by Tim Susman
Since it’s fall and ghosts are in the air, I thought it might be a good time to talk about my research into vodou/voodoo, the religion and spiritual practices that coalesced on Haiti among the African slaves there and spread to America, most commonly and famously in New Orleans (for the purposes of this article, I use “vodou” to refer to the Haitian religion and “voodoo” to refer to the New Orleans practices).
by Douglas Smith
Eventually, I came to understand these stories were transcribed from versions people remembered being told when they were young or used to tell their children. Story telling was an oral tradition.
By Anatoly Belilovsky
Dear Editor,
Submitted herewith for your kind consideration is “My Little Tale,” a flash piece of 750 words. The author, a SFWA member, hopes you find it suitable for publication in “Awesome Stories.”
by Erica Satifka
According to the World Health Organization, one out of every four people will be affected by mental illness at some point in their lives. Considering this, it’s important to not only feature characters with mental illness prominently in one’s writing, but to treat the subject with sensitivity and accuracy.
Welcome to the September edition of the SFWA Pro-rate Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA.
by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Low Residency MFA’s in Creative Writing offer students a chance to study and practice writing without having to move or quit their jobs. There are more than sixty such distance-based programs in the U.S. and Canada.
by Mary Rosenblum
How can I advertise my book with photos?
I hear that all the time when I suggest Instagram to author clients, followed by the sound of the exit door slamming on the author’s heels…
But Instagram is a huge and well established social media platform, and if you’re writing for teens through mid-twenties readers, this is the social media you want to master. Even Forbes Magazine has taken note of Instagram’s role with an article Can Instagram Keep People Reading Books?
by Stewart C Baker
In the past decade, web-based applications have really come into their own. This is great for authors, because it makes collaborating much easier, especially when your co-author doesn’t live nearby. The tools in this list run the gamut from online chat software to fully-fledged cloud-based authoring software. And, of course, many of them can be wonderful productivity boosters for solo authors, too.
by Stewart C Baker
Fiction writing is often presented as an intensely solitary pursuit, but look at the end of a published novel some time and you’ll see the author thank at least a dozen people for their help. And then there’s co-authoring…
by Shanna Swenson
Rejection is one of the worst parts of writing. When you get a story or novel rejected by an editor or agent, it stings. Your first instinct may be to go online and seek comfort and commiseration by letting your followers know what you’re going through. But stop and think before you spread the news of your rejection all over social media.
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? And what happens to the people you leave behind?
Auston Habershaw is a science fiction and fantasy author, writing about the could-be and never-was, and also teaches composition and literature at MCPHS University in Boston, MA.
Come celebrate our diamond year with us! Register now for SFWA's 60th Annual Nebula Conference, hosted at Kansas City, MO, and also online, from June 5-8.
