S. Andrew Swann's Blog, page 26

Writing Linkage: Queries

For some reason, lately, I've been running across a lot of info on writing query letters. I've written myself about them, but I thought I'd pass on linkage to some of the items I've run across lately.

Joe Moore at Kill Zone gives 8 tips on writing a strong query letter.

A.C. Crispin from Writer Beware on How to Write a Query Letter.

For counterexamples we have Slushpile Hell, (via Redlines and Deadlines)

Then there's a whole site devoted to query critique I found recently, Query Shark.

5 Terms From TV Tropes We Really Could Use

TV Tropes is a massive time sink, but there are some gems in the general pop-culture amusement that I think could use some wider currency with those of us who workshop or otherwise talk about the nuts and bolts of story construction on a regular basis.  Some of these are just too useful not to use.

Moral Event Horizon – You have a character who's the bad guy.  But we all like to believe in redemption, and he's got a tragic back-story that makes him a little sympathetic, and he's got enough...

Two random bits of writing advice

From conversations I had at a party this weekend:

1) After you establish a character in a story, make sure you ask yourself the following two questions before every subsequent appearance of that character:  Where were they since we last saw them?  And what were they doing during their time off-screen?  It's easy to lose track, even with a major character, and pick their thread up right where you left it.  But there's little else that's as jarring to a reader as following one character through ...

Well, it's better than a Nigerian scam

Been a while since I posted some writing-related spam.  Unlike a lot of fly-by-night endeavors designed to separate a newbie writer from their money, this one is not really a scam.  At least, I'm sure they're giving you something for the money.   A lame something, but something.  That is perhaps the best thing I can say about a business this terribly ill-conceived from the name on down.

So, what is the name?

I present AuthorForSale.com! [Are you getting images of strippers doing  Jane Austin...

The Permanent Floating Publishing Apocalypse

Cue REM.

Dorchester Publishing looks at its bottom line and decides OMG we can't afford to do this anymore, switches to e-publishing launching the Greek Chorus chanting "death of print, death of print."

This is premature for a number of reasons. (Not the least of which is the technical reasons I listed in an earlier blog post.)  But the primary one is the fact that this maneuver wasn't an attempt to make money, it's a last ditch effort to stop hemorrhaging and keep the doors open.  As such, it ...

Keep Your Laws off my Starship

I tend to write libertarian-themed Space Opera, which means that when I read this recent blog post by Charlie Stross, I had a bit of a reaction.  Here's the money quote:

"In other words: space colonization is implicitly incompatible with both libertarian ideology and the myth of the American frontier."

Okay then.  I guess it should come as no surprise that I think he's wrong.  Or, should I say, half wrong.

I think I'll first address the point wherein I think he's got it right.  He points out...

Truffle Update

Unfortunately, Truffles has begun taking a turn for the worse.  Again, she can no longer walk, and still no firm diagnosis.  The steps outside were really becoming an issue, especially since I'm going to cons and such and Michelle can't lift Truffles all by herself.  So, now we have the Trufflevator:

Going up:

Top floor, everybody out:

That mechanical engineering background finally came in handy.

Matters of Taste

Following up in the reviewish theme, I thought I might make a little point that will aid many writers in navigating the dangerous waters of throwing your work out there for everyone to see.  I've mentioned before (with absoludicrous examples) that it's always a bad idea for a author (at whatever level) to engage in critiquing reviews of their own work. Of course, the pragmatic reason is because it makes you look like a whack job gone off their meds, or, at the very least, a petty asshole—...

Wherein I note reviews of Wolf's Cross

I try and keep my book pages up to date with review links as i come across them.  However, since Wolf's Cross has been out less than a week, I've gotten more ink electrons devoted to it recently than my other stuff, even aside from the self-promotional Big Idea I mentioned last post. So here's what people have been saying around the interwebs:

Over at BSC Review, Lexi C had this to say:

In Swann's first book in this series, Wolfbreed, we were introduced to a young girl who had grown up...

My Big Idea. . .

Wolf's Cross is out this week, and coinciding with that, my Big Idea piece is up on Scalzi's Whatever:

When I wrote Wolfbreed I wasn't concerned for markets, or genre, or much else beyond having my muse promise not to beat me senseless.  It was written outside of my contracts for DAW, so I had no real constraints on what I was doing, and no expectations of anything beyond its fiery conclusion.  Everything had been wrapped up, the still-living characters all had their main conflicts...