Posts under ‘Writing’

“The American academic scientist earns less than an airplane mechanic, has less job security than a drummer in a boy band, and works longer hours than a Bolivian silver miner,” notes Philip Greenspun, a humorist, pilot, prolific blogger, a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science, and a software engineering teacher at the Massachusetts Institute [...]

Dr. Peter Watts, author and marine biologist, will not be going to jail. He is however a convicted felon now and will not be allowed to return to the United States from his home in Canada.
I’ve mentioned this before, if you need a refresher.
I’m relieved that Dr. Watts received a suspended sentence, and [...]

If it’s Thursday this must be… some hotel room.
Last week was talking about science in Georgia, at my favorite annual science conference.
This week is training sessions for field sampling. Once in a great while I get lucky and get to send a national crew out to do my work for me. Sort of: it isn’t [...]

There’s a new blog in town, Science in My Fiction, devoted to getting science fiction and fantasy writers thinking about new developments in science. It’s been running for about a month, and there are some thought-provoking articles already.
My first contribution, on learning science, appeared today.
Please go take a look, and leave a comment on [...]

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 [...]