Blog Entries for scififan

Ways to kick start your writing sessions

scififan

Hey all — a few tips, for blog writing in particular, but I thought they'd be applicable to writing of all kinds — here you go!

Blogging can bring your business exposure, credibility, and whole lot more revenue - so it's in your best interest to deliver a steady stream of powerful writing. But for a lot of us, that's a tall order. If you're finding your creative juices running a little dry, this list of quick and easy tips is sure to get them flowing again. < [...]

How to Write a Book�The Short Honest Truth

scififan

Every author I know gets asked the same question: How do you write a book? Scott provides simple, basic information about writing and book and links to more practical advice.

It's a simple question, but it causes unexpected problems. On the one hand, it's nice to have people interested in something I do. If I told people I fixed toasters for a living, I doubt I'd get many inquires. People are curious about writing and that's cool and flattering. Rock on.

But on the [...]

Whitley Strieber's interesting history!

scififan

Well, I was re-reading a cool book - one that I remember from my early 20s called "Nature's End" by James Kunetka and Whitley Strieber, lo and behold I discover that one of the authors, Streiber, has revealed the greatest unknown fear from his life with a book published back in 1988 called Communion: A True Story.

I didn't know this, but it was on the New York Times bestseller list for seven months after publication.

It is the implausible story of his having bee [...]

This weblog is rated G

scififan

Haha... Just found this neat little thing while travelling the inter-web...

Click here to find out what your blog is rated. I am like that Disney channel. Maybe I should write some tougher posts.

Contest success

scififan

Just found out I won a short story contest today — in a local journal. There were 132 entries.

*DRUMROLL*

I placed first! I am so totally pumped. I got high marks from the judges and lots of helpful comments to polish the story up. So I'm going to do just that and send it in for the Writer's Digest Short Short Story contest. I've thought about it several times, just haven't actually worked up the nerve to do it. But now I think I can.

So now I'm pus [...]

Stopping in to say hello!

scififan

I've pretty much not had internet access the last couple of weeks. Obviously I haven't posted much, though there seems to be interesting things happening.

I am still here though, and following goings-on as best I can. In some ways I'm really enjoying being unplugged for a couple of weeks.

I'm taking a little vacation right now, in the last six months, I've started a job, resigned, been unemployed, started another job, moved into a new apartment an [...]

My Writing Group

scififan

On Monday night, I went to a book launch. One of the members of my group, published her second book of short stories. Short fiction is a tough market to get into because it's so small.

There's something satisfying about seeing a project go from conception to published book, to hear the drafts, and to make suggestions, however small, along the way. That's one thing I like about creative writing groups-hearing someone suggest something and seeing the possibilities. I also lik [...]

A quick review of Why Do Men Have Have Nipples

scififan

Mark Leyner is one of my favourite authors, but I've never read anyting non-fictional from him. Until now that is. A friend lent me Why Do Men Have Nipples?

Here's Vintage's (the publisher) description:

Compiled by Billy Goldberg, an emergency medicine physician, and Mark Leyner, bestselling author and well-known satirist, Why Do Men Have Nipple [...]

Sci-Fi on the defense!

scififan

This is the best sci-fi related news I've read all day! Sci-fi Writers Pournelle and Niven have more imagination and brainpower in their fingernails than the Department of Defense!

Pournelle especially. The man's resume' and collaborations are a "who's who" of modern strategic warfare. Google "Project Thor" or "A Step Farther Out" to see an example of how these people think about real-world problems. Or just go to Pournelle's [...]

Aussie Comedy-SciFi Writer Wins American Literary Award

scififan

Got a recommendation for you folks , really something different. It's from Australian comedy science fiction writer Ian Taylor, author of the popular Spindle series, has just won the 2007 Indie Excellence Award for Science Fiction. Spindle, the 2005 comedy science fiction novel by Ian Taylor, has won the 2007 Indie Excellence Award in the Science Fiction category.

Spindle tells the story of Peter Turner, a 22nd-century Earth guy who joins the Space Force, expecting an exciting [...]

Cryptonomicon hurts my brain

scififan

Scifi and fantasy are my greatest loves when it comes to what I read, admittedly, however, there is a hell of a lot of science fiction and and fantasy that I simply don't understand.

A lot of it seems to center aroung the technology or science and the characters play second fiddle-that's just not the way it's supposed to work. I prefer a story that take seriously cha [...]

Writer's block

scififan

Well, I beleive I am suffering from writer's block. And that has resulted in very little posting online, or any desire to post to my weblog. Nothing interesting to post. While it lasts at least, when I am on the Internet, I'm catching up on my favorite weblogs. So I imagine it isn't time wasted anyway.

So, summer is here! The last few days around here have been amazing. Sunday it was like 65! I'm so happy to be finally be able to throw open the shutters and let breeze ro [...]

A quick exercise

scififan

When marathoner Roger Bannister (now knighted!) crossed an Oxford finish line on a windy day in 1954, he was certain he had achieved a four-minute mile.

The rest of the world, however, was amazed. The previous record had stood for nine years and writers of the time had created a myth around the four-minute mile. They had made their readership believe it was an unreachable and possibly even dangerous goal.

So what does this have to do with my writing? Just as the media in the fifties ha [...]

My dirty secret: Multiple submissions

scififan

I have a confession to make. When I am planning to submit a story for publication, I always submit to five publications at a time. I could tell you again and again how slowly some magazines respond, so I ignore (sorry editors!) the request to avoid multiple submissions. When an editor holds and then later rejects, a submission after 3 years, one learns quickly that one must look out for themselves. I have been told that they are lost, won't be retuned (after keeping my SASE), that they [...]

Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451

scififan

I was watching the Movie Network Saturday morning and saw for the first time the 1967 film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I had never seen it before. Directed by Francois Truffaut, this little unpretentious movie cleverly depicts Bradbury's vision. They have newspapers, but they are comics without words, merely pictures or images, much like the television in each family's living roo [...]

Webby Award winners

scififan

This year's Webby Award winners have been announced. You can find the full winners list here. I just chose a few of the award-winners and nominees in a few of the media-related categories, that might be of interest.

Guides: Yelp.com (Webby) CNet (People's Voice) Humor: The Onion (Both) Magazine: MediaStorm (Webby) Salon.com (People's Voice) Music: Last.fm (Both) News: BBC News (Both) Newspaper: Guardian (Webby) NYTimes.com (People's Voice) Television: Current.tv ( [...]

Writer's Group

scififan

I should probably start thinking about joining a writer's group to keep me disciplined during the summer months. Early on, colleagues had invited me to join groups, but I always declined because I didn't feel that I was at that stage yet. I wanted to focus on my own writing, and not have to devote time to reading other people's work-aside from the novels I was already reading.

I was considering a group based near my home. In addition to its regular monthly meeting, it splits [...]

In the mailbox...

scififan

I always get a really deep sinking feeling when I get my SASE's back—my gut drops out. Today I got two, one from a spec fiction magazine, and another from a speculative literature agent. But, to my surprise, both were requests—not acceptances, of course, but requests to see more work! The latter is actually from the literary agent's assistant, who passed the query along to another agent who wants the full ms. No more sinking feelings after all!

On an unrelated n [...]

Finally making some great progress ...

scififan

Finally making some great progress on several projects. I suspected this might happen; I got a lot of writing done today.

One of strongest points as a writer is that I can write excellent action sequences-coupled with the software I blogged about before, this has mean I can concentrate on the action of the scene, rather than the plot or character (I've loosely plotted beforehand). I can see thse scenes played out in my head, and when I get down to writing, it's like I am transcr [...]

Writing Software

scififan

No, not that kind of software; I mean the kind of software that will help you with your writing. One that helps you get � and stay � organized.

For someone who writes, any little thing that may help has got to be a good thing. And this is greater than your average little thing. I can't rememebr where I found this piece of [...]