Who here has ever gone to a convention of one kind or another? Don’t be shy, raise your hands high if you have. Now, how many of you have been to a convention where another writer or a publisher or an editor or an agent has been a guest, a panel participant or a known quantity? And what did you do at that convention? Did you meet any of the aforementioned people? I attended ConVersion (a local SciFi/Fantasy convention) not too long ago. My goal was to meet one of the publishers who I knew to be coming and maybe meet Terry Brooks. Let me begin by saying that I am not the most outgoing person alive. Still, I went […]
Read moreCategory: Irreverent Muse
Who Me Am and Where Me Be?
There are times when I think I’ve read too many “How to Write” books. Every book I read says something similar; show don’t tell. That statement should be pretty self-explanatory, but I think I might have missed something. I would call my writing style a bit minimalist. I tend to write with the idea that the reader will want to use their imagination to ‘see’ the story in their minds. I would much rather give too little detail than too much. I’ve also read/heard that everyone sees characters differently. Too much description of what a character looks like could pull the reader out of the story. Again, I like to err on the side of too little. Maybe that’s because […]
Read moreA Laugh Out Loud Moment
I was thinking the other day (and no, that isn’t the funny part) about my goal to see one of my books in print and I realized just how far I’ve come as a writer. Let me explain. When I first entertained the idea of writing a book and actually getting it published it was as far away from reality for me as the possibility that I might one day walk on the moon. I knew I enjoyed writing and I felt I could probably write something decent if I was given enough time. I just never expected anyone to want to read my work. After I finished writing my first book, I actually started to think I could pull […]
Read moreWhat Should You Write?
Do you ever wonder if you should be writing for specific trends in the book industry? Genre fiction, especially Science Fiction and Fantasy seems to be especially susceptible to trends. One day it might be dragons, the next zombies. Oh look, vampires that glitter. While it might work to see what’s coming and write for it, you need to keep in mind that getting a book from manuscript to shelf can be a very long process. It may be that by the time your book is ready, it’s already out of style. But what if that isn’t a problem. Maybe vampires (for example) as a subject are going to be around for a while and you decide to write a story […]
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