Posts under ‘Writing’

About a month ago I asked for advice on learning more about literary criticism, especially as pertains to science fiction. I promised I’d summarize the results.
Jess left a very good comment, discussing different forms of criticism and a few resources. She also pointed out the essay collection Bringing the Devil to His Knees: The Craft [...]

My attention has been pulled in a thousand different directions lately, and writing has suffered the most. Not much blogging, very little fiction. Much pondering of fiction though. I seem to have developed some sort of process for long pieces of fiction.

Come up with an idea: a setting, a scene, a person, a phrase.
Write [...]

Mr. Alexander looked up at the office building. Surely that was new? He glanced at Ms. Sharp, walking beside him. Ms. Sharp was unperturbed. Should he ask her about the large gray metal box, with the three turrets and smokestack? He was certain that it hadn’t been there earlier this week. It looked like the [...]

November is NaNoWriMo, and that’s a good thing. Taking up that challenge in 2005 was was got me back into writing fiction. But that level of intensity in November just isn’t possible for me most years. It’s no longer an incredibly busy time at work thanks to some agency-wide reorganization, but I’m still personally very [...]

Patrick Rothfuss talks about writing as work, at some length, and with plenty of snark aimed at people who think that it’s a trivial process.
He even uses a string analogy!

I’m tired of trying to juggle everything: the plotlines, the character arcs, the realistic depiction of a fantastic world, the pacing, the word choice, the tension, [...]

I’m working on a second-world fantasy novel. The worldbuilding is enormously fun, and also enormously challenging. I have the basics down, but am continuing to refine the details.
The big stuff: geography, climate, major political structures. These are the background to the whole thing (and not independent - geography affects climate, and both affect climate [...]

That’s a bit better: 675 words of new fiction. Then I got interrupted twice, and lost all momentum. But that ends a scene, so its okay. Sort of.
To distract you from my lack of astounding progress (rather than astounding lack of progress; that was yesterday): a writing article. That would be two links if I [...]

Dear World,
I haven’t written a word of fiction since the beginning of September. Lots of thinking about fiction, planning of fiction, research and note-taking, but the butt has not been in the chair. In my ideal world, I would be writing every day. But I don’t live in my ideal world, unfortunately, and I must [...]

To Amsterdam. Be back in a while.
For your entertainment while you wait, a short fiction contest.
And also, gorgeous old microscope slides.

Dear Self,
I know you’re excited, enthusiastic, a bit manic even. I understand that you want to drop everything to tackle this new project. I’m sure it’s the best idea ever, far exceeding sliced bread and possibly even better than the fresh garden salsa we made today.
But Self, and I know you realize this and [...]