My Interview at Whispering Dragons!

Susie Hawes of Whispering Dragons Digital Magazine interviewed me for the first issue. Click on the link below and download the PDF (it's free!) and check it out. Hope you like it! :)

Whispering Dragons Digital Magazine

David Weber Interview

My interview of David Weber is now live at Strange Horizons. Give it a peek!

Wordcraft and War Fiction: An Interview with David Weber

I get a shout out from Richard Parks! Woot! (Darn nice of him, I'd say)

Richard Parks blogged about the highs and lows of writing series fiction. He mentions my story "Haxan" which will appear in Beneath Ceaseless Skies later this month.

He has some thoughtful advice for writing a series which you should take to heart if you ever want to tackle a project like this. Then he ended up saying some awfully nice things about me and my writing. I want to thank him for that.

You should give it a look.

It's Not Rocket Science. Seriously, It's Not.

If a person of color has a problem with your story then you should listen. If a white person has a problem with your story then you should listen. If anyone has a problem with your story then you should listen.

That doesn't mean you have to write what only makes them happy. It means you should listen because they really do have better things to do than revisit their pain. That's all.

But if you do listen, don't pretend to agree to the person's face and then turn around and snark to everyone else you never agreed with her critique in the first place.

Come on. It's not rocket science. Seriously. It's not.

Monkey Writer Dog Can Solve Your Sex Woes!

I'm listed on the Internet Book Database of Fiction.

Mentioning this at a party is guaranteed to get you laid.
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(Okay, probably not. But it was worth a try.)

Racefail 2009 in the SF/F Community

I've never been one to shy away from calling people what they are. And I can't shy away now even though I'm only a tiny guppy in the SF/F pond.

What I'm about to link you to, in case you don't know, has been going on for quite a while. These are professional people, some of whom I've met.

Some of them I used to respect.

What am I talking about? Well, they're calling it Racefail '09. Actually, they're calling it a whole lot of things, but I like that term. It's got people angry. And for good reason.

Me trying to condense this SF/F fan/writer/editor/publisher shit storm into a coherent synopsis is beyond my puny mortal ability. Fortunately, you can read an excellent summary about it here.

The summary was written by popelizbet and I found it through kynn 's own LJ.

As for myself, if you've read my blog for even thirty seconds you know which side of this I come down on.

Money Flows To The Writer

Show Me The Money

While I maintain print was long overdue for a shake up, I don't view this economic downturn as any kind of validation for self-publishing.

Here's how it works: Money flows to the writer.

That holds true in all cases. I don't care how many magazines go under. Or how desperate you get to see your stuff published.

We're Writers. We Write.

I maintain the print magazines that are going under is a good thing in the long run for our industry. Let's face it. Print has needed a high colonic cleansing for a very long time now. The cobwebs needed to be cleared out. Heck, in the last couple of years I've seen changes in print magazines that were a direct result from economic forces manifesting themselves from online magazines.

Rejection return is one such example. I know I'm not alone here. Online magazines tend to have a faster turnaround for rejection/accepting stories. I saw print magazines make a real effort to catch up in this regard over the last two years. Same for payment and publication of stories.

I'm not pro-print or pro-online or anti- either one. I'm pro-WRITER. That's why I believe in the long run this will be a good thing for both writers and the publishing industry. It's capitalism, red in tooth and claw. In our profession magazines die and others take their place. Sometimes they prosper and sometimes they don't. Like the song says, the times they are a-changin'. Writers and magazines who adapt will succeed. Those that don't will fall by the wayside.

There are no guarantees in this brutal business. But you knew that before you jumped in with both feet. And if you didn't you just had a dash of cold water to the face which is also a good thing. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Especially in this industry.

Realms of Fantasy is just the first. I expect many more "Big" science fiction and fantasy magazines will go under as well. I can see the death rattle in two of them right now and if you pay attention to the markets like I do I'm sure you can, too. And don't think it will be confined to print because plenty of online paying magazines will go belly up as well. I'm not happy about it. I don't like it anymore than you do. But let's get real here. We knew this was going to happen sooner or later. The trick is to remember why we are here in the first place.

We're writers. We write. We would do so if there were no magazines whatsoever to publish in. At least I would and you probably would, too.

Yeah, it's bad right now. Downright nasty. And it's going to get worse. But in the long run lessons will be learned and other magazines will have the opportunity to fill the vacuum. I really do believe this will be good for writers and publishers in the long run.

Hang in there. And remember you're a writer first.

We'll get through this. We always do. And so will the magazines.

Me Productive

I had a bad migraine the last day or so and it cut into my ability to work on my story. I need to be more productive this weekend which means I want to meet the goal of finishing my new story. That's my goal. So I must buckle down and write, write, write.

Now, where did I put that comic book...?

Queries and Tigers and Bears, oh, my!

One thing I would like to see is some sort of standardization with queries. Seriously. Some agents want a query letter and synopsis and first three chapters. Some want query and synopsis. Some want just the query -- email only, please. Some want query snail mailed. Some want query, a three page synopsis and first ten pages of the manuscript. Some....

Well, you get the idea. A writer friend of mind was telling me how she was mailing out queries and practically every agent she was contacting wanted it done differently. "Jump through that hoop, monkey writer dog...."

Of course, I don't know how you would implement said process. Even though we have standardization in format for manuscripts the query thing would be more difficult to enforce since it reflects agents' desires. I get that.

But, yeah, anything that makes *my* life easier I'm all for.

Keep going, baby. You know you like it.

I was talking to my writing buddy today at the coffee shop about show don't tell in fiction. And it got me to thinking.

I have a problem with over description in my stories. I can just describe, describe, describe a scene in the most exquisite (and therefore exhausting) detail and be happier than a spanked monkey in a rainstorm. I love delving into detail. Minute detail. Tiresome detail. To the detriment of the quality, and salability, of my fiction.

Fortunately, I recognized this fault early on and made a move to address it. But it's a constant battle. When I'm writing today I'm always aware of word count. I can look back on ten-thousand word stories I wrote ten or fifteen years ago and now see if I wrote them today they'd be half the length. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

To make her point my writing buddy was talking about Lord of the RIngs and how Tolkien went into detail of describing every blade of grass. It made her put the book down and lose interest, she said. But I loved that stuff in LOTR because it was scratching that description itch between my shoulder blades I constantly battle.

Ideally, there has to be a balance. I'm trying to find that balance in all my fiction, particularly the Haxan stories. In one of the stories I used a descriptor of how the moon was like an orange lantern in the sky. A couple of people said they really liked it. I liked it, too, but I remember sititng there when I wrote that wanting to tell how the light was playing on the desert and cactus, giving it an unearthly quality. You know. Go into minute detail. Slap the reader across the face with it. But I held back, recognizing that the original description of the moon as an orange lantern did that already.

Live and learn, right?

I'm not big on minimalism, either, but it has its place. When it's done well it can be more effective than a dense block of descriptive text. It's just hard to do, imo.

Even so I can't help but remember a friend many years back who said to me, "Wow, you really know how to paint a picture. It's one of your strengths. You're very good at description."

Me: "I know."

Unfortunately, I've never gotten the humility thing licked.

On Writing and Being a Writer

All too often I hear the refrain "if you're not writing you're not a true writer". As if word production in itself is some magical requirement that awards the participant the mantle of a writer.

It's not about word production, or how many stories you sold or how much money you make or how high your platform is. It's about what's true in your heart. And that not only goes for writing but any endeavor you begin. I'm just putting this in the context of writing because, well, I'm a writer. It's what I know best.

When I was starting out I was in the same place most newbie writers are when they begin. I doubted I was a writer (though I wanted to be one) because I wasn't writing every day -- although I was writing sporadically. It is only with the passage of time and some experience under my belt that I can look back on those days and realize, Yes, Virginia, I was a writer.

Wow. Kinda cool. And I'm still one today. Who'd a thunk it?

You see, if I don't write another word for the rest of my life I will still be a writer. Nothing can change that. Ever. And that's the power of writing, of believing in yourself, of making the necessary sacrifices to get better and better by almost immeasurable increments (and sometimes measurable) until you reach a point where people not only want to read your work they want to PAY you for it.

Wow. Kinda cool. Who'd a thunk it?

When new writers begin there's a lot of starting and stopping. A lot of half-finished chapters and half-baked ideas that swirl around in your head like mashed bananas in a Cuisinart. But if you stick with it, if it's something you really want, then with time comes a professional measure of maturity. There are still half-finished chapters and half-baked ideas and a lot of starting and stopping....but you view it in the context of a larger framework. To wit: It's part of the process of story creation. You think Hemingway didn't write an occasional sentence that made his stomach turn? Joyce? Shakespeare? Get real. Of course they did. We all do. That's part of the Mephistophelian deal you enter into when you take on this profession. You're going to appall yourself at times with what you put on the page. The way you combat that is by having the cold-blooded passion to recognize the mistake, correct it, and move on. In other words, view it in the larger context of story creation.

I believe writing is first and foremost an art form. There are very good, technically brilliant, writers out there. But it is the artist who will often be remembered. I'm not arguing this is right or proper and I'm not arguing technicality doesn't have its place in the story. Joyce broke all the rules with Ulysses, but it's still a technically brilliant novel. No, I'm arguing that's just how it is. Art often trumps technical perfection. That's the creative dynamic in operation. That's the human quality.

And writing, just like everything else, is all about being human. Period.

Wow. Kinda cool.

Who'd a thunk it?