“It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.”

- Will Shetterly

But this article is only the latest in a seres of articles on genre writing. If you enjoyed it, you might also want to read:

• Five Books That Changed My World, feature article for SF Signal, June 2010
• The Future Is Now, Irish Times feature article about the appeal and literary purpose of science fiction, May 2010
• How To Write A Press Release. A guide for writers and publishers, first published in Focus magazine, Spring 2010 edition.
• What Does Happen Next? An article exploring the lessons I learned from my first book launch, first published in Focus magazine, Spring 2010 edition.

A few days ago, I made the following comment on Twitter:

Just as you climb a mountain one step at a time, you have to keep putting one word after another if you want to write a book.

Now author Colin Harvey has used it as the jumping off point to discuss his method for staying focussed while working on a novel.

A novel is like a picture made up of 100,000 pixels, with each representing a pixel. Miss out a thousand words, and you have a picture with a hole in its whole … When you feel that awful sense that you’re going to fall and/or fail, stare hard at the detail and fill those pixels in.

Read Colin’s full article here.

In this week’s guest post, fantasy author R. L. Copple discusses the importance of using the right words to communicate with your audience.

Words Gone Wild
R. L. Copple

When I was a teen, my mom asked me to mop the floor while she ran an errand. When she returned, she stared at the floor and said, “Rick, I asked you to mop the floor.”

“I did,” I told her.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Words Gone Wild”

On Dark Fiction Review, Sharon Ring has published an article that asks authors how they handle negative reviews of their work. My own responses are quoted below:

How do you feel about negative reviews of your work?
Negative reviews are always disappointing. Of course they are. If you’ve poured your heart and soul and time into a piece of writing, you want people to connect with it, and if they don’t, you’re bound to feel frustrated. Personally, I tend to mope around the house for a few hours, feeling sorry for myself. But at the end of the day, you have to take it in good humour. It’s all part of the game, and if you can’t take the odd negative review, you shouldn’t be a writer.

Continue reading “Negative Reviews”

In this week’s guest post, New Jersey-based author Stuart Clark examines where speculative fiction authors get their crazy ideas.

Running With The Idea
By Stuart Clark

A question that authors often get asked is “Where do you get your ideas?”  It’s a topic that many speculative fiction authors have blogged about recently.  The general consensus seems to be that ideas are everywhere and they come from observing the world around us.  But simply having an idea is like having salad dressing without the salad – It may be good, but it’s almost unpalatable on its own.

So what’s after the “What if?”  How do you take that initial idea and turn it into a full-blown story?  Whether you’re writing shorts or novels, there are a number of techniques you might want to consider.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Running With The Idea”

In order to write well, you first have to write badly. You have to learn your craft. It’s like learning to drive a car – you can’t compete in the Monte Carlo grand prix the first time you sit behind a wheel; you have to make all the embarrassing mistakes, the awkward stalls and occasional prangs – and the same’s true for writing.

Continue reading “Burn Your Notebooks”

This afternoon, Colin Harvey and I co-presented the 5pm creative writing lecture at Bath Spa University. There were around 20-30 students in attendance. I read a brand new short story called The Bigger The Star, The Faster It Burns, which seemed to go over well, and did a brief question and answer session. I also shared with the students the following five pieces of writing advice:

Continue reading “Creative Writing Lecture”

In the first in what will hopefully become a series of posts by guest writers, Lyn Perry gives us his perspective on micropublishing.

“Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?” – The Beatles

Micropublishing Trends & Marketing Thoughts
by Lyn Perry

It seems everyone wants to be a paperback writer. Or at least an e-published author. And with the advent of web-based self-publishing tools like Lulu (for print-on-demand books) and Feedbooks (featuring a variety of electronic formats), anyone with a bit of talent and know-how can claim the title of published author.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Micropublishing Trends & Marketing Thoughts”

I discovered Patti Smith while at school, in the late 1980s. I’d been into the Velvet Underground for a couple of years, and I was just discovering and getting into all these cool American bands, like the Ramones and The Doors. I picked up a vinyl copy of her first album, Horses (1975), at a record store in Bristol, at the top of Park Street, opposite the museum. It was produced by John Cale, whose early albums I really liked, and Smith looked amazing on the sleeve, like some sort of hip androgynous alien, with this fuck-you attitude. I looked at it all the way home on the bus, turning it over and over in my hands. When I finally got it back to my room and put it on the turntable, it blew me away. It was arty and passionate and perfect, and it took no prisoners. It mixed reggae and rock with this spectacularly demented poetry; and Smith had this incredible voice that sounded beautiful and ugly all at the same time. I was 17 years old, and I played it over and over again.

“Space Monkey” is the second track on Smith’s slightly patchier (but more commercially successful) third album, Easter (1978), and it’s a prowling, swaggering chant of a song, buoyed up by cheery organ and driving bass. Without the vocals, it might almost sound like something by Talking Heads; but here, Smith dominates the music. She alternates spoken word passages with Jim Morrison growls, until the whole thing degenerates into panting and monkey screams.

(This article originally appeared on the Sci-fi Songs Blog).