Storytellersunplugged

Whenever a critical issue needs to be addressed in my home, I usually call everyone together for a ‘family meeting.’ These meetings aren’t initiated often, maybe once every other year, so my daughters know when they get the call regarding a FM, a situation has come up that will involve the whole family and their input is needed and vital. Although it’s always been understood that attendance is mandatory, it’s never been a rule I’ve had to strong arm. My daughters are ... Read More

These essays are strange beasts. I plan each month’s installment, convinced I know exactly what I’m going to write about. Then something else comes along and hijacks my words. I was going to write about what can happen when someone asks you to read his or her manuscript. I even started writing that article. Then, in the shower yesterday morning, my brain said, no, write about something else.November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, an annual challenge in which writers are encouraged ... Read More

November 11I was in New York City for a few days and meant to post this early….How Music Inspires…By Sephera GironThis month I want to address the idea of music and stories. Right off the bat, I should mention for those that don’t know, I was raised by musicians. That’s right, mom and dad are musicians. Even more romantic, they met at Oberlin College when mom was playing piano in a practice room and my dad peeked in on ... Read More

Our words have weight. That’s something that I don’t often think about when I sit down to write. I’m far more concerned with the story, of getting the characters and the plot and the action down in a way that will make the act of reading an enjoyable one than I am with the impact of what I am saying. I don’t think about the message behind the words or what I’m trying to say through that story itself, at least ... Read More

by Tim LebbonI read a note on a message board the other day that got me thinking about a particular madness from which I suffer. Many of you reading this will be taken by this same madness, and I believe that it’s something fairly unique and really quite fulfilling.I have about four thousand, at a rough estimate. I know someone with almost thirty thousand. I remember a time when I had about two hundred. Ah, easier days.Books, of ... Read More

Hi all,Just a quick apology for not posting today. Still recovering and catching up after returning from World fantasy in Wisconsin. I hit the ground running with school stuff and also a string of social stuff to do, and I tried to put something together this morning for the blog, but frankly it was embarrassingly bad.I promise to do better next month!Sarah x Read More

Voices So I was looking over the posts on the Shocklines message board and ran across one on character voices. It’s always interesting to see what people have to say about that sort of thing, especially because the opinions can range over so large an area, so I read it. Damnedest thing: the opinions vary even more than I expected them to. How cool is that? For me at least, a book is all about the characters first and foremost. If I can’t ... Read More

-- Steven SavileThe vampires made a killing,Filled their pockets up with shillingsSaying someone has to pay.I’ll make my apologies right up front this time, for the nostalgia ridden nature of this essay – as is my wont, I’ve been wallowing in The Jam, Adam and the Ants, Madness, The Alarm, Lloyd Cole and other great songs of my youth, most notably, my one true love… shhhh don’t tell the missus...Aztec Camera.What’s this got to do with writing?Well, bear with me while we ... Read More

"Hi, my name's Jon and I'm a dropped author."(chorus) "Hi, Jon.""It's been just over two years since my last mass market paperback came out from a publisher and well, I'm..."Okay, enough.Here's a simple fact: many, many authors get dumped by their publishers. Sometimes it's a sales thing; sometimes it's personal; sometimes, it's something else entirely. But a lot of authors have been and will get dropped. I hear some of you out there shaking your head, "Nuh uh, ... Read More

....Kelley ArmstrongI'll be keeping it short this month. I'm on vacation, and I have a lot of writing to do. Yes, writing. Novel writing to be exact...which is exactly how I spend the rest of my year.Crazy, right? Probably, but there's a method to my madness.I've written a lot in the past six years. Seven novels, four novellas, countless short stories. For the first few years, I was always ahead of schedule, scanning the horizon for ... Read More