Planetside Full Archives
Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA
No post found!
The SFWA Blog
What’s an Idea Worth?
If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I’m fascinated by the bizarre things that happen at the outer fringes of the publishing universe.
Key Conditions for Suspense:
Part 11 – Make the problem hard to solve with disadvantages
Readers want to hope and fear for a character. To feel this, they must not know what WILL happen, but do need to suspect or know what MIGHT happen and feel tension about the possibilities.
Deadline for Claiming Cash Payment Under Google Book Settlement Has Been Extended
A couple of weeks ago, I reported that the parties involved in the Google Book Settlement had applied for an extension of the deadline for authors to file claims for cash payments for works scanned by Google without permission.
Guest Blog Post: Beware of Pay-To-Play TV Talk Shows
This guest post by author and essayist Kim Brittingham addresses an issue I’ve been getting an increasing number of questions about lately: pay-to-play TV talk shows.
SFWA announces the 2010 Nebula Award Nominees
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is proud to announce the nominees for the 2010 Nebula Awards. The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of SFWA. The awards will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet…
Quick Updates for 2011-02-22
Industry News and Member News for Tobias Buckell, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Jeffry Dwight, Blake Charlton, Allan Cole, and Catherynne Valente.
The Borders Bankruptcy
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
The publishing news of the week–maybe of the year–is the collapse of Borders, the USA’s second largest bookstore chain.
Key Conditions for Suspense:
Part 10 – Clarity, the first principle of plot
Character and problem by themselves don’t go anywhere. You still have to build reader tension to a sharp point. So how do you do that?
Guest Post: Writing and Mortality
Writing is a risky career choice and one that doesn’t always yield a lot of concrete reward or social approval. But if one pretends it’s not a choice, then one doesn’t have to worry about those things, or at least…
Quick Updates for 2011-02-17
Industry News and Member News for Gregory Norman Bossert.
Quick Updates for 2011-02-16
Member News for Nalo Hopkinson, Ferrett Steinmetz, Jennifer Brozek, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Ellen Kushner, and Karen Sandler.
Nebula Nominations close tomorrow, February 15.
SFWA Active and Associate members, tomorrow, February 15, is the last day to nominate for the Nebula Awards. There are some of the 389 free pieces of eligible fiction available in the members’ only Discussion Forum for your consideration. Make…
A Valentine’s Day Guest Post: Tentacle Sex
Doesn’t everyone just love cephalopods? I find them to be a fascinating example of a body plan radically different from our own, the closest thing to a truly alien large metazoan on our planet.
Deadline for Claiming Cash Payment Under Google Book Search Settlement May Be Extended
Authors, publishers and Google have filed a stipulation asking the Court to extend the deadline for filing claims to receive an upfront payment — a “Cash Payment” — in the Google Book Search settlement.
Quick Updates for 2011-02-13
Member News for Eugene Myers, Brit Mandelo, Karen Azinger, Steve Feldberg, Tony Pi, Yasmine Galenorn, Jennifer Jackson, Nancy Kress, and Jack Skillingstead.
Key Conditions for Suspense:
Part 9 – character draws 9-10
In my last two posts, I identified a number of things that make people and, therefore, characters interesting to us. In this post, I’ll present the last two draws and introduce the next condition for reader suspense.
Guest Blog Post: Book Review — "The Street-Smart Writer"
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware
Today, author Marian Perera reviews a book I often recommend for writers who are interested in learning the basics of self-protection in the shark-infested waters of writing and publishing: The Street-Smart…
Ten Terrific Resources for
Writing Space-Based Hard Science Fiction
I would like to share ten resources, more or less, that I think are really terrific when it comes to getting the science right. These will be biased toward my areas of expertise, and will span books, websites, and software….
WSFA Award Announced
The Washington Science Fiction Association has established a literary award to honor the work done by small presses in promoting and preserving science fiction.
Book Giveaway–The Arm of the Stone
One of the important negotiation points for life-of-copyright publishing contracts is including provisions in the termination clause that oblige the publisher to take the work out of print when sales or royalties drop below a minimum level.
In Memoriam: Brian Jacques
British author Brian Jacques (b.June 15, 1939) died on February 5, 2011 following emergency surgery for an aortic aneurysm. Jacques published his juvenile novel Redwall, about a collection of anthropomorphic mice, badgers, voles, and other creatures, in 1986.
Guest Post: Freeing the Statue from the Stone
All life is nurtured by death, and a story is defined not so much by what it is, but by what it is not. Our fiction cannot take on life unless we are willing destroy all of the beautiful possibilities…
Key Conditions for Suspense:
Part 8 – character draws 5-8
We cannot help but be interested in characters who are, do, or have things we want. In fact, this is one of the main draws of fiction–experiencing something wonderful or cool, even if it’s vicariously.
BBC Announces International Playwriting Competition
BBC World Service, in partnership with the British Council, launches the 12th Annual Radio Playwriting Competition, which invites writers from around the world to submit a one-hour radio play on any subject.