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Writers

Article: How To Get Started (And Get Ahead) In Science Fiction Self-Publishing

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My podcast co-host S.A.Collins just shared this, and it’s a good read for authors. Pay close attention to the comments after the article, some good discussion going on. How To Get Started (And Get Ahead) In Science Fiction Self-Publishing To self-publish or not to self-publish… That is the question more and more aspiring authors are asking themselves these days. And with good reason—self-publishing has come a long way in the decade since it really hit the market and many of the blatant scams of the past have been outed by an increasingly well-informed author community. With the popularity of ebooks … Read more

Article: Celebrate Marriage Equality with these 12 Beloved LGBT Characters from Geek Culture

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Family and Reflection

Article: Celebrate Marriage Equality with these 12 Beloved LGBT Characters from Geek Culture Sci-fi tends to explore themes of identity, tolerance of differences, and true expression of the self, so many stories have served as allegories for the oppression of homosexuals in society, most notably X-Men. But in spite of this, geek culture hasn’t historically been the most diverse, with sci-fi TV and comics just recently taking some baby steps towards representation (there are no sci-fi movie franchises on this list). And the real world is catching up, as SCOTUS just ruled that gay marriage is legal in all 50 … Read more

Discussion: Selling Without a Series

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James Eric series

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Theo Fenraven: “Authors write series because they sell better than standalones. Unfortunately, I rarely write a series because I don’t like getting bogged down in them. I’m always anxious to move on to the next idea and set of characters. I pay the price for that; I don’t sell much.” I love reading series, especially when it comes to Fantasy. But I don’t mind stand-alones either. What do y’all think? As an author, would you rather write a series or a stand-alone book? And as a reader, what do you prefer to read? Come join … Read more

The Sci of Scifi: Integrating LGBT Characters

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I wish there wasn’t a gay fiction category. There are many reasons people read and write fiction of any genre with gay characters. My favorite type of story is not the one where the focus is on a character being gay. I love the story where the main character(s) just happen to be gay. Being gay shouldn’t be considered a character flaw so it stands to reason it shouldn’t be what defines a character. I think it’s great when a book/TV show/movie has characters that also happen to be gay. Their sexual orientation doesn’t need to be the story line. The … Read more

ARTICLE: New Sesotho-named dinosaur from South Africa

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Discovery is perhaps my favorite element of SciFi writing. So when we discover something NEW about our environment, a whole new realm of possible story ideas peeks out from behind the prehistoric fern fronds. I love that this article shines a light on an environment that paleo-research has not traditionally been funded to explore. New Sesotho-named dinosaur from South Africa South African and Argentinian palaeontologists have discovered a new 200-million-year-old dinosaur from South Africa, and named it Sefapanosaurus, from the Sesotho word “sefapano.” See the full article here

Discussion: Writing Clichés

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Cliché

We’ve all seen it or done it. When you’re writing, it’s easy to fall back on clichés because they are a sort of universal short-hand. Use one and your reader instantly knows what you are trying to convey. But clichés can also have the effect of making the writing seem stunted and, well, cliché. One of my editors called me on the use of: “He let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.” She urged me to find a more original way to express that sense of anticipation and nervousness, which I did, and the story was stronger … Read more

The Sci of Scifi: A Place for Your Stuff

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Hello! I’m Elizabeth Noble and I’ll be bringing you articles to hopefully give inspiration to your writing or at least be something interesting to read. Writing in any genre requires research. Whether you’re writing about actual historical events or creating a whole new world for your book it doesn’t matter. It’s likely research is a large part of creating a novel. As readers of scifi are well aware many of the books/movies/etc created half a century ago resulted in the development of some technology we have today. As writers of scifi I feel strongly that we as a group should be … Read more

Media Crossovers: Sense8

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I tripped across this quick article on The LGBT Update regarding the new show Sense8. The article highlights the queer characters and shares a promo video: SENSE8 – A Sci-Fi Series With Leading LGBT Characters (Netflix) Known for their science fiction blockbusters (The Matrix franchise, Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending, etc..), The Wachowski siblings are now taking their epic filmmaking talents to Netflix, in their highly anticipated new sci-fi series Sense8. The global concept of this groundbreaking series surrounds eight strangers, who mysteriously become mentally and physically connected, while being hunted by a unknown organization (which all sounds pretty awesome). Yet … Read more

Discussion: Making it All Up

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Imagination

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Blaine D. Arden: “What are your favourite things to make up while writing SciFi/Fantasy/Paranormal? (not counting magic, but not quite excluding it, either)” One of the best parts of being a writer is being able to make up things. New worlds. New ideas. New turns of phrase. It gets the creative juices flowing, churns the imagination. Only later do you get into the soul-grinding process of churning out the actual written word. So let’s hear it – what do you like to make up? Come join the discussion!

Discussion: Using Descriptive Language

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description

Today’s topic comes from QSFer and Admin Angel Martinez: “How about descriptive language? What pet peeves do you have in authors’ descriptions in stories? (too long, certain items, certain words, etc.).” I’m on the fence with this one. One the one hand, I almost fell asleep reading one of Jean M. Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear books, where the devoted something like TWENTY NINE PAGES in an epic data dump describing all the plants and herbs of the prehistoric period – an apparent effort on the author’s part to show off all the stuff she had learned during her … Read more