Superversary

Today marks the first anniversary of the superversive literary movement--where writers who are tired of establishment sci-fi's obsession with repeatedly burning the motherhood statement in effigy strive to raise SF from the ashes. The redoubtable Mr. Tom Simon declares the purpose of superversive science fiction: The subversives have pulled down…
October 2, 2015
The Power of Symbols

The Power of Symbols

Storytellers have always used symbols. Even the most ancient texts contain rich symbolism. So do tales predating the written word by millennia. At first it seems counterproductive to wrap ideas in layers of metaphor. What's easier: saying, "Being too single-minded can land you in trouble," or writing a 635 page book about a guy chasing a…
September 29, 2015
Reply to a Comment on the Previous Post

Reply to a Comment on the Previous Post

Over at Superversive SF, commenter ksterlingh offers constructive criticism of my previous post. Technical difficulties prevent me from responding in Superversive's comments section, so I'll post my reply here. Since the original reply approaches post length itself, I'll address it point-by-point. ksterlingh's comments will appear in italics. My replies will…
September 25, 20152 Comments
Middle Earth 90210: How Tolkien and Howard’s Successors Blew Their Inheritance

Middle Earth 90210: How Tolkien and Howard’s Successors Blew Their Inheritance

As this blog's subtitle implies, I write speculative fiction. So far my works include hard SF, mil-SF, weird fiction, SF/horror, and space opera. Perhaps you noticed the absence of fantasy from that list. The omission seems even stranger when you consider that I'm an incorrigible Tolkien fan. The Hobbit, The…
September 23, 2015

Souldancer Deleted Scene

Whenever I revise a novel, scenes--and even whole chapters--end up getting cut. Most of the time, material isn't cut because it's terrible. Quite often, scenes become casualties to continuity changes. Others need to go because they inflate the number of peripheral POV characters, while some otherwise solid scenes must be…
September 21, 2015

Geek Gab: Writing Ain’t Much of a Living

This week's episode of Geek Gab was supposed to be about Skin Game; then Agents of Shield, but we ended up talking about Daddy Warpig's book deal (congratulations!) and Larry Correia's epic fisking of a HuffPo article on self-publishing. Note to aspiring authors: listen to Daddy Warpig's writing advice. Take notes…
September 19, 20153 Comments
How to build 3D Characters with the Maass Breakout Novel Exercise

How to build 3D Characters with the Maass Breakout Novel Exercise

I've been making final revisions to my next novel, and my editor recommended a few ideas from Writing the Breakout Novel by literary agent extraordinaire Donald Maass. One day, Maass set out to see if best selling novels had any significant common elements. His research consisted of reading 100 novels that had…
September 17, 2015
How to Write Romance

How to Write Romance

Didn't expect a guy who likes space battles, gun porn, and horror films to write about romance, did you?  Well, like others in my theological tradition, surprise is among my chief weapons. I recently finished the final draft of the second Soul Cycle book, Souldancer. While Nethereal had some romantic elements, romance is…
September 3, 2015
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – Strength in Weakness

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – Strength in Weakness

Today marks the release of the latest installment in Konami's hit tactical espionage series, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Since few games are more renowned for their deep, cinematic story lines than designer Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear titles, I thought I'd celebrate the occasion by examining how MGS5 reaches narrative heights…
September 1, 2015
How to Format a Short Story Manuscript

How to Format a Short Story Manuscript

When I first started out writing and submitting short stories, I spent a lot of time and effort learning how to format my manuscripts. Here are all of the short story formatting guidelines I use, conveniently collected in one place. Cover Page The margins should be one inch all around…
August 28, 20151 Comment