S.A. Swann's Blog, page 19

Where Valentine goes from here

One of the things keeping me from blogging has been a rewrite on my unsold novel Valentine's Night.  I'm nearing the end of that revision, and the MS has gone from 75K to around 95K, and that's with some cutting.  I've attempted to address the issue that I think has kept it from selling, the lack of any depth to my antagonist.  It was one of those problems that no one really flat out said, it was subtle enough that most readers couldn't put a finger on why they were disappointed.  I have to thank fellow novelist Linda Robertson for helping me zoom in on the problem.

She also said my title sounded like soft-core porn, so I have to fix that too.

Writer's Conferences and Apotheosis Reviews

I will be presenting this weekend at The 20th Annual Western Reserve Spring Writers' Conference: Saturday, March 26, 2011 8:30 a.m. – 1: 30 p.m.

My session will be 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

PLOTTING SCI-FI AND FANTASY: Plotting is the engine that makes a story go. You can populate your story with the most interesting characters in the world, have a gorgeous prose style, and present the most intricate world-building imaginable, but if the story has a weak or absent plot, it'll just sit there inert, failing to engage the reader. S. Andrew Swann will present the questions you'll need to ask in a SF/F story—and in fiction in general—in order to rev up that idling plot engine.

In other news, Heather Grove has posted three nice reviews of the Apotheosis trilogy over at Errant Dreams Reviews.

This weekend I will attend my first Millennicon. This is...

This weekend I will attend my first Millennicon. This is a bit of a haul in the car since Me and Cincinnati are on opposing sides of the state. (I'm actually closer to cons in PA than I am to Mellenicon. However, the drive promises to be shorter than the layover I was forced to endure coming back from Radcon.) Anyway, I set off on Friday and if you're attending, hope to see you there. Here's what my panel schedule looks like:

RPGs, storytelling and authorship Friday 09:00:00 PM McKinley
AUTOGRAPHS Saturday 04:00:00 PM Hotel Lobby
READING Saturday 07:00:00 PM MR 1210
Authors Straightjacket: Changing Genres Sunday 11:00:00 AM Harrison
Utopia vs. dystopia Sunday 01:00:00 PM McKinley
When to Use a Pseudonym Sunday 02:00:00 PM Taft

Yet more signage. . .

Again, on Saturday, I will be at a bookstore with a collection of other authors.  This time it will be at Backlist Books in Massillon where I'll be appearing at 1pm with  Lucy Snyder, Gary Braunbeck, and Linda Robertson.

BACKLIST BOOKS
39 Lincoln Way E.


Massillon, OH, 44646

See me this Saturday. . .

I'll be at the Barnes & Noble at Crocker Park, this Saturday March 05 at 1:00 PM. I'll be signing books and talking about writing with Cinda Williams Chima, Mary Ellis, and Linda Robertson.

Barnes & Noble, Crocker Park

198 Crocker Park Boulevard,

Westlake, OH 44145

440-250-9233

Me, Interviewed.

You can find it at the Sci-Fi Fan Letter blog, here.

…And I'm Back

I've returned from RadCon after a slightly longer than intended return trip.  First me and John Dalmas were stuck in Minneapolis for 7 hours while our original flight crew went awol in the snow somewhere in Detroit, and the replacements showed up just in time to be just over their regulation flight time, bumping us onto another flight.  We got John home to Columbus on Monday, but I was stuck at that point (about 11pm) because of the massive ice storms wrecking highway traffic between there and Cleveland.

Anyway, home now.

Things that appeared while I was gone: DAW's LiveJournal has a discussion about Messiah.  And I'm appearing in the March issue of The Horror Zine, with a reprint of my short story "Fealty."

And on to Washington. . .

Friday I am accompanying John Dalmas to Washington State to attend Radcon (sort of a last minute thing for me.)  They're keeping me busy there too.  Here's what my schedule's like:

Sat 12:00-1:00   Climate Change in the 21st Century

Sat 2:00-3:00   It Has to End Somehow

Sat 4:00-5:00   Making a Living with Fiction

Sun 10:00-11:00   Scams and Pitfalls

Sun 12:00-1:00   Ghost, Ghoul or Grandpa?

Sun 1:00-2:00  Prosthetic Possibilities

I invade SF Signal with my sapient army of nanobots…

Or, maybe, a long article on world-building relating back to the Apotheosis Trilogy.  This comes right on the heels of a rather nice review they did on Messiah:

A well-balanced blend of space opera elements, especially large-scale concepts; never a dull moment; interesting characters; Swann's straightforward writing style; rich setting; carefully crafted plot; just about every chapter had some cool idea in it.

Go over there and look at both, and if you comment on my guest post, you may win a signed set of the Apotheosis Trilogy.

Swann about the web

First off, Audible has Messiah back up with the complete audio, yay!

Second, I have a guest blog post up at Buried Under Books, wherin I try to tell the truth about lying.

I've also added to the review pages for Wolfbreed; new mentions at Bookworm Blues and (you have to love this title for a werewolf-themed blog) Lupines and Lunatics.

Lastly, I have to mention that I've achieved some sort of milestone in terms of internet awareness.  My Wolfbreed series now has an entry on TV Tropes.