Dr. Grasshopper explains the medical improbabilities and impossibilities in Dollhouse. The concern isn’t just bad science, it’s also that real people might become afraid of medical procedures due to the misinformation.
I’m happy to announce a new feature on the SFWA blog, “How to Kill Your Imaginary Friends: A writer’s guide to diseases and injuries, and how to use them effectively in fiction” written by Dr. Grasshopper.
A style sheet is a document the copyeditor prepares that lists the grammatical conventions, characters, places, unusual or made-up words, and the distinctive treatment of words (capitalization, hyphenation, favored spellings, etc.) within a particular text.
This article, reprinted from the Bulletin, explores the various aspects of social networking and how a writer can use them to help promote herself.
Literature is all about metaphors–analogies. One thing is like another. Much of literature works by saying, “This thing is like this other thing.” In secondary world stories, how do you handle metaphors?
A set of six basic ideas with which to approach conventions. Networking is all about being charming and that will vary somewhat depending on the situation. So, here are the basic ideas.
Article by Chuck Rothman on (almost) everything you need to know about agents, including how to avoid scams.
Interstellar space travel. We dream about it. We write about it. Science fiction writers have come up with all manners of interstellar travel, ranging from multigenerational arks, to wormhole generating warp drives that can spit you across the galaxy in a blink of an eye. As wondrous and amazing as all these approaches may be, most suffer from a very fundamental problem.
When writing there will come a moment when you have to deal with furniture. If it’s historical fantasy, steampunk or timetravel you’ll face the question of finding something that is period correct. What did people sit on in 1650? How long have drop-leaf tables been around? What was the most expensive wood?
If you want to go beyond the level of just assigning different skin tones and heritages to random characters, you’re going to have to do some research. Because yes, all people are the same, but they’re also quite different. For now, we’ll set aside the argument that race is an artificial construct, and concentrate on how someone outside a minority group can gain enough knowledge of the group’s common traits to realistically represent one of its members.
Silya finally has everything she always wanted: She’s the Hencha Queen, head of the Temple, and is mastering her newfound talents. So why does the world pick now to fall apart?
Forget messy. Things just got apocalyptic.
Jason Lancour is the author of the fantasy novels, Rise of the Red Hand and Storm Cloud Rising. He tries to spend a small portion of each day with his head in the clouds. In his writing, he hopes to share with his readers what he has seen up there.
Register now for the 2024 SFWA Nebula Conference--A weekend of professional development, panels, and networking for ALL genre writers!
