Author of THE UNITY SEQUENCE. Doing the right thing for Alderaan reasons since 2012.
Just finished drafting the penultimate chapter of my novel. Now twenty-two down, and 88,000 words written. Only one chapter left!
Or so I thought. And then it occurred to me: ‘Hang on, this isn’t a chapter. It’s an epilogue.’
Then the second thing occurred to me: ‘But people hate epilogues. Don’t they?’ Read more…
The Thirty Nine Steps – John Buchan
I picked this up yesterday for the Kindle, for some ridiculously low price.
I must have read the book ten times when I was a boy – it came in one of those enormous compendiums of Penguin classic novels, along with Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, and about fifteen others. Read more…
Man, I did not want to write today. Don’t know what it was. Could be the weather which somehow managed to be chilly and muggy at the same time. Maybe it’s a full moon. Maybe I haven’t been sleeping well. Whatever it was, when I sat down and opened the blank page for that next scene, writing was far down my fun-things-to-do-now list. Read more…
Another good read on Emma Darwin’s blog here.
It seems like every couple of months I’ll read some industry insider’s comment that the market for SF/F is decreasing, then another saying that it’s never been stronger. It’s hard to know what to expect when I do get to the point of actually pitching a manuscript – whether an SF thriller in today’s market can be said to ‘have a good chance’.
But I’m not sure it matters to me – as the article says, you need to write something that you care about, or it’ll be tough, and you’ll hate it, and even if you do finish it won’t end up with the kind of soul that you impart to something you love. I’m pretty sure I’ll only ever want to – or maybe even be able to – write science fiction. Where that will get me in future, who knows!
The trailer for the sort-of-prequel to Alien is out, and looking spectacular with a capital spectacle:
Anything with Stringer Bell in it is worth seeing, in my book.
Great article on Tor.com here.
This piece reminds me of one of the best pieces of advice for science fiction or fantasy writers that I’ve ever read. My sieve-like memory for detail doesn’t allow me to quote or even paraphrase the source, but the essence of it was that in the best SF/F the science or the fantasy isn’t the centre of the story. They’re the framework, the setting, and probably certain plot drivers, which surround the actual heart – the people and civilisations interacting, the personality and culture clashes which resonate with the reader because of their familiarity.
Iain M. Banks is the master at this, in my opinion. His Culture novels – the name itself flagging up the key theme – are anthropological masterpieces, often based around one civilisation (the Culture) being far more technologically advanced than the other that they’re interacting with, and dealing with the political and sociological fallout of even the most benevolent interventions. We can all recognise the parallels in that, I think.
“This has all happened before, it will all happen again” indeed.
I’m nearing the finish line for the first draft of my WIP – just two chapters left to write. Eight scenes, eight or nine thousand words. Should be done sometime next week. And then . . .
The dreaded edit. Now, seeing as how this is my first novel, I’ve not been through the editing process before. A lot of writers I’ve read on the subject seem to treat it as a necessary evil – but evil nonetheless. Read more…
DAN HARRIS: 10% SCI, 90% FI 