Latest: Writing & Publishing

300 Word Writing Challenge #8 January 2013

300 Word Writing Challenge #8 January 2013

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! The winner of our quarterly writing challenge for January is writer E.J. Tett, known on these forums as Mouse. Each quarter, the Challenge is to write a story of 300 words or less, inspired by an image chosen by [...]

February 27, 2013 | 1 Comment More
Photo by kneesamo on Flickr.

300 Word Writing Challenge #7

Writer Dan McQuain, (known on these forums as Grinnel) is the winner of our October 300 Word Challenge. He wins a £10 voucher to spend at Amazon or The Book Depository, our quarterly prize. As always, participants were challenged to write a story of 300 words or less, inspired by an image that our moderators [...]

December 3, 2012 | 0 Comments More
300 WORD WRITING CHALLENGE #6

300 WORD WRITING CHALLENGE #6

Writer Anna Dickinson, (known to members of these forums as Hex) has won our July 300 Word Challenge. She wins a £10 voucher to spend at Amazon or The Book Depository, our quarterly prize. As always, the challenge that participants faced was to write a story of 300 words or less, inspired by an image [...]

August 19, 2012 | 0 Comments More
Penguin owner buys ASI self-publishing company

Penguin owner buys ASI self-publishing company

According to the BBC, Pearson, which owns Penguin books among other things, has bought Author Solutions Inc in a £74 million deal. The deal means that Pearson now has control of a self-publishing interest. The news has raised concerns among some writers that intellectual property (IP) rights for new writers may be at risk, especially [...]

July 24, 2012 | 1 Comment More
300 Word Writing Challenge #5

300 Word Writing Challenge #5

The Winner of our April 300 Word Writing Challenge is writer John J Brady, (known on these forums as alchemist). He wins a £10 voucher to spend at Amazon or The Book Depository, our quarterly prize. As usual, the challenge our members faced was to write a story of no more than 300 words, inspired [...]

May 17, 2012 | 0 Comments More
300 Word Challenge #4

300 Word Challenge #4

Forum member Teresa Edgerton is the winner of our January 300 Word Writing Challenge. She wins a £10 voucher to spend at The Book Depository, our quarterly prize. As usual, the challenge our members faced was to write a story of no more than 300 words, inspired by an image selected by our moderators. For [...]

February 16, 2012 | 1 Comment More
World Building for Fantasy Novelists — No, your characters *aren’t* in a play

World Building for Fantasy Novelists — No, your characters *aren’t* in a play

The following is based on discussions on these forums and materials I have prepared for clients, but I am, I think, bringing all of it together for the first time. Though it is principally addressed to fantasy writers, it applies to science fiction, too. ON WORLDBUILDING Back in the days of my youth, I used [...]

December 13, 2011 | 6 Comments More
Writing challenge #3

Writing challenge #3

THE WINNER OF OUR 300 WORD WRITING CHALLENGE #3 is writer Samanda Primeau, known on these forums as TheDustyZebra. The quarterly challenge requires entrants to write a story of no more than 300 words, inspired by a picture chosen by the moderators. The image is above, and the winning story is below. Congratulations TDZ! To [...]

November 21, 2011 | 0 Comments More
On Originality (With Some Additional Thoughts on the Subject of Style)

On Originality (With Some Additional Thoughts on the Subject of Style)

Over the years, I’ve been in a position to read a considerable number of unpublished manuscripts, and to hear (or read) a considerable number of new writers discussing their ideas. And one thing I’ve noticed is how very, very often the writer who is straining every nerve to write something that will redefine the fantasy [...]

October 3, 2011 | 2 Comments More
Cynicism, Realism, Sensationalism — and Where DID I Misplace that Sense of Wonder?

Cynicism, Realism, Sensationalism — and Where DID I Misplace that Sense of Wonder?

(This article first appeared in my forum several years ago. I post it now — slightly revised — because I believe the subject is more relevant than ever. It is not intended to single out any one author, but to address a general trend.) Is Fantasy Becoming More Realistic or Simply More Cynical? After using [...]

September 14, 2011 | 2 Comments More
The RULES — Can you afford to ignore them?

The RULES — Can you afford to ignore them?

The following was written essentially to let off steam after various discussions, and is not to be taken as an attempt to bring others around to share my opinions — excellent and worthy as those opinions may be. THE RULES — Love them? Or leave them? When it comes to the rules of good writing, [...]

September 8, 2011 | 5 Comments More
Revisions (Cue the spooky music)

Revisions (Cue the spooky music)

REVISIONS — HOW TO HANDLE THEM AND STILL RETAIN YOUR SANITY Some writers love doing revisions. Now that they have taken care of the basics they can have fun filling in the details. Others regard the process as sheer drudgery after a purely creative phase where their ideas flowed freely. Most are intimidated by the [...]

August 27, 2011 | 0 Comments More
300 Word Writing Challenge #2

300 Word Writing Challenge #2

Congratulations to forum member The Judge for winning our July 300 Word Writing Challenge, which was open to all members of the sffchronicles forums. She wins a £10 voucher to spend at The Book Depository. As before, members had to write a story of no more than 300 words, inspired by an image chosen by [...]

August 24, 2011 | 0 Comments More
Taming the Wild Synopsis

Taming the Wild Synopsis

TAMING THE WILD SYNOPSIS For many new writers in the process of preparing to submit a first novel to agents or editors, the very idea of writing a synopsis sends them into a panic. They have been told so many times how much depends on it, how difficult it is to do right, that the [...]

August 22, 2011 | 2 Comments More
Writing — There Are No Shortcuts

Writing — There Are No Shortcuts

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS IN WRITING For many of us, the first impulse to write a novel comes with an idea that we have only to get our wonderful story down on paper, polish it up a bit, and we’ll have a finished book, one that wins instant acclaim and makes us very, very rich. [...]

August 22, 2011 | 1 Comment More
The Lamentable State of the English Language

The Lamentable State of the English Language

ON THE SAD IMPOVERISHMENT AND THE THREATENED DEMISE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE I was recently poking around a website I sometimes visit, and came across a thread in which members were complaining about authors who seem to do their writing with a dictionary or a thesaurus in hand. They started out (quite properly, I thought) [...]

August 22, 2011 | 4 Comments More
Donaldson awarded honorary degree

Donaldson awarded honorary degree

Stephen R. Donaldon, award-winning author of the First, Second and Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Gap Cycle, and other science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels and short stories, was recently awarded an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. Mr. Donaldson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters on 25 [...]

July 4, 2009 | 1 Comment More