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Submissions Week Day One: General Formatting

Submissions Week

Hey all, Welcome to our second annual submissions week – were we’ll talk about all things submissions. This is a great opportunity for our newer authors to learn things from our veterans – how to prepare your story (whether it’s a short story, a novella, a novel, poem etc) for submission to a publisher. We’ll start off the week with the basics – formatting your manuscript. Any experienced author will tell you that the first rule is to follow the publisher guidelines. Skip those and your manuscript may not even make the slush pile. But what are some other tips … Read more

For Writers: Imitation – Is It Flattery?

Fan Fiction

Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Julia AT Weaver Flowers: How would you feel about people writing fan fiction based on your stories? It’s a great question. Writer reactions to fan fic have been all across the board, from happy praise to… well, let’s just say there are some things you should NEVER say to your fans. But beyond public reactions, there’s the private one. So if you suddenly discovered that others had taken your world and written their own take on it (not for profit, of course), how would you feel? Flattered? Upset? Mildly confused? Come join the chat

For Writers: Creating Homophobic Characters

Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Janet Gershen-Siegel: Creating believable homophobic characters, the kinds that aren’t just one-note villains. It’s a good question. Any time we create villains, it’s easy to make them all bad, a dark vs. light thing where the evildoer must be vanquished. I have to admit, I am especially guilty of this when the villain is homophobic. As a gay man, I don’t WANT to see anything redeeming in such people. And yet… we are all complicated creatures. I just read the story of a woman who used to head an ex-Gay organization, who now officiates … Read more

For Writers: What Story Will Change the World?

Crystal Ball

There have been a number of pivotal events in world history that have changed the course of human events, from the discovery of fire to the beginning of agriculture to the wheel, and more recently, from electricity to television to the internet. So get out your crystal balls. What one story or discovery (scientific, political, or otherwise) do you think will change the world the most in the next fifty years, and how? Join the chat here

For Writers: Paranormal vs. Supernatural

supernatural paranormal

Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer MD Grimm: What’s the difference between “supernatural” and “paranormal”? According to the dictionary, their descriptions are basically the same thing, but for most publishers, shape-shifters and monsters are under paranormal and ghosts are under supernatural. (I find that funny since I’ve always thought it was the other way around). But does it matter? Come join the chat

For Writers: Writing Dirt

Today’s discussion topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer: What is the place of cleanliness, and of dirt? Are we so automatically used to hot running water that we are unable to imagine living (and sex) without it??? Delany has written some truly squick-inducing scenes of “anti-pornography” involving dirt and filth. It’s an interesting question. We generally like our characters pretty and clean, but sometimes they have to get dirty. I write a lot of stories that involve quests across a lot of territory. They’re gonna get dirty. So I try to be realistic about that, up to a point. And … Read more

For Writers: Tech and Trans

Trans Sci Fi

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: How magic or technology can allow people to alter their bodies, and what that means for transfolk. This is a fascinating one, and a tricky one. I used magic to “transform” a trans character, and ran it by one of my trans friends. I was surprised by some of the minefields I was walking across without even knowing it. How would your trans character feel about having their physical gender changed to match their internal one? Are we being myopic thinking every trans person would want such a thing? What about gender non-conforming … Read more

For Writers: Urban Fantasy vs. High Fantasy

Urban Fantasy vs. High Fantasy

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Freddy MacKay: Freddy wanted to talk about the difference between High Fantasy and Urban Fantasy. I grew up on High Fantasy. The first adult book I read, which I started in second or third grade, was The Fellowship of the Rings, and I soon gravitated to the Shannara series and then to tad William’s The Dragonbone Chair, and many others like them. To my mind, High Fantasy is generally set in an alternate world, is epic in length and scope, and features a multitude of characters 9often of the elf-dwarf etc variety). Urban Fantasy, on … Read more

Writer Discussion: There’s An Elf in My Soup

Today’s writer topic comes from QSF Admin Angel Martinez: Waiter, there’s an elf in my soup! Non-human sentients in the city – how traditional folktale and fantasy creatures change in modern, otherwise real-world settings. Angel’s kind of an expert in these things – she’s done several series that put mythical creatures in real world settings. And we’re not talking just an elf, but also yetis, demons, pink hedgehogs, centaurs, and many many more. So as a writer, how would you add a little mythology to Manhattan, a little fantasy to Firenze? Join the Chat