There are few things that can destroy a good story faster than a bad reading. At the same time, a really good reading can make an audience excited and drive sales. Short of a background in theater, how can authors improve their reading skills?
A Massachusetts Superior Court judge has awarded costs and attorneys’ fees to Ann Crispin and Victoria Strauss, the principal operators of the Writer Beware website, soundly rejecting a frivolous lawsuit filed by a purported literary agent.
Today the board of directors of SFWA unanimously voted to add Apex Magazine to the list of SFWA qualifying markets. When Apex moved online in June of 2008, one of editor Jason Sizemore’s reasons was to be able to pay his authors SFWA pro-rates and to get them a wider audience.
Today, thanks to the internet age, it is no longer necessary to pore over pages of microscopic script in order to learn where to submit your fiction. There are a number of online venues that specialize in providing just such information. Allow me to share some of my favorites.
It’s the nature of writers to fall in love with words, particularly their own. Clever turns of phrase excite us; we beam like proud parents when our protagonists take on lives of their own; a shapely plot twist can turn our heads. There is nothing wrong with indulging in the occasional fling-as long as it stops in draft. When time comes to make that final revision, however, you must harden your heart, sharpen the ax and murder your darlings.
From March, 1986, until its untimely demise in February, 1989, I was the Editor-in-Chief of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine, and Editorial Director of its “twisted sister” publication, Night Cry. During that time, we received an average of one hundred manuscripts per week, in addition to a backlog of more than 2000 manuscripts left behind by my predecessor.
Article by science fiction writer Vonda N. McIntyre on manuscript preparation for SF/F genre fiction authors.
Article by Elizabeth Moon on advice for novice writers. Novice writers have to take some responsibility for their own careers. The good information is NOT that hard to find. The novices who don’t find it–and don’t find it repeatedly–are resisting the truth.
A few questions answered and a few myths debunked regarding Copyright.
It doesn’t matter if you write fiction or nonfiction. You have to know the basics.
They are the last survivors of the settlers of the moon Sturnus, forty children rescued by the benevolent people of the planet Janus. Except Bear is starting to remember, and what he remembers is nothing like what he and the others have been told.
Steven D. Brewer teaches scientific writing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He writes steampunky romantasy and fluffy military space opera, often with an LGBTQIA+ focus. Brewer lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with his extended family.
