Recent content by Michael K. Eidson

Have you ever submitted a short story that you just knew was the greatest short story you've written so far, and had it rejected? I'm not even talking about a novel here. I'm talking about a 4,000-word piece that didn't take anywhere near the time and effort of a novel. Well, short story writers...

For me, world-building is fun and relatively easy, while writing is difficult work. So for the longest time (a few decades), I was more into world-building than I was into writing stories. I reached a point where I decided I ought to have written more stories, and that motivated me to ease up on...

From the viewpoint of the king's underlings, anything the king talks about is political.

I enjoy stories that are resolved by one party outsmarting the other, regardless of whether violence is required to seal the deal or ensuing negotiation suffices. I'm not so sure how easy it would be for someone to write a story resolved only by negotiation that I'd find entertaining enough to...

Spoken like a true plotter. :) Some of us enjoy world building. I started keeping notes on my invented world settings (yes, plural) back in the 70s. I have notes on populations, flora, fauna, local holidays/festivals, landmarks, politics, history, etc. I did this because it was fun for me...

While this is the funniest set of definitions yet, I find it one of the most insightful too. When a story is published and claims to belong to a particular genre, everyone out there with any knowledge of that genre will have some built-in expectations of the story. It's possible, perhaps likely...

I know the undead thingies are gone, but, ya know, there are lots of horror novels with undead, and no one refers to those novels as fantasy novels, or claims that the undead therein are necessarily magical. Of course, those novels are marketed as horror novels, not as fantasy novels, low or...

From 5 Essential Elements Every Fantasy Novel Needs - Writer's Edit: 1. Magic system 2. Well-developed setting 3. Cast of complex characters 4. Central conflict 5. Power structure/system of government That's in general. It depends on the sub-genre you're writing in as to what key...

If these characters are "very famous in the wider world," then it would be reasonable that they would be mentioned in conversations before they make an appearance. This could give the reader some familiarity with these characters earlier in the story, without a need for the characters to be...

The scenes that are the toughest for me are those where the characters have decided they want to do something different than what I have in the outline. Trying to get them under control can be a pain. Sometimes I feel that maybe what they want to do is better than what I have outlined, and so we...

None of the werewolves I know get hangovers, because they don't drink alcohol. Could they get hangovers? The next time I see one maybe I can ply him with beer and find out.

Of course, specific markets have their own requirements, and they can label the works they publish whatever they want, as has been said. But like Mythopoet indicated, if you're looking for a standard in the SF/F realm, then the rules for the Nebula awards, sponsored by the professional...

A little late with this warning. Things got personal back on post #24.

When someone says they didn't say something and it's shown that they did, and then they refuse to accept it, there's no sense in saying anything more, so I won't.

Is my perspective clearer now?