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writing

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: What Are You Writing or Reading?

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Books

Hey all, It’s Saturday, so we thought it would be fun to have a light topic today. I’ll keep it simple. If you’re a writer, what are you working on in the speculative fiction arena? And as a reader, what are you reading? Come talk with us about it on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/qsfdiscussions/

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

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

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

Angel’s Bits: You Own a Yacht, Right?

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And other myths harmful to the new author… I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday about a friend of hers who would like to be published. Oh, yes? says I. Cool. What does he write? Turns out said friend writes LGBT Fantasy and was interested in learning about finding a publisher vs. self publishing. And here’s where the tearing of hair and sprinkling of ashes begins. Now, to be fair, Mr. Friend of Friend is new to this game. We were all new at one point, and many of us were led astray by bad information. Many of … Read more

Writing vs. Marketing

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writing and marketing

This one’s for our writers. So you’ve slaved away at your computer through sunny days and dark nights. You’ve completed your opus magnum – or at least another short story, and you’ve sent it out into the world. A publisher picked it up, and it’s gonna be on the shelves next month. Now what? As the many writers in this group know, it’s not enough just to write a good story – you also have to sell yourself, something that many of us introverted writers are inherently uncomfortable with. So here are my questions today. How much time do you … Read more

Free Work vs. Paid Work

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Pencils

Today’s topic is for our authors out there. There are so many places to submit your work these days, from traditional publishers to journals (like the MCB Quarterly) to niche presses. Some pay very well. Some pay a little. And some pay nothing at all. And with sites like Amazon, Smashwords, etc, you can also give your work away yourself for free (forever, or for a period of time). But at some point, you gotta make some money to pay for your crack… I mean, writing addiction. So where do you come down on free work vs. paid work? Have … Read more

Writing Electronically

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Pencils

Yes, I’m back, after a five-day hiatus to move to our new digs with Mark, my hubby. Angel did a bang-up job with the discussion topics these last five days, and so she’s graciously agreed to continue the tradition with a new Angel Discussion every Friday. WooHoo! Meanwhile, back at the ranch, today’s topic comes from QSFer Anastasia Vitsky: “How has the use of electronic methods for writing changed the trends in sci fi?” I’d expand this to include cloud technology and the ability to write on the fly with your smart phone or tablet. I’m updating a story that … Read more

The Midweek Mingle: From the Horse’s Mouth

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Horse's Mouth

Last week, we talked about the Big Scary Barrier for including members of the QUILTBAG+ community in the SF/F community, and right there at the end, I put it on content creators (myself included) to create more diverse characters. By doing that, there’s more for someone queer to latch onto, and that will make that person feel more welcome. But that raises the big question: how? The easy answer would be for QUILTBAG+ individuals to start creating more content, and we do see that happening more and more, both with new authors entering the field and established authors coming out … Read more