Have you ever wondered if the genres authors most enjoy writing in, match the genres readers most enjoy reading? Before self-publishing, all new books for sale were filtered by agents and publishers, who acquired and worked on books they thought would sell well. If there was an oversupply of manuscripts by authors in a particular […]
Read More Do Writers Write What Readers Want to Read?Here’s a good article from Tor.com about the Weird West. Except that I disagree with their opening. The Wild West is Canadian too. It’s unfortunate that we seem to be letting the Americans get away with claiming that myth as their own. It is American, but everything West of Winnipeg has this as part of our […]
Read More A Weird West PrimerA Momentary Taste of Being by James Tiptree Jr. My rating: 5 of 5 stars Read in Star Songs of An Old Primate as part of a few reading challenges: Big Fun in a Little Package Novella Challenge and the Women of Genre Fiction Challenge. The collection is also being read for the LGBTQ Reading […]
Read More Novella Review: A Momentary Taste of Being by James Tiptree Jr.Originally posted on Notes From The Slush Pile:
Lets talk bad guys. Most stories have one. Well crafted or otherwise, speculative fiction is full of them. Not that any one actual character is essential as the obstacle the protagonist has to overcome. Sometimes its simply the environment they’re in, other times its a whole alien…
One of my alpha readers sent me this link about writing action scenes (which I suppose indicates she didn’t like my action scene). But I took it under advisement and the advice is good, so I thought I would share! The best writers know how to create action scenes that cause readers to fly through […]
Read More 7 Tension Building Tips for Writing Action ScenesOriginally posted on Notes From The Slush Pile:
Every drama needs a supporting cast. In my time as a First Reader with Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, I’ve come across far too many stories that fail to give sufficient thought or depth to secondary characters. An unfortunate, but easy mistake to make when writing short…
Originally posted on Notes From The Slush Pile:
So you’ve got a great idea for your speculative fiction story. You’ve envisioned a fantastic future or a mythical realm, and presumably given some thoughts to it’s inhabitants and the problem they’ll need to solve in order to drive the plot forward. Good start. Now, what character’s…
Originally posted on Notes From The Slush Pile:
A big part of any good speculative fiction story is building a believable world. A bit ironic, considering that the genres of science fiction and fantasy are built around the willing suspension of disbelief, but there it is. This isn’t to say that the setting for any…
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard My rating: 2 of 5 stars Read for the Apocalypse Now! Reading Challenge and the SF Masterworks Reading Challenge. Method of the world’s destruction: fluctuations in solar radiation melt the polar ice caps, causing massive flooding in most of the world’s major cities, rising heat, and heavy rains that […]
Read More Book Review: The Drowned World by J.G. BallardOriginally posted on Notes From The Slush Pile:
So submissions for Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores reopened recently, and I’ve already spotted a trend in the Slush Pile irritating enough to make me jump back into the blog, despite still being on holiday. Unconvincing and poorly written characters and settings can ruin any story. I…
