Science Fiction Author of the JUMP 225 Trilogy
So you decided to write a novel, you committed yourself to the task, and you agonized your way through your first draft — as described in How to Write a Novel (Part 1). Now one of two things will happen: 1) You’ll print that sucker out and add a title page. You’ll type up a page dedicating the book to your sister Chloë in Venice, whose steadfast support and witty observations helped you get through the … Read more
This morning on DeepGenre, I’ve posted part 2 of my article on How to Write a Novel. (In case you missed it, here’s part 1.) This time I tackle how to get from your finished first draft to the final product. Excerpts: Step 10: Get your first readers’ feedback, and listen to it. This is the difficult part: you need to listen to your first readers. Really, really listen. You cannot argue with them. At … Read more
One of the Ten Commandments of Author Blogging is “thou must write a post explaining how thou writest thine novels.” And so, in an effort to save my immortal writerly soul from scribbler’s purgatory, I’m going to explain my process in easy numbered steps that anyone can follow. Since I’ve only written two novels to date — Infoquake and MultiReal — and am now in the midst of a third, I can’t say that this is always going to be my … Read more
This morning on DeepGenre, I’ve posted a step-by-step guide to writing a novel. Or, at least, it’s a step-by-step guide to how I write a novel. Because every novelist who also blogs has to write at least one of these posts in their lifetime. Really, it’s in the union regulations. Excerpts: Step 2: Noodle around and figure out if your idea is novel-worthy.… Your first real challenge is to explore that idea to see if … Read more
I’ve seen various theories put forward as to when the first science fiction stories were written. Depending on your definition of science fiction — and that exact definition can be quite contentious, especially on this blog — the first proper science fiction tale might be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) or William Shakespeare’s The Tempest (c. 1610) or maybe Lucian of Samosata’s A True Story (c. the 2nd century AD). Personally, I’d argue that you need to have the scientific method before … Read more
Here are ten writing tricks and techniques you sometimes see in amateur manuscripts that I think it’s best to avoid. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, some of which I’ve noted below; there will always be exceptions to the rule. But in general, if you hew to these guidelines except in very special circumstances, you’ll be a better writer for it. Let’s use a football analogy here. Sure, once or twice a season, you’re going … Read more
Gandalf: “Before you decide whether we should go through the Mines of Moria, Frodo, I should warn you that there’s a 30-foot-tall flame-spewing demon servant of the ancient god Morgoth hanging out down there. Just thought you’d want to know that.” Pippin: “You want a song, Denethor? All right, stand back everybody — here’s a little number from NWA called ‘Fuck Tha Police.’” Sauron: “I know it’s preposterous, Witch-King. But we’ve got more than enough orcs here to … Read more