Well, I keep track of Making Light, the blog by Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Haydenand all their friends and guests, and Jim Macdonald has a great post today: How to Get Published. You might have heard the advice a thousand times, but Macdonald gives it some fresh spin.
To be a writer, you must write.
Thinking about writing is not writing. Talking about writing is not writing. Pre-writing exercises are not writing. Only writing is writing.
Write every day. If you only write a page a day, at the end of a year you’ll have a novel. Read every day. If you want to be a writer, you must be a reader. If you are not a reader, perhaps being a writer is not in your future.
Write straight through to THE END.
The urge to give up, particularly in the dread Mid-Book, will be strong. The desire to go back and fix the beginning will be strong. Resist the urge. You won’t know what the beginning is until you reach the finish, and perhaps not even then.
Every synapse in your brain will be screaming “This Is Crud!” Perhaps it is. That’s okay. You can’t make a pot without clay. We’ll fix it all in the second draft. If you need permission to write badly, I grant it to you.
Note that while you will think that your writing is crud, and it may objectively be crud, you should still write to the very best of your ability.
Besides, if you give up in the middle, when and how will you learn to write endings?
Just in case you needed the kick—you still have time to submit to Tesseracts 15 by midnight Calgary Standard Time (I think). We’re all doing that up here in the Yukon in a marathon run to 11pm. Good luck to everyone. Have fun! Be creative. But be quick about it…. tempis fugit and all that.
As written by William Bradford, 1620, original pilgrim on the Mayflower, original settler of Plymouth Plantation, after the strange ordeals on the Atlantic Ocean on the way to the New World. This account is accurate to the best of the ability of the author, William Bradford, and notes the first instance of the Borg in Sector 001. Though William Bradford is aboard the ship, the reader should note that his record is of the Pilgrims, and notes their struggles, their accomplishments, in a third person, collective account.
There be no assurances in the ways and means of the Almighty God. That He is there to keep and to guide, we may be comforted, but that His methods and ways be strange, there be only the righteous account and evidence of the men and the women of the Mayflower on her journey to the New World.
When they left yon Dutch colonies, they were bound in one ship, leaving the leaky Speedwell back in port, combining the crews of the Separatists, God’s chosen, and the non-separatists, also God’s chosen, to help in the design and building and maintaining of the new colony. There be fifty men and women of God, and fifty merchant adventurers. It was crowded on the ship, and the seas rose and fell with the mercy of God. But to the blessings of God they account that none of the hundred pilgrims, for that is what they called themselves, were in pain, or in hunger, or in distress. All worshipped the Almighty, even as they tumbled and plunged on yon sea.
On the 43rd day of their voyage, the scout above in the mast spotted a floating island, shining in the sun, and this island he claimed was land, and their ship sailed towards it. The closer they came, the more curious the island became. It was not land as they knew it, but shined in the sun like gold, and the merchant adventurers were vastly curious of what created composition the Lord had made it. Others believed, however, that it was a bad sign, a false hope, a distraction from the simple quest of the new colonists, a task given to them in purity and hope and vision.
They did not know that the island was actually another ship, one perhaps capsized by the sea, whose inhabitants the good Lord had proclaimed should drown, for He saves whom He desires to save, and does not save those that are unworthy. And yet, they sailed closer. The ship, for now they knew it must be a ship, was twice as large as the Mayflower, capsized in the sea. Some of the adventurers said it had been forged of strange metal, for the base of the ship, that above the water, was curved like a perfect sphere, and the rods and cross-hatches of the metal formed a metal bowl, with the doors and the windows, and other shadowy recesses.
I got a thorough review in Temple Library Review–and so did everyone in the Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead. Read the conclusion of his review of me here, and then go to the link to find the rest. It’s really nice to have anyone review an anthology in this much depth. Thanks!
How Magnificent is the Universal Donor does what few short stories manage. It remains strong on all fronts. Well developed characters, a clever and unorthodox world and enough suspense all result in a must-read page turner. It’s a true gem that fulfills the anthology’s theme and delivers a lot more.
An awesome post for writers who are at any stage in the game–but especially those who want to take it seriously. Her advice for dealing with rejection, listening to feedback, and doing things to improve yourself, really ring true to me. Maybe they will for you too.
It’s commonly said, (among writers who do it for their living), that blood to a surgeon is like rejection to a writer — a necessary part of every day’s work. Whether a surgeon likes blood is irrelevant. Do professional writers — and ambitious amateurs — enjoy rejection? Irrelevant. It’s not a game for d … Read More
Tesseracts 15 is open for submissions with a call for young adult science fiction, fantasy and horror. NOVEMBER 30 is the deadline. Below is the call.
NOW OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
(Calgary, Alberta) EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing is delighted to announce that Tesseracts Fifteen: A Case of Quite Curious Tales, is now open for submissions.
Submissions open September 1, 2010 thru November 30, 2010.
This edition of the award winning series of original Canadian Speculative Fiction comes with a twist and touch of whimsy.
“We’ve decided to do something different with Tesseracts Fifteen.” said Brian Hades, owner of the EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing imprint. “This volume will focus on Young Adult Speculative Fiction – which can include science fiction, fantasy, and horror. However submissions must appeal to the YA audience and be PG-14 in content. As usual, Tesseracts Fifteen is open to both short fiction and poetry submissions.”
Each Tesseracts anthology since volume one (1985) has featured editors hand picked for each particular volume. For this volume,Julie Czerneda and Susan MacGregor have agreed to co-edit.
“We seek wonder and astonishment.” said the editors. “Stories that engage the imagination, inspire dreams, and leave hope in their wake.” Both Czerneda and MacGregor want all Canadian speculative fiction writers to “write what will become the classics for a new generation of readers, to be remembered, fondly, for years to come.”
A recent poll of Red State America, conservatives who either vote GOP or TEA, has confirmed the excitement that producers of the new Star Trek Series, Star Trek: Reckoning, hoped would be there. The poll also scared the socks off them, one insider says. The poll–pondering the success of a Star Trek run by conservatives, with the real, honest to gosh, Sarah Palin playing Captain Nalia Fergus of the USS Steadfast–garnered a stunning 76% of TV viewers. These are viewers who may not have ever watched a Star Trek Series in their lives—they wouldn’t know a Klingon from a Ferengi, but they know Sarah Palin and they remember Captain Kirk. And somewhere that all makes sense with them.
Rarely have TV shows done polls before they even start filming the series, but producers of ST: RECK, as it’s being called, wanted to be sure where they were going. “We didn’t want to wait for a Nielsen Rating confirmation. We needed to know who was out there.” Understand, they only polled Conservatives. All us liberal, compassionate Democrats have not been polled. They’re assuming that any Star Trek series will be embraced by the fans. (So soon forgetting Enterprise?)
Our insider, though, has gone on to reveal to us what else the Poll says–and this is what scared producers: Those conservatives polled wanted to dismantle the Exploration side of the Federation, get rid of the Prime Directive, and see a healthier number of “Americans” on board the ships. Follow up questions revealed that by “Americans,” conservatives meant “white people”. Most didn’t know that Sisko or Uhura or Tuvok were black, or that Sulu or Kim were Asian. When told, many reported that “those people” could stay, but new ships should reflect more of a “middle America” profile.
“They definitely wanted us to put Montana in space…,” said one of the writers.
You might recognize Dave Strachan as the guy who helps you with your Arctic Cat snowmobile needs at Listers Motorsports (that is not him on the cover of the book there). I know Dave more as a science fiction writer and friend. I’m THRILLED to say that Dave made it into the Inhuman anthology put out by Absolute XPress, a Direct-to-Reader press owned by Hades Publications, which specializes in scifi, fantasy, horror e-books and paper-books.
The anthology is made up of flash fiction–stories under 1000 words–part of the Flash Fiction #4 Challenge that Absolute XPress issued earlier this year. The stories discuss what it means to be human from an inhuman POV. Some stories are all from that POV, and some have characters that are inhuman chatting about humanity. I was the guest editor who helped choose the stories, but I’m proud to say that the judging was blind and that his story was chosen by all three judges. I had no idea if we were going to end up with Dave’s story in the bunch. There were a lot of great entries and we couldn’t put everyone in–but collectively we ended up choosing great stories.
Thank you, everyone who submitted. I’m proud of the stories included in the anthology. You can order the anthology on their website, or through Amazon.com.
Our very popular science fiction and fantasy writing class–aimed for 11-18 year old writers–is happening again at FH COLLINS, on Wednesdays. This year we’re concentrating on helping everyone get something finished by Christmas. Many of them are doing their own novels, but want to explore shorter fiction. We have writers who enjoy historical fantasy, dark fantasy and comedy, hard science fiction, comedic horror, urban fantasy, and just plain I-don’t-know-what-it-is-but-I’m-sure-it’s-probably-fantasy….
These are some of the coolest kids I know; very smart, well-read, and ready to explore some of the more mundane aspects of fantasy writing this year: making the fantasy more real. So we’re gonna have a lot of time spent on developing characters, description, scenes where there’s no “action” going on, and other stuff.
We meet afterschool–around 3:30 in the FH COLLINS LIBRARY till 5:00. We’re being sponsored by the City of Whitehorse. If you’re interested, contact me here–at jstueart@yahoo.com and I’ll get you set up with the City. Cost is $85 for 13 weeks of instruction, which include, of course, SNACKS. (We know that proper fantasy and science fiction can only be written with food….and we try to make it healthy–fruits, crackers, cheese, nutri-grain bars, etc. Bring your own drink)
We’ve done a lot together in our three years here—and the students are always looking to find new people to bring into the group. Come join us and be a part of a strong writing group that can read and enjoy your science fiction or fantasy.
The class is taught by me: I have a PhD in English with a specialty in Creative Writing, and am a veteran of the bootcamp for science fiction and fantasy writers, Clarion Writers Workshop, makers of many good writers. I enjoy the enthusiasm of these young writers. (This is not a class for adults, but we do have a group for adults, as well, that will be meeting Tuesday nights. )
Help! My characters have no life. Oh wait, maybe they just need to wake up.
Inceptionis a solid movie, full of complications, a lot of thrill, and most importantly, some good ideas. While it also has a couple of interesting characters in DiCaprio and Murphy, the rest of the cast fulfills their positions dutifully, easy to interchange and forget. It’s a caper film–with the majority of the movie about the caper. It uses a Matrix-like idea as a vehicle to achieve its goals. The idea is central, the science fiction secondary; but like good science fiction–the idea is enough to carry the movie.
I liked the movie, enough to see it again if the time comes to rent it on DVD or if a friend wants to see it; but I found the inconsistencies in the premise took away from the caper. How do they share freakin dreams! Plug yourself in and something determines whose consciousness you’re going to share? Doesn’t matter, the movie says— we’ll just tell you. How do they determine who will dream and who will share? Doesn’t matter, the movie says, watch what we can do with a special effect.
There’s enough infodump in the first twenty minutes to choke a horse, disguised as dialogue, interspersed with scenes of cities running amok and riots in the streets. The riots are there to make sure the ideas go down easier. “Just a spoonful of riot, makes the infodump go down…” Take a note: this is NOT how to do an infodump. We learn absolutely nothing about the characters in the first twenty minutes…only that a Molly means betrayal. Nope, we need to explain the premise….
Now, once I got past that we were rushing through the “technical” issues to get to the action (I could almost hear the movie tell me–who cares about whether or not this makes sense? We’ve got a cool thing to show you), I enjoyed the movie. But I didn’t really care about DiCaprio’s character– or empathize with his loss. Normally Ellen Page is fantastic (LOVED JUNO!) but any actress could have pulled off that role, it required so little. In some ways she, Michael Caine, and all the other actors are wasted to serve the idea….
Jeffery Overstreet has the same concerns in part one of his review of Inception. And says them better. It wasn’t so much a bad movie–as a rushed one, one that engaged your brain but not your heart–even when it was trying so desperately to do so. And the ethics involved in changing someone’s mind so illegally made DiCaprio not a very sympathetic character.
Now, back to that idea.
The BEST thing about Inception, and why everyone should see it, is about how you put an idea into someone’s head. The discussion about how you make someone believe that it was their original idea, as opposed to yours, is insightful–and will make everyone talk. The whole work to get Cillian Murphy to think this is his own idea is downright fun. And everyone in Marketing should see this. Or maybe they shouldn’t! (What might have been more interesting, but not as fun, would have been a philosophical film based on the premise–you know, in the same way that Sophie’s World merely used the least amount of plot to play with an idea.)
There is NO insight on dreaming in here. Dreams, while they can be detailed, are murky and inconsistent. They’re rarely realistic and may involve someone who looks like they are a walking shark carrying a tuba…. And as Overstreet admits too– other filmmakers have handled the surreality of dreaming SO much better. That dreams can be invaded by someone–so casually–with no idea how to operate in someone else’s dream — is really lame. As if the writer (and I like Christopher Nolan) just needed to get past some hurdles here…. to make a cool graphically conceived movie. Also, the biggest clue that you’re in a dream is that you cannot read the same text twice. It appears and changes as you’re reading it, rendering the opening premise illogical….
SPOILER: And this is the third “dreamy” film–or film which contains reality based on your own thoughts–to include a suicidal woman. What Dreams May Come, Solaris and this movie all have this as a premise… that women can’t handle their own thoughts and will take their lives, causing their husbands, every one, to come rescue them. And all three films end with that rescue leading to a kind of pseudo-paradise that the audience recognizes as delusion. (What Dreams May Come is worthy of its own review. A movie which ranks as one of my all time worst movies ever. But the ending delusion is supposed to be Heaven, so I can’t really argue with that.)
So, I found the movie a bit flat–even as the action was all revved up…. Caring about the characters, to me, was essential to enjoying the intensity of the film. If I can’t care, then I can’t care about the intense situations you put the characters into.Solaris made me care about the main two characters in their hyper-reality film; What Dreams May Come suffered from the same overblown concept with lack of character interest. Inception forgets that narrative relies not just on amazingly cool logos, but on believable pathos too.
Bear Witness 