Dungeons and Dragons has an interesting alignment system that charts your character’s moral and philosophical standing along two axes. Axis one is Good vs. Evil and axis two is Lawful vs. Chaotic. The first standard is both common and long standing. Though the precise definitions might change depending on religion or culture or time period, […]
This is a quick, unscheduled post to address something that happened on the internet. I just want to say that I stand by Irene Gallo, and echo the thoughts of Kameron Hurley, Tobias Buckell and Chuck Wendig. Double standards, doubled down by corporate masters. I call bullshit. Jesus Christ, people. Where are the adults?
I’m going to engage in a little nostalgia this morning. This is part of an object lesson, about what can be achieved with persistent effort. It relates to last week’s post on discipline. New writers sometimes complain that they don’t have the necessary talent, that so-and-so was just born a better writer. And there’s a […]
I have a problem with discipline. Up until a certain point in my life, no one ever made me stick with something I didn’t want to do. I played soccer in middle school, but after I got hit in the face with a ball I told my parents I didn’t want to go anymore, and […]
Over the course of my life, I have been fired from one job, and that was on the day that I quit. I was a baker, working the 2 AM to 9 AM shift. I had just gotten married, and frankly I was tired of only seeing my wife in passing, so I turned in […]
In the early drafts of The Pagan Night (when it was still called The Heretic Blade) I had a problem with characters. Their motivations, specifically. My readers kept saying things like “I have trouble believing so-and-so would do the things that he’s doing” which is a troubling thing to hear. I spent some time tinkering […]
This past week I finished a book. Finished is probably a strong word, because there will be another round of revisions, and then maybe a final copyediting pass, but the book is by and large done. I have been writing some version of this book for the last four years, ever since Dead of Veridon came […]
My last post generated some discussion in the realm of self-publishing, specifically a good deal of speculation about why I continued to pursue a traditional route after enduring such a disastrous launch for my first novel. It’s a good question, and something I’d like to address. First, some disclosure. I am not an exclusively traditionally published […]
Writing is a business. It’s a business that’s in trouble, or at least a business in dire transition, but it still follows the fundamental rules of capitalism. When you’re coming up in this job, when you’re still holding on to the warm fuzzies that you get from writers conferences and other supportive, aspirational environments, it’s […]
I went back and forth as to whether I was going to say anything about this week’s Hugo drama, and finally decided that it would be weird to stay utterly silent. So. Here’s my post, in which I say absolutely as little about the Hugos as I possibly can. First off, let me say that […]