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WRITING MONSTERS IN JAPANI’m delighted to finally announce that a translation of my book Writing Monsters is to be published by Film Art in Japan. I’ve also gotten the...
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THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S HANDBOOK INTERVIEWSIn May I posted links to my long series of posts recommending Books for Fantasy Authors , and today it occurred to me that I’ve also been posting...
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ENJOYMENT ≠ CONSENTI read lots of old books, written during less enlightened times, published under thankfully long-gone strictures (as much as some people are...
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BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XXXVI: EXTRATERRESTRIAL AND THE SEEDLING STARSFrom time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think authors should have on...
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WHAT MAKES A GENREWhat makes science fiction science fiction, what makes fantasy fantasy, horror horror, western western, romance romance, and so on, instead of...
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JUNE’S OBSESSION: CARL JUNGI don’t remember where I got this idea of a monthly “obsession,” but it’s out there in the zeitgeist, so don’t think I’m somehow claiming...
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WHAT I MEAN BY “OFF SCREEN”When I’m editing a work of prose fiction (a novel or short story) I tend to use “bookish” terminology because, y’know… that’s what I’m actually...
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BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XXXV: THE WAR OF ARTFrom time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think authors should have on...
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DON’T KEEP YOUR CONTEMPORARY REALITY OUT OF MY SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASYThough it’s been a while since authors like Orson Scott Card and J.K Rowling have come out publicly as being on the wrong side of history, and the...
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BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XXXIV: BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORSThirty-three times before this, I started a blog post with the paragraph… From time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but...
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CHALLENGE GENRE “TROPES”First of all, coming soon will be a whole impassioned rant on how much I hate the neologism “tropes” and the way they’re applied by people who are...
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DO CHARACTER ARCS ACTUALLY MATTER?I’ll answer that right away: No. But let’s look at them anyway. According to all the advice on how to write a screenplay in...
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OUTLINE!“No battle plan,” said Helmuth von Moltke, “survives contact with the enemy.” But that doesn’t mean you go in without one. For...
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TOM SWIFT AND HIS FORGOTTEN TECHNO OPTIMISMI started writing the title of this piece, a take on the templated titles of the Tom Swift and Tom Swift, Jr. series, and got past the word techno...
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FIRST, SECOND, OR THIRD… PERSON, THAT ISFirst person, second person, or third person is, fundamentally, a creative choice on the part of the author. Simply put, “person” is a matter of...
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BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XXXIII: EVERY BOOK YOU’VE EVER READ AND EVER WILL READFrom time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think authors should have on...
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WE ARE TOUR GUIDES IN THE LANDS OF MAKE-BELIEVEIn “On Fairy Stories,” J.R.R. Tolkien warned us against conjuring “the dreamlands,” saying, “Next, after travellers’ tales, I would also exclude,...
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THE UNSEEN DAMAGE OF NEGATIVITYFirst, please watch this TED Talk , “How everyday interactions shape your future” by Mesmin Destin, a social psychologist who was almost talked...
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HE WHO CONTROLS THE PAST, CONTROLS THE FUTURE, OR WHY REVISING OLD RACISTS IS A TERRIBLE THINGOn February 27th, the estate of author Ian Fleming released a statement in which they made a lackluster effort to defend the indefensible, and...
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I SURRENDERWay, way back in time… June 21, 2022 to be exact… I set myself the challenge of reading, in 2023, twelve very long books , one a month over the...
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DESCRIBING WOMEN (AND MEN)All the way back in March of 2017 I cautioned you not to describe characters in terms of numerical statistics (height, weight, age) or obvious...
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BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XXXII: SHOW YOUR WORK!From time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think authors should have on...
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I’M ON VACATION THIS WEEK…but I’m writing this blog post anyway because you know I never miss a Tuesday! Let me talk a little bit more about this whole vacation...
