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Back in the 1990s, when no one wanted to accept my pitches for SF novels, I took a shot at a semi-SF crime thriller. The idea had been kicking around in my head for several years, and I figured this...
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A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I was re-reading my "chronoplane wars" novels so I could write summaries of them for a team of translators in China. Now I'm on the last of the trilogy, The Empire of...
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I just finished re-reading another of my chronoplane novels, Rogue Emperor, and enjoyed it. I'd forgotten almost all of it, so the characters and their problems were new. I'd even forgotten how Jerry Pierce deals with his climactic struggle in...
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Years ago, my editor told me that dystopian fiction—novels about horrible societies—didn't sell. That was then and this is now. The New Yorker has just published a very interesting article on the boom in dystopian fiction for young readers. Excerpt:Collins’s...
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Some Chinese translators want to publish my SF novels in China, and I sent them my three "Chronoplane Wars" novels. They then asked for short summaries of the novels, and that obliged me to re-read them. So over the last...
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I still recall the shock: January 1968, a brief obituary in Time Magazine about David Stacton’s death at 44 in Denmark, reportedly of a stroke. I’d been reading Stacton’s historical novels for several years, but I had no idea how...
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The Tyee has published my article The 10 Most Harmful Novels for Aspiring Writers. Excerpt:Any young person who wants to be a novelist should of course be a reader as well. But some novels can be more hazard than inspiration....
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If you haven't yet read Ken Auletta's piece in The New Yorker, here it is: The iPad, the Kindle, and the future of books. It's also, of course, about the future of writers. Excerpt:Traditionally, publishers have sold books to stores,...
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Charles Stross (in my opinion the best SF and fantasy author currently working) has an excellent blog, and this month he's been posting some must-read items. Here's one: Why books are the length they are. Excerpt:Many earlier novels are still...
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In today's Globe and Mail, an interesting article on a first novelist: From teddy bears to crime writing. What makes it interesting: The novelist is a businesswoman who switched to writing in a very businesslike way. Excerpt:More than 40 members...
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OK, they're not all for fiction writers, but these 100 Free and Useful Web Apps for Writers should have something you'll find useful.
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If you're dreaming of writing the All-Time Great Science Fiction Novel, first you should check out Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics. The site has been around for years (and looks very 1990s), and the author urgently needs a copy editor to...
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Thanks to Anna Miller for sending me the link to this post at Online Degree: 10 Greatest Writers Who Became Famous After Death. It mentions some notable figures like Franz Kafka, and one or two I still know nothing about...
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In this morning's Globe and Mail, Russell Smith talks about The writing advice industry. Excerpt:Right now, aspiring novelists around the world are sending each other links to last weekend’s article in The Guardian, Ten Rules For Writing Fiction. Riffing on...
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Via Publishers Weekly: Apocalypse Now. Excerpt:Happily ever after? Not so much. Ruth Leopold, 15, of Wilton, Maine, loves dystopian books like The Hunger Games (teens fighting to the death in a televised, government-sponsored game), Gone (kids trying to survive in...
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