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Columnists

U=(N/T)M*G: Big Bangs and Black Holes

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A lot of writers are under the impression that science is great for research, but not so much for plot ideas. That’s what inspired me to write this blog about science. That, and an astrophysicist friend of mine. I’m also honor bound to inform that I’m not a college educated scientist. So, to start, let’s talk about black holes and the Big Bang. A black hole eats everything. Light, energy, matter. Everything. And it tears it all down into energy which it holds on to until the black hole dies, which takes trillions of years. They’re cannibals too. So, I … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Web Comics

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Questionable Content

I debated a long time this week over what to post. In the end, it felt better to share something from the community rather than try to express things that others in the community have said in more powerful ways. Signal boosting those folks instead. So, in the spirit of sharing something good. We talk about fiction, online, ebook and print, and about graphic novels here at Queer Sci Fi, but we don’t often talk about an interesting phenomenon from queer artists – the web comic. Web comics are an intimate contract between artist and audience. The creators are beholden … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: ‘Frankenstein’

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“But I have one want I have never been able to satisfy; and the absence of the object which I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no friend, Margaret, when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy; if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection. I commit my thoughts to paper, it is true, but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Writer Assist

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As writers and readers, we often talk about diversity, and we are a diverse community here at QSF. One of the things we don’t often talk about is how diverse we are in our physical abilities and how that affects us as authors. Vision challenges, neurological illnesses, arthritis, stroke, neurally atypical issues, paralysis – all of these and so many more challenges authors face within our community. What’s a writer to do when they can’t see or type or even hold a pen? It’s certainly never been the end of a career. Even Milton, who was blind when he wrote … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Tense Situations

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Verb tenses can get complicated depending on the language. So in the interest of not going down that road, we’re not even going to invite things like past perfect, subjunctive, pluperfect and such to the party. Generally speaking, fiction writers choose either past or present tense for their narratives. We could try writing in future tense – and I think I recall a couple of experimental short stories someone wrote that way – but this stretches reader expectations to the breaking point and puts more emphasis on the verb tense than a writer usually wants. In other words, it’s distracting … Read more

Angel’s Bits: What the *#@$ is an Epigraph?

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We all actually know what these are. We just forget what they’re called, because really, how often does this come up in conversation? So while an epigraph can be the inscription on a monument, for writing purposes, an epigraph is a quote from another author that one finds at the beginning of a chapter, story section or work. You find them at the beginning of Frank Herbert chapters, at the beginning of T.S. Eliot poems, at the start of Stephen King novels. Depending on the author, they can serve different purposes. They can set tone. They can anticipate or illuminate … Read more

Angel’s Bits – A Parliament of Edits

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Edits. Those things where someone who is not the author gets to mark up the manuscript with red pen, er, track changes. (Sometimes those are also red.) Depending on the length of story and the purpose of publication (and the publisher) the process can vary wildly. But there is a hierarchy and a purpose to each step and type of edit. Sometimes an author gets to see them all (poor author) and sometimes parts of the process are folded together. A quick rundown of what you may encounter in your visit to the edit chamber: Developmental or content edits: Your … Read more

Angel’s Bits: How Did They Pick That One?

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Or a little bit about writing contests… If you count the annual contests when I worked for the university literary magazine, I’ve been judging writing contests for over thirty years. Not continually, thank goodness. I have no idea what the process looks like for big, fancy awards but for flash fiction? Yeah, done a few of those. The ideal situation is several judges, who all bring something different to the table, doing blind judging. That last bit is crucial. No matter how impartial a judge intends to be, knowing some of the authors will color decisions. Flash fiction is a … Read more

Angel’s Bits: So your con’s in another country…

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When I was younger – and really, it’s not that long ago – we could blithely skip across the border between Canada and the US with nothing more than a passport. Where ya headed, ma’am? Oh, sure, nice there this time of year. Have a nice stay, welcome to Canada! Fast forward a bit, and lots of things about travel between countries has changed. We do need a passport now to travel to Canada, and obtaining one/renewing one isn’t a completely awful process if you leave yourself enough time. US citizens have somewhere over 120 countries where passports are sufficient … Read more

Angel’s Bits: Shine It Up, Baby

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Hi! Life has been a bit of heck lately, apologies for the lack of bits. Er. You know what I mean. Here’s a thing that we run into from authors of all skill levels – the notion that critique partners and editors will fix, clean up and spit polish your manuscript. No. Just no. I really mean it. No. Critique partners/ beta readers and editors are vital to your process. Absolutely. Hands down. No question. You need other eyes. You need expert advice. If you work with a publisher, you need to have someone checking the style guide (CMOS or … Read more