How do you write? Do you outline ahead or fly by the seat of your pants? Laura Anne Gilman has a great post up over at Fangs, Fur, & Fey regarding her writing process. One excellent point she makes is that once you're to the publishing stage, as in, you have a contract and a deadline, there's a good chance your editor will expect an outline of your ( Read more... )

Just a few things to check out as you start your week:

Scribd.com is just one of the popular web sites out there providing free, downloadable copies of many published works without the author's permission. Yes, this is illegal. Check out the Guardian article for more information, and check out the site if you're a published author ( Read more... )

A few gems from authors who are good enough to share their wisdom:

Justine Larbalestier on characterization.

Sarah Monette on voice and how to develop it for your characters.

I don't know how many of you out there read Poets & Writers magazine. If you don't, you should. It doesn't matter if you write strictly genre and think they are too literary for you or whatever, the basic information they provide is excellent, and it applies to pretty much everyone trying to get published ( Read more... )

You love books, all kinds of books, and think it would be terrific to write whatever takes your fancy. Good for you. But if you want a career in publishing--a serious career that pays real money--it is a good idea to pick a genre and stick to it. Unless you're astoundingly prolific, and can write multiple books a year (which can be spread across ( Read more... )

Conferences come and go, and so do pitches. Every conference I attend, I spend a few hours listening to authors pitch their books to me. These authors range from nervous first-timers to seasoned pros, and the ability to pitch varies accordingly. I don't hold it against someone if they're nervous, because I understand they have a lot riding on the ( Read more... )

Writer Tobias Buckell has an interesting post up about why he loves science fiction. sartorias has an interesting follow up asking readers why they read science fiction. Quite interesting. I'm always fascinated to learn why people read the genres they do. Particularly since people tend to write what they read, at least in most cases. (I'm still baffled by ( Read more... )

I took a 3-hour seminar last night on writing the young adult novel. This was completely incognito, meaning I went in as a writer and not as an agent and didn't tell anyone about that agenting part of my career. I can still do this because I've been agenting for a short enough period of time that my name hasn't really gotten out there, at least not ( Read more... )

Happy Monday, all. I've a zillion things attempting to fly off my desk, so this will be brief and a bit list-ish. Apologies ( Read more... )

In my case, one of my natural talents seems to be my strange ability to injure myself in my sleep. Woke up this morning to discover I'd managed to put my back out during the night. This after a weekend of non-strenuous activities that included dinner with friends, going to the movies, and reading. Yes. So today I spent a good amount of time away ( Read more... )