Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Archive for June, 2011

Key Conditions for Suspense Part 26:
Patterns for Resolution Elements 1-3

Saturday, June 11th, 2011

by John D. Brown

The following is part of a continuing series. If you wish to start at the beginning, head to It’s All About The Reader.

In my last six posts, I’ve discussed options for the presentation and struggle phases. In my next two posts, I’ll discuss options for the resolution phase and wrap the whole series up.

So let’s look at the resolution phase. Readers want their tension to build to a pitch. Then they want to feel a release. The resolution phase is where you deliver that delicious release.

The resolution isn’t something completely different from what you’ve done before. It’s just another trip around the story cycle. As such, you have:

• Reaction
• Action

• Preparation
• Approach
• Climax

Aftermath

At the end of the struggle phase, something locks the hero into the final showdown. The hero reacts to that thing. The reaction might be short or long, and includes what any reaction would—emotion, thought, discussion, motive, and decision. In Star Wars, this is the sequence where the rebels react to the fact that the empire knows where their base is and is going to obliterate it. It includes the scene where they discuss how they’re going to blow up the death star.
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Tags: John D. Brown
Posted in Advice for New Writers, Information Center, SFWA Blog, The Craft of Writing, Tips for Beginners, Writing Technique | 2 Comments »

Quick Updates for 2011-06-10

Friday, June 10th, 2011

Member News

• Congratulations to SFWA member Robert J. Sawyer whose novel WWW: WATCH won the Hal Clement Award for Best YA SF Novel.
• SFWA member Leah Cypess‘s second fantasy novel, NIGHTSPELL, has been released by HarperCollins. And it got a starred review from Kirkus!
• SFWA member Anna D. Allen‘s Mrs Hewitt’s Barbeque is on sale for 99 cents at Amazon.com and 69p in the UK.

Tags: Anna D. Allen, Leah Cypess, Robert J. Sawyer, twitter
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Little Brother’s World

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

by T. Jackson King

Little Brother had survived as an orphan on the colony planet Mother’s World by following two rules. First you grabbed anything edible before the valuables. Second, you never talked to the garbage. But then the garbage–a Pube girl named Sally–talked to him. Before he knew it, he was running to escape the attention of The Church of the Flesh and had begun a quest to learn why he alone had been born without the GeneCode tatoo that set one’s status, job and destiny.

Tags: King, T. Jackson King
Posted in Featured Book | Comments Off

Quick Updates for 2011-06-08

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

• @mslaurel1 The reading with @nancykress is open to the public. It's at the Kennedy School at 7pm http://is.gd/ktp46Y #
• RT @lightspeedmag: ATTN Writers: Lightspeed's submission queue is currently EMPTY & we're in need of good material. http://goo.gl/mwzAV #
• SFWA member Mary Robinette Kowal will be reading at Uncle Hugo’s SF Books in Minneapolis on Sunday. http://bit.ly/koo91n #

Tags: twitter
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Nightspell

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

A palace filled with ghosts… a thirst for revenge… a heartbreaking choice. “Transcendent and triumphant.”-Kirkus (starred review)

Tags: Cypess, Leah Cypess
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Quick Updates for 2011-06-07

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

• Remember: Nancy Kress, Ted Chiang, & Ursula K. Le Guin read at the SFWA NW reading series in Portland. Tues. 7pm http://is.gd/ktp46Y #

Tags: twitter
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Guest Post: The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People

Monday, June 6th, 2011

by Leo Babauta

“In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for contructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” ~Rollo May

Creativity is a nebulous, murky topic that fascinates me endlessly — how does it work? What habits to creative people do that makes them so successful at creativity?

I’ve reflected on my own creative habits, but decided I’d look at the habits that others consider important to their creativity. I picked a handful of creatives, almost at random — there are so many that picking the best would be impossible, so I just picked some that I admire, who came to mind when I thought of the word “creative”.

This was going to be a list of their creative habits … but in reviewing their lists, and my own habits, I found one that stood out. And it stands out if you review the habits and quotes from great creative people in history.

It’s the Most Important Habit when it comes to creativity.

After you read the No. 1 habit, please scroll down and read the No. 2 habit — they might seem contradictory but in my experience, you can’t really hit your creative stride until you find a way to balance both habits.

The No. 1 Creativity Habit

In a word: solitude.

Creativity flourishes in solitude. With quiet, you can hear your thoughts, you can reach deep within yourself, you can focus.

Of course, there are lots of ways to find this solitude. Let’s listen to a few of the creative people I talked to or researched:

Felicia Day – wonderful actress perhaps best known for her awesome awesome work on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Guild.

I was thrilled when she replied to my email asking about her creative habits. One of the things she said: she makes “sure to be creative first thing in the morning, before doing anything for the outside world, really sets the day up for me. It makes it feel that CREATING is my job, not answering emails.”

Ali Edwards – an author, designer, and leading authority on scrapbooking.

I was honored with a response from Ali as well. One of her top habits wasn’t exactly solitude, but is related: “Do nothing. I have a habit of welcoming time away from my creative work. For me this is serious life-recharging time where my only responsibility is to just be Mom & Wife & Me. Doing nothing has a way of synthesizing what is really important in my life and in my work and inspires me beyond measure. When I come back to work I am better equipped to weed out the non-essential stuff and focus on the things I most want to express creatively.”

Chase Jarvis – an award-winning photographer.

Chase also kindly responded with several of his key creativity habits — see more great ones at the bottom of this post. But here’s one that I loved: “Find Quiet. Creativity sometimes washes over me during times of intense focus and craziness of work, but more often I get whacked by the creative stick when I’ve got time in my schedule. And since my schedule is a crazy one and almost always fills up if I’m just “living”, I tend to carve out little retreats for myself. I get some good thinking and re-charge time during vacations, or on airplanes, but the retreats are more focused on thinking about creative problems that I’m wanting to solve. That’s why I intentionally carve time out. I make room for creativity. Intentionally. The best example of what I mean by a retreat is a weekend at my family’s cabin. It’s a 90 minute drive from my house on the coast. There are few distractions. Just a rocky beach and a cabin from the 60′s with wood paneling and shag carpet. I go for walks, hikes, naps. I read. I did get an internet signal put in there to stay connected if I need it. But the gist is QUIET. Let there be space for creativity to fill your brain.” (more…)

Tags: creativity, Leo Babauta
Posted in Keeping At It, SFWA Blog, The Craft of Writing | 1 Comment »

Clark, Mendelson, and Scott:
New Name for a Fee-Charging Agency

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Every time I bemoan Writer Beware's overpacked file drawers, and wonder whether I should get rid of files for agents and publishers that have gone out of business (or at least consign them to the basement), I'm reminded of why it's important to keep that old information handy. When literary scammers vanish, there's a pretty good chance that they'll return in a different guise.

(Everything that follows is supported by extensive documentation in Writer Beware's possession.)

Once upon a time, there was a fee-charging literary agency called American Literary Agents of Washington, Inc. It was among the first agencies Writer Beware received complaints about when we started up in 1998. Writers reported being asked for a $200 fee (later increased to $250) to "defray submission expenses." The contract was for six months; once it terminated, you had to pay another $250 to re-up.

Needless to say, ALA never made any sales that Writer Beware could discover. As warnings about it started to spread, it did what disreputable literary enterprises so often do: it began conducting business under other names, including Capital Literary Agency and Washington Literary Agency. We got scores of complaints about these companies; when Writer Beware's Thumbs Down Agency List was created in 2006, ALA/Capital/etc. was on it.

(more...)

Tags: Writer Beware
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Key Conditions for Suspense:
Part 25 – Patterns for Struggle Elements 5 & 6

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

by John D. Brown

The following is part of a continuing series. If you wish to start at the beginning, head to It’s All About The Reader.

In my last three posts, I’ve discussed a number of options for elements of the struggle phase. In this post, I’ll finish those.

What leads the hero into the final showdown

The next thing you want to think about is what locks the hero into the final showdown and moves the story from struggle to resolution. I see three things that can do this:

• An insight & decision
• Some piece of information or a tool
• An external pressure

Which it will be often depends on the main obstacle the character faces.

The stories that use insight and decision are usually those where the main obstacle is the character’s internal problem. For example, in stories where love and friendship is on the line and the obstacle is the main character’s values, it may be that the hero has to make a decision to place love above something else.
(more…)

Tags: John D. Brown
Posted in Advice for New Writers, Information Center, SFWA Blog, The Craft of Writing, Tips for Beginners, Writing Technique | Comments Off

Quick Updates for 2011-06-04

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

• @diannefox @moirarogersbree SFWA has accepted electronic publication as qualifying for membership for years. #
• @moirarogersbree Can you point to what you are seeing in our guidelines that leads you to believe that epubs are ineligible? #
• @moirarogersbree Time/Warner, for example, puts out some books exclusively as epubs & we don't make a distinction. #
• @moirarogersbree Also a load of short fiction markets like Clarkesworld and Strange Horizons. #
• @moirarogersbree @diannefox I can understand the confusion. Yes, advances are a different matter. Sorry about that. #
• @moirarogersbree I hope, as reading epubs becomes more common, that publishers will start treating their authors better and pay advances. #
• @tj_michaels @moirarogersbree No. Epub is a technology. Advances relate to business models. We look at business models. Tech is just tech. #
• @moirarogersbree EVERYONE feels mistreated by the IRS. But I hear what you are really saying. #
• @moirarogersbree We'd like to find a way to codify the difference. It's not easy. #
• @moirarogersbree Our new bylaws will make it easier but there's still the matter of self-reporting income. #

Tags: twitter
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