) the … Read more
I’m coming back to writing after a long pause – and I’m wondering if I’ve still got it. I picked up some old story fragments – ideas I started but never completed – and one was pretty damn good – I can say that as I was reading it with fresh eyes after something like 15 years. But for me, it’s not as straightforward as sitting down and banging out 1,000 words. Instead, the creativity takes a bit of a circuitous path. Over the last few months, I’ve found out I work best having 2 or 3 stories going at … Read more
My name is J. Scott Coatsworth, and I’ve been a writer since birth. I’ve never published much (yet) but have always had a passion for reading and writing sic fi. I’m also gay, and happily married to my husband after 21 years together. Now it’s time to bring those two halves of my life together. I am actively writing again for the first time in fifteen years, and I’m diving deep into the intersection of fantasy-sci fi and being gay. Not sure where all this will lead me just yet, but here goes. Hope you enjoy the journey with me.