Steven R. Southard's Blog, page 12

My Schedule for ICON 2023

If you’re not planning to be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from October 13-15, consider it. I’m scheduled to appear at ICON, the science fiction convention there. Cedar Rapids means a lot to me—I grew up in that city.

Here’s my schedule for that weekend:

Friday

9 pm               Dyson-Sphere – Megastructures in Space (with Bill Pitcher and Tony Penticoff)

Saturday

9 am               Embracing Technology Isn’t Only For The Young (with Michael Frasca)

11 am             Author Meet a...

7 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Writing

When you see books for sale online or in stores, do you ever fantasize about seeing your name on the cover as the author? Decades ago, before I began writing fiction, I pictured that and wondered, “how hard can it be?”

Beginner Me, Current Me

At that time, I had a great story idea and estimated I’d achieve bestseller status in a year or two. Many facts about writing remained unknown to me then, things I wish someone had told me. Today, I’ll tell you.

Make Characters Appealing. To Beginn...

Should AI Write Your Book Title?

Some writers struggle to come up with titles for their stories and books. Capturing all that text into a few pithy and alluring words seems to confound them.

Yes, I’ve blogged about this problem before, but it’s time for an update based on new technology.

Before I get to that, I recommend reading this post by book marketing expert Dave Chesson. It’s helpful if you experience difficulty with titles.

In his post, Chesson mentioned a new resource to help if you’re stuck thinking of a title...

Love the Books, Not Their Author?

Have you ever enjoyed an author’s books, then found out something disturbing about that author? Did the revelation spoil your appreciation of the books?

I suspect we’ve all been let down by a hero. Perhaps a favorite actor, athlete, politician, or artist did something unsavory, and that detracted from your experience of their work. It stains their reputation, at least for you. You’re no longer able to separate performer from performance.

The works of Jules Verne, my favorite author, com...

Who Really is Poseidon’s Scribe?

You’ve read my blogposts, but how well do you really know me? Though I’m not the boasting type and prefer to keep my personal life private, I’ll give you a brief summary.

According to my mom, I was born with the stub of a Number 2 pencil in my mouth, and enjoyed scribbling on the rails of my crib. She said I wrote before I could talk. At my request, my baffled parents got me a typewriter for my first birthday.

When schoolteachers asked for a sentence, I gave them 500-word stories, and w...

Has it Been 10,000 Hours Yet?

After Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, the Story of Success showed 10,000 hours of practice equaled genius, I felt good. After all, I’d been writing almost that long, so genius and success should lie just over the next rise. A few more hours to go. 

Then along came Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, author of this article in Scientific American, saying the 10,000-hour rule doesn’t apply to creative fields like fiction writing.

Now you tell me, Doc.

His rationale makes sense, dang it. To becom...

Will Your Footprints Get Washed Away?

My father died a few months ago. He lived a long and eventful life. A well-documented life.

During his retirement, he took time to write a series of vignettes about his past, his present, and general thoughts. By ‘a series,’ I mean he typed about 800 vignettes totaling more than 600,000 words.

Credit to phoenixsierra0 on pixabay.com

Why did he do this? Probably best that I let his words explain that. He used the metaphor of leaving footprints in the sand. But his rationale has nothing to...

Procrastinate to be Prolific?

Been meaning to blog about this, but kept putting it off. This article by Loizos Heracleous and David Robson cites studies claiming procrastination can benefit creativity.

The authors quote Agatha Christie as saying she often thought of story ideas while bathing. I suspect many writers have experienced a similar phenomenon. You’re writing and get stuck. You take a break and turn to some dull activity, such as mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, showering, etc., and Bang! The solution comes t...

Author Interview—Christopher M. Geeson

For today’s interview we travel across the pond and talk with a British writer who shares my interests in science fiction, artificial intelligence, and classic SF literature. Christopher M. Geeson’s story “Tyranny Under the Sea” appears in Extraordinary Visions: Stories Inspired by Jules Verne.

Christopher M. Geeson has had several SF stories published, including AI-themed stories in the Flame Tree Press Robots and Artificial Intelligence anthology and The British Fantasy Society Journal—A...

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