Pointless Plot Elements, Convenience, and Fantasy

I was reading something the other day and one of the things that I disliked about it was how the author had gone about plotting his or her novel. Each element to the plot (each action and reaction) seemed too convenient, as if the author had intentionally done those things just so he or she […]

Writer Problem: Genre “Bias” as Weakness?

Stay with me here. The other day I was thinking about my writing and wondering if one of my problems is that I always write the same genre (or genres, since I occasionally do fantasy, but mostly do science fiction, as far as short stories are concerned). I don’t know how many of you who […]

Plots Are Not Copyrightable

(I am not directing this topic to any specific event, though I know some of you who read my blog will remember me making this statement in relation to a particular incident; here, I am not making the argument in that relation, but in a more general sense.) As much as writers might want to […]

Rejections Are Good For You

Anyone with brains knows that if you intend to be a legitimately published writer, you’re going to get rejected not just once, but multiple times. It’s extremely rare for a writer to avoid rejection by publishers. But rejection isn’t such a bad thing. I’m not sure where anti-rejection discussions come from, but it seems to […]

Or Maybe Don’t Pay the Writer

It seems that my post yesterday stirred a tad bit of understandable “negativity.” Perhaps I am naïve to think that simply expressing irritation on a blog about an issue I consider to be not only important to discuss, but important to resolve, will produce any sort of change in the writing industry. But, at the […]

Pay the Frakking Writer

I’m one to agree with Harlan Ellison when he angrily complains about the state of professional writing. While I myself am not technically a professional writer, I do loathe the level of whoring oneself out present within the freelance and general writing communities. An entire generation of people have come to believe that they don’t […]