David B. Coe's Blog, page 4

Happy News, and the Story Behind It

Today I am posting at Magical Words, the group blog about the craft and business of writing that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, John Hartness, Mindy Klasky, and several others.  The post is called “On Publishing and Writing: A Sale, and a Study in Perseverence," and it gives the long and tortured background of a series -- a contemporary Urban Fantasy trilogy called the Weremyste Cycle -- that I have just sold to Baen Books.  I’m incredibly excited about the sale; even more than I would be usually.  This post explains why.  I hope you enjoy it.

A Monday Magical Words Post About Point of View and Dialog

Today's post is up at Magical Words, the blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain with Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Mindy Klasky, John Hartness and several other wonderful writers. The post is called “On Writing: Creative Intersections--Point of View and Dialog”. It’s a follow-up to a post I wrote a few weeks ago about the ways in which staying true to Point of View can help us address so many of the problems that come up when we write.  As the title implies, this time around I am looking at ways in which POV can strengthen our use of dialog in stories and books.  I hope you enjoy it.

Monday Post for Halloween Week!

I'm kicking off Halloween week with my Monday post at Magical Words, the blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain with Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Mindy Klasky, John Hartness and several other wonderful writers. Today's post is called "A Halloween Post: What Scares This Writer," and it's about the things that scare me professionally.  I hope you enjoy it.

A Blog Tour Post About Point of View

I'm back at Magical Words today with the latest Blog Tour installment.  This one is a post about using Point of View to solve problems that crop up with our writing.  The post can be found here.

"...Point of view is the nexus of character and narrative; it is the place where our character arcs and our story arcs come together.  It is how we inject emotion and meaning into our plot points.  But what struck me so forcefully at this summer’s conventions and writing workshop, is that POV is also the answer to so many problems that we run into as writers when working on a novel."

Check out the post to read more!

Today on the Blog Tour, a Post About Blog Tours. Really.

Today's post appears at the Magical Words blog site -- the site I maintain with fellow writers Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, John Hartness, James Tuck, Mindy Klasky, and others.  The post is called "On Publishing and Publicity: Setting Up a Blog Tour," and it is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. This is not just a topic for established professional writers; if you are an aspiring writer looking to pump up the volume about your new project, you might find this post very helpful.  I hope you enjoy it.

Fall's Here, and the Blog Tour Rolls On!

It is officially fall, so I suppose that the Summer 2013 Thieves’ Quarry Blog Tour has to be over. But the Fall Blog Tour is now underway and today I am all over the place.  I have my usual Monday post up at Magical Words, the group blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain with Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Mindy Klasky, John Hartness, James Tuck, and several others.  Today’s post is called “On Writing: Outlining Vs. Pantsing Revisited,” and it’s about the reasons I have grown more committed to outlining my books

My second post is at SFNovelists, another group blog that I maintain with over one hundred other published authors of fantasy and science fiction. This post is called “Thoughts on Giving a Reading,” and it offers a bit of advice to aspiring writers getting ready to do their first public readings of their work.

Finally, I am a guest today at Mike Dariano’s blog, 27 Good Things.  Mike invites artists and recognized professionals in various fields to blog about three Good Things to Read, three Good Things to Watch, and three Good Things to Use.  It’s a fun site -- I certainly enjoyed writing my entry.  So what things did I choose?  Well, you’ll just have to visit the site and see.

I hope you enjoy today’s posts.

Blog Tour Post on Publishing Trends and Technology

With summer almost over, the Summer 2013 Thieves' Quarry Blog Tour makes one of its last stops at Magical Words, the group blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain with Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Mindy Klasky, John Hartness, James Tuck, and others.  Today's post is called "Quoth the Book: "Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated," and it builds upon an article by James Surowiecki that recently appeared in The New Yorker magazine on e-books, paper books, and the future of book selling.  My post tries to tease out what his observations may mean for writers.  I hope you enjoy it.

A New Interview as the Summer Blog Tour Shifts Into Fall

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post for the Summer 2013 Thieves' Quarry Blog Tour (yes, it's September, but it's still summer officially . . .), and in that time I have attended DragonCon, and been busy on a couple of other fronts that I can't discuss just yet but hope to announce soon.  Today, I am happy to point you to an interview I did with Garrett Calcaterra about writing professionally in the current market.  Originally, Garrett interviewed me for an article he published at Black Gate Magazine that touched on these issues and focused not only on me, but also on fellow writers M. Todd Gallowglas, Wendy N. Wagner, and Patrick Hester.  Today, the full interview is available here, on Garrett's website.  I hope you enjoy it.

Emotion and Writing, Today on the Blog Tour!

Today the Summer 2013 Thieves' Quarry Blog Tour is back at Magical Words, the group blog on the craft and business of writing that I maintain, as David B. Coe, with Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, John Hartness, James Tuck, and Mindy Klasky, among others.  Today's post coincides with the dropping off of my oldest child at college for her freshman year.  So it is called "Grist For the Mill:  Emotion and Creativity," and it is about using personal experience and emotion and memory to strengthen the emotional content of our books and stories.  I hope you enjoy it.  And I hope to see many of you at DragonCon later this week!

Blog Tour Post on Conventions!

After a bit of a hiatus, the Summer 2013 Thieves' Quarry Blog Tour is back with a post about conventions -- specifically DragonCon (which I will be attending next week) and WorldCon.  The post can be found at SFNovelists, the group blog I help to maintain with over one hundred other authors of fantasy and science fiction.  It's called "A Quick Guide to Making the Most of Conventions." I hope you enjoy it, and I hope to see many of you at DragonCon next week!

I'll be attending the con as D.B. Jackson. During the weekend I will be on panels (Urban Fantasy Track, Writer's Track, Alternate History Track), I will have a reading and an autograph session, I will be in a booth in the exhibition hall selling books, and I will be at parties and in the hotel bars having fun and chatting with friends old and new.  Come by and say hello!