Science fiction – Mythic Scribes Test Site

Embracing My Inner Fanboy – 10 Things That Fuel My Obsession With a Story

“I don’t really like Fantasy or Science Fiction, but I think I’ll write stories in those genres anyway.”

-No one

This month I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo. It had been a while since I had written anything, and I felt like it would be a good opportunity to try.

Then life happened…a lot. And, long story short, the only way I’m going to make 50,000 words is if I change direction and write a graphic novel where I draw 50 pictures. Get it? Because a picture is worth a thousand words. Sorry, bad joke.

The good news is that I do have a story, and a mythology. I even have some characters. I’ve done some of the foot work. And, one of the exercises that accomplished this for me is that I pulled from my inner-fanboy.

Writing the Military: 5 Biggest Mistakes

by Featured Author

This article is by Joseph Zieja.

I’m an officer in the United States Air Force, and I’ve been wearing the uniform for ten years. I also write.

I’ve had pieces appear in Daily Science Fiction and some other anthologies across the web and in print. So I have a tiny bit of writing clout to back up my military experience, and you can lean on that when I tell you that there are a lot of mistakes in the way that writers portray the military in their fiction.

I therefore present to you the Top 5 Biggest Military Mistakes in Fiction, According to Joe Zieja. I’ll try my best to keep it to speculative fiction, since I know that’s who my audience is, but these mistakes extend to all genres.

One last warning: I’m from New Jersey. Hold on to your self-esteem.

Getting Published in the Fantasy Genre

by Test Administrator

For every first time author, finding the right publisher for your novel can seem like an impossible feat. I recently had the opportunity to chat with fantasy and science fiction author Terry W. Ervin II, whose debut novel Flank Hawk has received impressive reviews. Terry was kind enough to share his own journey to publication with us.

How did you first become interested in writing fantasy, and at what point did you decide to write a novel and see it through to completion?

I became interested in fantasy around the 7^th grade. My sister brought home The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. I read it twice and was hooked on fantasy. A second novel that impacted me was The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. It captured my imagination and made me wonder if I could write something like that. It never went much further than that, although I continued reading and playing fantasy RPGs.