D.N. Schmidt's Blog: DNSchmidt.com

The Horsehead Oasis

A Space Opera Story When I was a kid, my dad and I built a treehouse up in the maple in the backyard. When it was finished, I asked Dad to cut a hole for a skylight. He rigged up a panel I could slide open and closed by pulling a piece of rope. I thought it was the greatest […]

The Chained Space Series is here!

It’s finally Release Day! Check out this new space opera series! When I wrote the first edition of The Screaming Void, the story wrapped up much quicker than I had intended. Instead of the novel I was shooting for, I ended up with a novella. It was still a great book, but I knew there was more to the story. […]

Fixing the Planet of Hats Trope

How to Explain Your Alien Planet’s Single Culture While Earth has around two hundred countries and thousands of languages and cultures, in science fiction, alien worlds often have just one. Or at least, only one that we ever see. This is often called the “planet of hats” trope, or an alien monoculture. Many science fiction fans view single-culture planets as […]

Error: Personality Not Found

Greg and Zoe were walking downtown, people watching and checking out the public art. The Parks Department had put up some new sculptures along the sidewalks. Some were flowers or notable figures recreated in bronze, but others looked more like piles of recycling waiting to be hauled away.The people were almost as colorful as the art. Whenever they passed someone […]

Quick Writing Tip: Fixing Word’s Quick Access Toolbar

This writing tip might be a bit overly specific, but if it saves even one writer from an embarrassing mistake, I thought it would be worth sharing. Microsoft Word has a few icons in the upper left called the Quick Access Toolbar. It’s super convenient, but there’s a problem. By default, this toolbar has icons for Save, Undo, and Redo. […]

The Great Beaver Caper

There once was a kingdom, as I once heard, Where everyone in it was a beast or a bird. The knights were all wolves. The priest was a drake. But worst of all, the king was a snake.The animals had neither silver nor gold. They didn’t get jewels for the food that they sold. Instead when they bought any of […]

The Chained Space Series Cover Reveals

After three years of work, I’m excited to announce one and a half new books! My novella The Screaming Void has been rewritten and expanded into a full-fledged novel, and that novel is now a series! In the Chained Space Series, Jay Jordan and his space junk salvage crew travel the Domain, bending the law like a pretzel and sneaking […]

The Retcon

Troy crept through the side yard to the back of the house. The front door was always locked and bolted, but in summer, they left the back door open with a screen across the opening to keep out the flies. He shoved his way inside. A young couple was sitting at the dining room table, their baby in a highchair […]

Guessing the Plot of Science Fiction Books I’ve Never Read

As a writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about titles – what to name stories, what titles mean, and the images that titles create in a reader’s mind. As a result of all this thought and research, I’ve developed the uncanny ability to deduce a novel’s plot just by looking at the title! To prove it, here is […]

Quick Tip: Every writer gets one-star reviews

Every writer gets bad reviews. It can be for legitimate reasons, like publishing poorly-edited crap, but sometimes it’s completely undeserved. Here are some real complaints I’ve seen in book reviews: I even saw a reader give a book a one-star review because the used copy they bought at a garage sale smelled bad. For some reason, they blamed the author […]