I have a friend. No, really, I do. To protect the innocent, I’ll say his name is Don Muchow. You might recognize the name, but I assure you, it is almost coincidental. Okay, somewhat almost…ish. …
From time to time you hear authors being asked why they chose to self-publish. Preferring to maintain creative control is the most common answer. But what does this really mean, creative control? Talking to the Galaxy of Authors webpage, the author…
There's a classic scene in the movie That Thing You Do in which a rising band of young Beatlesque rock musicians, promised a meeting with Play-Tones record company president Sol Siler, played by Alex Rocco. In that scene, one of the band members ste…
One of the worst things that writers do is when they TELL a reader instead of SHOWING them. In particular, I hate it when an author tells me how a character ‘feels’. They’re happy, or sad, or tired, or angry. By doing so, the au…
Ponder Sisyphus. Doomed to push a massive boulder up a steep hill, only to have it roll down again. Every time. Every. Time. What’s that got to do with creativity? First: Creativity is hard work. It may seem easy, and we may pretend it …
SELLING YOUR BOOK – Part 2 In an earlier article, SELLING YOUR BOOK – Part 1, we talked about how to market your book. But not everyone in your target audience is going to feel like buying. For some people, it won't be the right time, o…
Selling Your Book So you’ve finished writing your science fiction novel and now you’re ready to release it to the world. The good news is that for the most part, it’s an end to long hours spent checking for problems with grammar, …
I tend to write what is known as “hard SF”, that is, science fiction that is technically accurate, or as accurate as I can make it while taking a wink at things like Time Travel and Faster Than Light travel. With a few exceptions like t…
I am assuming you are a writer, or want to be. If you have yet to launch yourself into the darkness called writing, and have been putting it off for whatever reason(s) your mind can …
If you’ve been known as a writer among more than two persons for at least 19 minutes, you have been asked: “Where do you get your ideas?” Or you may have been asked the passive-aggressive &…
By Gil Schmidt Because if we don’t write, we don’t feel complete. Because writing gives us satisfaction like nothing else does. Because writing is a constant challenge and meeting it is our form of defiance. Because calling o…
Golfers avoid saying “shank”. During a no-hitter, the team whose pitcher is flirting with history refuses to acknowledge what is happening. And among writers, people who will often talk about anyth…
A lot of ideas for writers come from the unconscious. Ideas will oftimes surface as passing thoughts, unbidden and unexpected. While focusing on one endeavor, a thought will pop into your mind that is totally and abruptly out of place, intriguing a…
I have only met a few really evil people in my life. One of them was a superior at a Fortune 500 company… a VP who was ruthless and cutthroat. He lied to people, He managed to set up and blame others for his mistakes, sabotaged competing …
A Writer’s Inner Dialogue That is the third cliché this page. Are you really a writer? “Shut up.” You call that characterization? You’re making that guy as flat as the paper you will ruin printing this out. “…
I’ve seen too many times the erroneous command to find your writing style as if it were a misplaced twenty or a lost puppy. You don’t find your writing style; you create it. The first tip is to HAVE a writing style. Here we should prob…
For the uninitiated or for followers of different genres, such as Romance, Mystery, or Biographies, Science Fiction seems like its own distinct genre. However, those who read much Science Fiction soon realize that there are several categories of SF …
