Gunsmoke & Dragonfire: A Fantasy Western Anthology is now available for pre-order on Kindle! For January Only we are offering a special pre-order price of only 99 cents! The price will continue to go up in increments until it reaches full price upon release. From the drought-plagued plains of Mars, to a post-apocalyptic Canada, to […]
Read More Gunsmoke & Dragonfire: Pre-Order Available!This excerpt is a sneak peak at the foreward for Gunsmoke & Dragonfire: A Fantasy Western Anthology (publication scheduled March 2019). This excerpt has been set for this blog post only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition. Most of us are used to the concept of a science fiction western […]
Read More The Many Faces of Western: Foreward from Gunsmoke & DragonfireAs posted on the SFWA blog, written by me: “Hey, I’m looking for advice. My character lost a limb in the last fight. Does anyone know about writing amputees?” I was inspired to write this because I’ve had this conversation on Twitter a few times. My husband is an amputee from a traumatic accident that […]
Read More Writing Amputees (@sfwa)The Complete Handbook Of Novel Writing: Everything You Need To Know About Creating & Selling Your Work by Writer’s Digest Books My rating: 5 of 5 stars An excellent writing guide, suited for writers of all levels. I think this collection of essays and articles will have the most utility to the beginning writer. There’s […]
Read More Book Review: The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (Writer’s Digest)By Morgan Smith Writers are all different, and they have a lot of different ways of describing/manifesting how characters in their work come into being. Some of us are analytical: we use character sheets, balancing the strengths and weaknesses, outlining and pinpointing traits that we then use to (hopefully) further their plots. We “map” things. […]
Read More Character and IdentityBy Cat Rambo I’m finishing up the year by trying to wrap up writing the on-demand version of my Moving from Idea to Draft class. This is a tough translation, because the live class depends heavily on what the students have brought: I try to help them go deeper into the idea each has brought […]
Read More On Creating Story When You Only Have the PlotBy Jenny Ballif This article on writing realistic research labs is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the scientific or technological concepts pervasive in sci-fi (space travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc.) with input from an expert. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted. About the […]
Read More Writing Realistic Research LabsBy J.K. Ullrich Indie authorship seems to have exacerbated my penchant for masochism: I can’t help looking at the bestseller lists, even though it only leaves me sad that my books aren’t on them! Browsing the top titles a few weeks ago, the blurb for Dan Brown’s latest novel Origin caught my eye. After reconnecting with one […]
Read More The Beautiful Scientist ProblemBy Kathryn Craft Today’s mad skill comes to us via Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics for one of my favorite musicals, Wicked, based on Gregory Maguire’s bestselling novel of the same name. The show tracks the early life of Elphaba, the girl who is destined to become the Wicked Witch of the West. On […]
Read More Your Protagonist’s “I Want” Song
