I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where the expectation was that it’d be 60 degrees and raining all the time. This made gardening a pretty easy affair. Most stuff didn’t freeze, and it didn’t get hot enough for tropicals, and the sun came out so rarely that if you skipped a day or two […]
The Failure Garden Read More »
I get asked about worldbuilding a lot, and now that I’m starting a new book, LEGION, it’s probably a good time to talk about what’s working for me and what’s not. Shorter blurb for this one: LEGION is a stand alone space opera about two feuding families battling for control of a legion of worldships
Re-imagining the Legion Read More »
I spent last weekend off the grid at a cabin in Hocking Hills. Packing up four adults, two dogs, and a 2-year-old may not have been the best idea we ever had, but it worked out. Before I came out here to Ohio, the whole “cabin in the woods” horror movie cliché thing was foreign
No Refund for Bugs Read More »
So you may remember that I’m finishing up this book, RAPTURE. It’s the final book in the Bel Dame Apocrypha, about Nyx and her mad gang of magicians, mercenaries, and shapeshifters. It’s got bugs and beheadings. It’s also due to my publisher on April 30th. Learning how to balance book marketing/promo/public presence with actual writing
All Quiet on the Apocalyptic Front Read More »
..and you need to decide if you’re OK with that. I was going through my Youtube videos this week and tabulating views and such. I did several different versions of the GOD’S WAR trailer in an effort to reach different types of readers. For the most part, I think those succeeded. But if you look
Sometimes you’re going to piss people off… Read More »
I’m continuously tinkering with my draft of RAPTURE right now, banging my head against some chapters set in Ras Tieg, which is a country that readers of the Bel Dame Apocrypha haven’t really seen before. It’s no surprise, then, that I haven’t seen it either. No, really. I’ve never been to Ras Teig either. I’m
The Dirty Little Secret to “Imaginative” Worldbuilding Read More »
I’ve reached the point in RAPTURE where I’m excising a bunch of stuff I really liked. I mean, it’s not all vital to the plot or the story or anything, which is why I’m cutting it, but man – it’s stuff I like. See, when I’m thinking about a book I’ll often write little snippets
Murdering my Darlings Read More »
I just read something this week from somebody who said their goal this year was to write something that would “win some kind of award” next year. See my head explode. If you are writing books to get awards, you may want to rethink your priorities. I hate awards seasons. I hated awards season even
What It’ll Be if You Listen to Them All Read More »
Jeff VanderMeer had an interesting post up awhile back that got me to thinking. I don’t remember if it was on his blog or Facebook, and I can’t find it now, but it had to do with how, over time, writers tend to fall by the wayside, overcome by the biz, by personal tragedy, by
Because unless you get hit by a bus, life goes on Read More »
This is just what I picked up today, and doesn’t include my existing TBR pile. Note that some of these will end up being crap. That’s what the first pass is for.
The Library: Where the Worldbuilding Comes From Read More »