Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 191
June 14, 2010
Updated Fanfic Policy
The Snow Queen's Shadow, draft 2.0, is done! There's a lot of work to do for draft 3.0, but I have a pretty good idea what the biggest problem is with this draft, and how to fix it. (At one point, I thought I had everything worked out and I might actually be able to wrap this book up with only two drafts. Such a pleasant little delusion…)
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I was talking to a friend the other day about my last fanfic post (MZB vs. fanfic), and commented that it's not the actual fanfic stories that intrigue m...
June 11, 2010
Almost there! Stay on target…
I'm so close to wrapping up the second draft of The Snow Queen's Shadow … meaning my brain has little room for anything except getting through these final few scenes. It took a supreme act of willpower to not call in sick today so I could finish.
There's still a lot of work left to do on this thing. Basically, I need to splice in another full plotline and do a lot more worldbuilding. I'm also trying to make sure I include closure for plot threads from the entire series, not just from this b...
June 10, 2010
My Brother
This is my brother Brian. If you've been to one of my Grand Rapids signings, you might recognize him.
The screenshot comes from a news story about a house in Grand Rapids that exploded at two in the morning on the 9th. Brian and his wife live across the street.
Here's the part of the story that gets me. "Hines ran to the scene of the fire within a minute of hearing the explosion…"
He tried to kick in the front door.1 When that failed, he and his wife went around to find another way in. ...
June 9, 2010
Diabetes Details 8: The Damage
Previous diabetes posts are available by clicking the diabetes tag.
My father has had type 1 diabetes for 36 years. A long time ago, I remember him talking about the disease, saying it was strange to know what would probably kill him.
When your Dad says something like that, it sticks. When you're diagnosed with the same disease years later, those words come back again loud and clear.
Of course, these days we're better off, with five-second glucose tests, insulin pumps, and the first...
June 8, 2010
8 Books in 8 Weeks: Week Five
Hm … I think I have ginmar to thank for the influx of new LJ friends. Welcome all, and please feel free to say hello! Or not, if you prefer. It's all good.
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My next book, Red Hood's Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] comes out on July 6, and I'm counting down the days by giving away a book each week. Congratulations to @bkwrrm_tx who won the Twitter giveaway.
Today's contest is a little different. My friend Lisa Shearin (author of the Raine Benares series) has an excerpt and...
June 7, 2010
Open Books Post
[image error]All right, time for a break from the intense blog posts. Let's talk books! Last night I finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] by N. K. Jemisin.
Wow. I'd heard a lot of buzz about this one, which always makes me nervous, because big book buzz doesn't always translate to a book I'll enjoy. But I have to say, this is the best book I've read so far this year, and as soon as I can remember how, I'll be recommending it for the Nebula.
Was it a perfect book? No...
June 5, 2010
"I'm not racist, but…"
"I'm not a racist by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever people start talking about diversity, it's a word I can't stand … What these people don't like is somebody forcing diversity down their throats." -Prescott City Councilman Steve Blair, supporting the decision to "lighten" the dark faces of a school mural.
Click here for a gallery of the offending mural. This is an elementary school where, for several months, passers by have shouted, "You're desecrating our school," "Get the...
June 4, 2010
What is Fanfiction?
This is partly a follow-up to my MZB vs. Fanfiction post from last week, and partly a response to a much-linked post at http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1044495.html which answers author criticism of fanfiction by saying, "You've just summarily dismissed as criminal, immoral, and unimaginative each of the following Pulitzer Prize-winning works…" The post presents a list of works including the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds anthologies, the Tina Fey skits of Sarah Palin, Gaiman's brilliant...
June 3, 2010
Reading Reviews
A discussion came up on one of my author e-mail groups about reading reviews of your work. The point was made that positive reviews can lead to a swollen ego. Negative reviews bring you down. Neither of these are good things.
It's a valid point. When I saw the (ahem) starred Publishers Weekly review for Red Hood's Revenge, it certainly pumped my ego up a notch. "Transcends its predecessors"? "Worth visiting again and again"? Oh, heck yes! On the other hand, Harriet Klausner called the ...
June 2, 2010
Writing About Rape, Part II
In April of last year, I did a post on writing about rape, and how we as authors often do it badly. Recently, I received an e-mail from one of my readers asking if I could do a follow-up on how to write about rape in fiction and do it well.
I'm not going to sit here and proclaim The Right Way to write about rape. What I can do is talk about how I've written about rape in my fiction. I'm not saying I did it right, but maybe this can be a starting point for discussion.
~Spoilers for some of...
