 DavidBCoe
read all posts by DavidBCoeFirst off, sorry for the delay in getting this posted. I was at Marcon this weekend, with Faith and Lucienne, and had a wonderful time. We got to see Daniel and Donald, and we met a few new people as well. Fun time. As soon as I got home, I was off to a Passover Seder at the home of a friend, so I didn’t get the chance to write this post ahead of time, as I usually do.
Second, check out the IGMS advertisement just to the right of this post. That is the artwork for “A Memory of Freedom,” by D.B. Jackson. It is the feature story for this month’s issue of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. This is a Thieftaker story, and that figure in the ad is one artist’s rendering of Ethan Kaille, the lead character of the Thieftaker books. I hope you’ll visit [...]
Continue reading The Writing Life: Fear, Want, Dissatisfaction, Defiance
 Faith Hunter
read all posts by Faith HunterI got a fan letter this week, and it was a lovely letter about plot and character and about how a new reader has found fantasy books because of my books. It was all nice. Until the reader offered a constructive criticism. About something I cannot control. Her letter started me thinking, ruminating, and I just wanted to share her letter and my reactions and feelings about it.
Once-upon-a-time, I was quite tender hearted and might have reacted to her letter with some small level of depression. Back when I was younger I felt I needed to be in control—or at the very least be kept constantly informed about things I couldn’t control. Not so much now. Getting older has its perks, and a relaxed attitude about the things I can’t control is one of them. I am not unhappy about her letter. It did not bother me on any [...]
Continue reading The Things I Can Control
DavidBCoe
read all posts by DavidBCoeBaseball season has begun, and, as always happens this time of year, I am reminded of my favorite baseball movies, of which there are many. At or near the top of my list is the somewhat raunchy but hilariously funny Bull Durham. At one point, as the Durham Bulls are in the midst of prolonged slump, their manager gives one of the great speeches in the history of baseball movies. It comes right after he calls his players “lollygaggers.” (“You lollygag the ball around the infield, you lollygag your way down to first, you lollygag inand out of the dugout! You know what that makes you? . . . Lollygaggers!”) He says, “This is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball.”
What I love about this is that anyone who knows anything about baseball knows that the simplicity of the game belies [...]
Continue reading Back to Basics, part V: Writing to a Certain Length
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How To Write Magical Words
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