C.B. Lee's Blog, page 125
August 16, 2015
interludepress:
It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the loss of Lex Huffman...
It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the loss of Lex Huffman (@justusunicorns), who was so much more than a member of the IP team.
Lex was a founding partner of Interlude Press, but he was also a treasured friend and family member. A kind soul with a generous heart, Lex was the person so many of us aspire to become. He was brilliant, a Renaissance man, who took great delight in learning as much as possible about as many things as possible, and carried himself wi...
August 15, 2015
Overcoming Self-Doubt
I may have written a post about this in the past. If I have, I’m writing this again because you’re always going to come across self-doubt, but you’re going to learn new ways of coping with it, of understanding how it has improved you as both a person and writer.
Self-doubt is ridiculously common among writers since the arts are so difficult to begin with. For one thing, it’s difficult to make a living off writing. For another, even when you do find a literary agent, there...
August 14, 2015
"I think that queer readers have trouble escaping into a world that doesn’t include queer characters,..."
I think that queer readers have trouble escaping into a world that doesn’t include queer characters, because we know that we wouldn’t be welcome there. In fact, SFF that create worlds without queer characters seem to suggest that we wouldn’t even be able to exist there: our existence is not conceivable in the context we are given. When we read a story that doesn’t include queer people, a world that doesn’t include queer characters, it comes with the nagging message You don’t belong here.
Whe...
August 13, 2015
Crafting Unique and Interesting Locations
If your book requires a lot of scene changes, you should learn how to craft unique locations that help drive your story forward. In fantasy novels (or just most novels in general), no one wants to read a book where all the scenes takes place in the same location. Obviously this depends on your story, but you’ll most likely need to switch it up a bit.
Think about Harry Potter—most of the early books take place at Hogwarts, but Hogwarts is so interesting and there are so m...
Plot A Month W3D6: Plot Mapping With Characters
I’ve stressed character a lot during this plotting adventure, and that’s because I believe that character is truly the key to a good story. A really good book with flat characters is rare (good here not necessarily meaning bestselling). If you have trouble focusing on your plot, working out your characters helps hugely. If you have trouble with your characters, figuring out how the plot revolves around who they are and what they do helps hugely. When we thi...
August 12, 2015
Diverse Mysteries List: Because People of Color Solve Mysteries Too
Ink and Ashes by Valynne E. Maetani
Claire acknowledges the anniversary of her father’s death every year, but this year, her family’s past comes back to haunt her, and ends up putting her and her friends in danger. She learns that her father was a member of the yakuza, a Japanese organized crime syndicate. While trying to learn more about this big secret that no one bothered to tell her, Claire begins receiving my...
