May 2009

World in the Satin Bag

Inspiration Station: 5 Places to Get Inspiration For Your Writing

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Inspiration can be difficult to find at times. We get bogged own in our daily lives or succumb to the myth of writer’s block. But these five places might help you open up and get writing again (or expand your creative juices if they’re already flowing): FriendsWho better to get ideas from than your friends? Whether for blogging or creative writing, friends are a great way to discover new stories, ideas, and much more. I get a lot of my blog ideas from one of my Interwebs buddies, Mulluane, who points me to all sorts of articles that I might otherwise never have found. Some have sparked stories, and others have inspired me to write rants. Public TransportationSome of the best characters I have ever written were a direct result of experiences I have had riding the bus to college. You’d be amazed the kinds of bizarre, fascinating characters that ride the bus. True, sometimes the people you meet on the bus, or the train, or wherever, are a bit odd, and sometimes downright disgusting, but I can’t think of a better way to develop unique characters than taking public transportation. If you have the opportunity to do so, ride a single bus route for a few weeks; you’d be surprised the kinds of people that ride the bus, and your writing will be better for it! The NewsWhether science or politics, the news is a huge inspiration machine when it comes to finding unique situations or coming up with ideas for science fiction stories. I doesn’t even matter if you watch or read a biased source, because in the end, news is news and any of it is fair game for creative writing. Read a newspaper or watch CNN and you might find yourself inspired to write something. Other WritersThis one is probably pretty obvious. Reading the work of other writers is not only great for learning how to effectively plagiarize without getting caught, but also for learning about your craft. Published writers have already made it, and you can take a lot from their metaphysical writing book to help you along the way. Natural talent is always important, but seeing others who have worked hard to get where they are can truly help you sharpen your craft and, if you’re in the right mindset, other writers can inspire you to keep at it so that one day you can make it too. The InternetWhether through StumbleUpon or Google, the Internet is a veritable goldmine of information that can spark ideas in your creative head. The Internet connects you with the news, other writers, friends, and everything else. Sharing ideas has become common practice as a result of the the net becoming the monster that it is today. Stir up Firefox and start surfing; you might find yourself inspired! And there you have it. What about you? What places do you go to to get inspiration for your writing? Let me know in the comments!

World in the Satin Bag

SF/F Links: May Won’t Leave Me Alone

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What a better way to keep may interesting than to provide a whole bunch more links to nifty articles around the Interwebs? That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Here goes: Want to know how chocolate can save the world? Look no further than this Futurismic article. H. R. Williams talks about writing, the present, the future, and much more. It gets a bit religious-y at the end, but mostly Williams makes some great observations. SMC Philosophy Club talks about the consequences of time travel. Some old stuff here, but also some good observations and thoughts. Futurismic talks about a drug that can drastically improve your ability to recover “lost” memories. Most likely applicable to Alzheimer’s patients, but still wicked awesome! Ursela K. LeGuin gives anti-SF people what for. Damn good stuff, even if you don’t like her writing. David Kramer has an interesting idea for atheists: protest by putting the Bible into the science fiction section of your local bookstore. It’ll probably get you in trouble, but might be worth trying (and might be a funny joke for anyone who isn’t an atheist). China Mieville tells us about fifty SF/F titles that every socialist should read. Crazy list! Michio Kaku answers some interesting questions about time travel, robot takeovers and other physics-related things. Here’s an interesting video interview with Mahmood Mamdani on the politics of genocide. Might be worth a look if you’re interested in history and the present, and colonialism, of course. Book Giveaways: Booking Mama has a copy of The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams to give away. Literary Escapism has a whole lot of books up for grabs to honor Asian Heritage Month and Latino Book Month.

World in the Satin Bag

5 Black Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors Everyone Should Read

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a list like this, so I thought this list would be a great way to get back into them. The following are five black authors I think everyone should read, even if only once: 1. Octavia ButlerDefinitely a favorite with me, Butler is the author of some of the best science fiction novels to come out of the era following the Golden Age, rivaling even the greats of the pre-social-revolution period. From Parable to the Sower to her Xenogenesis series, Butler has captivated readers everywhere with her brilliant examinations of the human condition. If you haven’t read her work, you should, and I’d recommend her stuff to anyone who happens to like speculative fiction, even if science fiction isn’t your thing; her work is sort of universal. 2. Tananarive DueAuthor of one of my favorite short stories, “Like Daughter,” Due has captured in so few words some of the most pressing issues of our time, from cloning to the lack of Black “heroes” in fiction. She even works with Blair Underwood, if you believe it, and that’s pretty cool in my book. Fantastic writer and definitely worth reading. 3. Samuel R. DelanyOne of the best literary critics and science fiction/fantasy writers of all time, Delany has a knack for philosophy, world building, and downright in-depth storytelling. His critical essays on science fiction are particularly interesting, in case you’re into that stuff. If not, check out some of his best science fiction works such as Dhalgren or Babel-17. 4. George SchuylerAuthor of Black No More, probably one of those novels you should read even if you’re not a science fiction reader, Schuyler has had a rather strong career dealing with issues of color, humanity, and much more. Black No More is a poignant social commentary on the culture of “whitening” (or creation of products to de-black African Americans so they could fit in) that gained prominence during the early 1900s. Definitely worth picking up. 5. Nalo HopkinsonRecognized as an author who draws upon her Caribbean roots, Nalo has had a brilliant career in the fantasy/cross genre world, writing such greats as Brown Girl in the Ring and working with Uppinder Mehan on the collection So Long Been Dreaming. I’d recommend her works if you like softer science fiction or crossover work, particularly Brown Girl in the Ring, which begs a lot of questions about organ donors in the future and the nature of culture and magic in a dystopic setting. And there you have it. What do you think are some must-read black science fiction authors? Particularly I’m thinking of authors who might not be so clearly labeled as fantasy or science fiction, but the names are escaping me at the moment. Feel free to tell me in the comments! I know I’m missing some folks!

World in the Satin Bag

Reader Question: What’s the difference between YA and Adult Fiction?

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Mulluane indirectly asked me this question via Twitter by pointing me to this post on the subject (you can find Mulluane on Twitter here and me here). This is one of those oft-asked questions in the publishing world and, to be honest, I’m not sure why it’s such a difficult one to grasp. As with any genre, YA has exceptions and oddities that are not so easily defined, but the basic definition is almost always the same: YA is fiction marketed at young adults that typically features young adults as the primary characters. Beyond that, there really isn’t any clear difference between the two genres, except, perhaps, that YA has a tendency to contain more bizarre fiction series within its walls. The thing about YA is that it often gets misinterpreted as a genre that must appeal to a particularly young age. People make the assumption that a YA book shouldn’t deal with what they perceive to be adults topics such as sex, drugs, etc. But it doesn’t take a genius to realize that not only are teenagers and even middle school-aged kids talking about all these “adult” subjects today, they’ve been talking about them in previous generations too. This subject has been in the teenage sphere for decades, with traceable origins at least to the sixties, and likely even further back. It’s not like our teenagers are wholly innocent anymore; they are just as interested and concerned with “adult” subjects as adults are. So, it seems fitting that a genre that is meant to appeal to them would contain topics that they are already discussing and already trying to understand. And if they have to get their knowledge from somewhere, better a book than a parent who is unwilling to discuss these things–I believe that parents have largely got what they deserve in their kids today by not being active enough in their lives to even understand what the teen struggle is like now. That said, there is plenty of silliness in the genre, as characterized by many of the quirky fantasy series that permeate the shelves. That’s okay too. There’s no reason why a genre cannot have its silly moments. Obert Skye is to YA what Terry Pratchett is to Fantasy. But at the end of the day, YA isn’t about a particular subject so much as a particular marketing element; it is not a juncture between middle grade fiction and adult, nor is it a depository for pointless fictional drivel. It is a serious genre that deserves credibility just as science fiction or fantasy do, and the fact that it is still under appreciated for what it provides society is disturbing at best. And that’s that!—————- If you have a question you’d like to see answered, feel free to leave it as a comment or send it to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com. The questions need not be serious ones; silly questions are welcome! If you like this post, consider stumbling it, digging it, or even just commenting. Thanks!

World in the Satin Bag

Story Wordle: “King of the Holo”

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I love Wordle. It’s so bizarrely addictive. Here’s one for one of my flash fiction pieces: (Edit: You’ll have to click here for it. Sometimes the Wordle code doesn’t work. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t.) Enjoy and feel free to let me know about any you’ve done!

World in the Satin Bag

SF/F Links: the Sorta-Bimonthly May Batch

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Well, I’ve got quite a lot of links to share with you all. So here goes: Here is some excellent advice on how to take criticism from Copy Write. Great article from Larry Niven on making up words in SF/F. This is a bit old, but I like it: 11 literary references people make without realizing it. I don’t agree that all of them are unknown, but it’s a good list nonetheless. Want to flood the world and see what will happen if Global Warming melts all the ice? Well go no further than here! I’ve used this site for a couple short stories, actually. This writing site is really quite cute. I thought it was for kids at first, but really it’s just using cute monster things to further the writing agenda, which is awesome. Old Bat’s Belfry talks about how she uses social networking for her blog. Might be of interest to some of you out there who are blogging or are interested in it. Also from the author of Old Bat’s Belfry (Mulluane) comes this awesome Squidoo lens that highlights all the twitter feeds for various authors, book bloggers, etc. in the SF/F community. I’m in it, in case anyone is curious (and you can certainly vote me up the list to make me feel more awesome than I already do). I’m not sure how legal this is, but here is a program that allows you to download books from Google Books. The Book Publicity Blog asks whether email is outdated. I don’t think it is, what about you? The Big Bad Book Blog has an awesome list on how much money authors make, along with some nifty sales figures and other interesting stiff about publishing you might want to know. Job Profiles has a list of 50 open source resources for writers. A lot of really nifty stuff there that you might want to check out. Book Giveaways: Books By Their Cover has an enormous giveaway of books. Too many to list here. Go check them out! S. Krishna has a collection of 5 books to give away for Asian American Heritage month! Check it out! Fantasy Dreamer is giving away a copy of S. J. Day’s Eve of Darkness. ScifiGuy has a copy of Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carrey to give away. Reviewer X is giving away a copy of Saundra Mitchell’s Shadowed Summer (a debut novel!). Also of interest is Saundra’s publishing story, which I think is a neat feature over at Reviewer X. Suzanne McLeod is giving away another copy of her new book The Cold Kiss of Death. That’s it for this batch. Enjoy!

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