Recent content by Russ

And if you like Gaiman (like I do)...remember you have Moorcock to blame (or thank):

It goes particularly well with bananas and chocolate syrup. I prefer mine cold but some people will heat it up.

I think your fear of failure is totally natural and normal. Writing is both a very personal and very isolating endeavour which amplifies any underlying anxieties and fears. You might be able to comfort yourself by knowing that the most successful writers in the world both started off with...

World Builders disease is a terrible thing to be afflicted with if one is trying to write stories. But fortunately the cure is simple. Diagnosis, discipline, deadlines.

Agriculture would be huge. Labour, diplomacy, taxes, economics, gossip...tons of topics to chose from,

I deal with peaceful solutions in my life. Personally I prefer more direct and satisfying conflict resolution in my fiction. I think it can be quite challenging to write peaceful, negotiated solutions that will satisfy your readers. But as said above, if you can do it really, really well, go...

Those are some good numbers. Let us know how long the tail is. My wife's kindle daily deal had a significant tail for about a month, and we have some Kobo and iBook promos coming up that I will be tracking closely as well.

I have read a number of historical fantasy novels. How you write them really depends on if you are writing them as alt-history (i.e. things are so different that the line of history changed), hidden history (lots of cool stuff happened and didn't make it to the history books) or magical history...

Now I am going to have to go back and look. Oddly enough though Lee often works and discusses his books with Steve Berry who I mentioned above.

So I just finished an arc of a book that is due out shortly, that is getting a lot of buzz. It's called the Marsh King's Daughter. It sold for a seven figure advance and the critical analysis pre-pub is very positive. I would add my voice, generally, to that chorus as I think it is quite...

First off I think a search of this site will lead the OP to many vigorous and thorough discussions on the subject of prologues. The conventional wisdom on prologues in the publishing industry, is that, with the exception of limited specific purposes, prologues are not well appreciated. They...

Since I have not yet published fiction my published to thrown away ratio would be pretty hard to calculate. High ratios make sense for beginning writers. They make little sense for people who have developed a high level of skill. I know a bunch of people who make their living writing...

Every vacation is different, and a big family vacation is a tough one to write on. Personally I get a ton of writing done on vacation. My wife is a writer and she likes her writing time, and I am away from the million distractions of both home and the office. I think we both banged out...

Yeah, it can be a little hard to find. Let me give you the outline. Rob is a prolific, talented and kind writing teacher who really invests in his students. That is how I got to know him. I did a week long course with him more than 15 years ago and we have been friends ever since. Anyways...

Octavia Butler was simply an amazing, amazing woman, and a personal hero of mine. Thanks for sharing that wonderful piece SP.