Scott Washburn's Blog, page 2
April 7, 2017
Fan Fiction?
So how many of you folks out there have written fan fiction? Come on, it's nothing to be ashamed of :) A lot of very successful writers have gotten their start that way. I'm not into the 'very successful' category yet, but that's how I got my start. Unlike many writers out there, I was not 'born eager to write'. I had very little interest in writing when I was younger and even modest English Class assignments in school seemed a major pain. I DID do some creative writing as a D&D dungeon master and related gaming activities, but never had any aspirations as a writer.
That changed when I started reading David Weber's Honor Harrington stories. I liked them a lot and eagerly awaited the release of each new book. Then, back around 1998 (I was 43!) or so, he released the next book in the series and I found I didn't like the way he ended it. In my opinion he'd left way too many loose ends and the book was about three chapters too short. After fuming about it for a week I was suddenly inspired to write those missing chapters. I'd never done anything like that before, but a month later I had about 20,000 words of prose, something I would have once considered a huge chore. And not only did I like the process of writing, but the other fans I showed the chapters really liked them a lot. Thus inspired, I wrote two complete fan fic novels set in the Honorverse, but using primarily my own original characters. It was fun, and people liked them, too.
That led me to writing some original novels, which led me here, but I never gave up entirely on fan fiction. In addition to the Honorverse stories I also wrote a number of stories set in the Avatar universe (the greatest SF movie of all time, BTW). More recently I've written a number of stories and novels in Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan and Chalion universes. If you are interested, they can all be found on fanfiction.net
I consider fan fiction a great way for a new writer to get started. Instead of having to create everything from scratch they can focus on character and plot and not have to worry about world-building right away. As their skills develop, they can do more and more. It's like a set of training wheels for writers :)
That changed when I started reading David Weber's Honor Harrington stories. I liked them a lot and eagerly awaited the release of each new book. Then, back around 1998 (I was 43!) or so, he released the next book in the series and I found I didn't like the way he ended it. In my opinion he'd left way too many loose ends and the book was about three chapters too short. After fuming about it for a week I was suddenly inspired to write those missing chapters. I'd never done anything like that before, but a month later I had about 20,000 words of prose, something I would have once considered a huge chore. And not only did I like the process of writing, but the other fans I showed the chapters really liked them a lot. Thus inspired, I wrote two complete fan fic novels set in the Honorverse, but using primarily my own original characters. It was fun, and people liked them, too.
That led me to writing some original novels, which led me here, but I never gave up entirely on fan fiction. In addition to the Honorverse stories I also wrote a number of stories set in the Avatar universe (the greatest SF movie of all time, BTW). More recently I've written a number of stories and novels in Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan and Chalion universes. If you are interested, they can all be found on fanfiction.net
I consider fan fiction a great way for a new writer to get started. Instead of having to create everything from scratch they can focus on character and plot and not have to worry about world-building right away. As their skills develop, they can do more and more. It's like a set of training wheels for writers :)
April 5, 2017
Little Rock in Flames!
Nearly done with the Battle of Little Rock and it's turning out better than I had hoped. Giving me goose bumps! )
April 4, 2017
Taxes Done!
Finished my taxes! And I had to report a sizeable amount of book royalties this year! :)
Now, back to writing!
Now, back to writing!
April 3, 2017
Making Progress
The Great Martian War: Counterattack, book 3 in the series, is coming along. I'm up to 63,000 words, so I'm past the halfway mark. The stage is set for the great Martian offensive of 1912. Little Rock is burning, Kansas City will be next. Can St. Louis and Memphis hold out? Can the Martian tide be turned? Can Teddy Roosevelt win a fourth term in office? Exciting times ahead!
April 2, 2017
Geography Lessons
I've been doing a lot of research for my Great Martian War novels. Mostly historical research on the great men of the 1907-1915 period. Men like Theodore Roosevelt, Leonard Wood, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla. But since my stories take place in real locations, I've had to do some research on the geography of the areas, too. Google Earth has been a great help and I think I've done a pretty good job so far. One of the battles took place in the Glorietta Pass in New Mexico and one of my readers recently went through the pass and didn't have any complaints about my description.
But just this last week I did make a goof, but fortunately caught it in time before it made it into Book 3. I'm writing about the Battle of Little Rock, Arkansas right now and I have to admit that I had always sort of considered anything west of the Mississippi to be the "Great Plains" and flat as a pancake all the way to the Rockies. But as I was researching the topography around Little Rock (found a great 1918 map) I realized that it wasn't flat there at all! There are substantial ridge lines north of the city and right on the edge of town there's a huge mound of rock that towers 250 feet above the surrounding terrain. Where did that come from? Well, a little research reminded me that there's this thing called the Ozark Mountains around there :) The flat lands are mostly north and west of that region. Oops! Fortunately, the corrections were simple. Saved by the Internet yet again!
But just this last week I did make a goof, but fortunately caught it in time before it made it into Book 3. I'm writing about the Battle of Little Rock, Arkansas right now and I have to admit that I had always sort of considered anything west of the Mississippi to be the "Great Plains" and flat as a pancake all the way to the Rockies. But as I was researching the topography around Little Rock (found a great 1918 map) I realized that it wasn't flat there at all! There are substantial ridge lines north of the city and right on the edge of town there's a huge mound of rock that towers 250 feet above the surrounding terrain. Where did that come from? Well, a little research reminded me that there's this thing called the Ozark Mountains around there :) The flat lands are mostly north and west of that region. Oops! Fortunately, the corrections were simple. Saved by the Internet yet again!
Number One!
Okay, this is my first blog post ever. I shall post it and if the world doesn't explode, perhaps I shall post another one someday.
