Robyn Paterson's Blog, page 56
December 21, 2011
sleepyti.me bedtime calculator
Now here's a neat idea! sleepyti.me bedtime calculator will calculate the optimal time for you go to bed to wake up at a particular time based on normal human sleep cycles. I think I'll give it a go and see how it comes out!
Rob
This post is from my blog at robynpaterson.com.
December 20, 2011
What Price Nobility?
So, I'm thinking over changes I want to make to Twin Stars in the second draft of the story, and it's mostly little things, but one thing that's come up is the Nobles. I've realized that I haven't done anything to physically distinguish my race of genetically perfected galactic overlords. They basically just look the same as normal humans, but are much more buff and perhaps a tiny bit taller as they're currently described.
The problem is that's not only a little boring, it also lacks a visual ...
December 17, 2011
Advice on Covers
Speaking of the Dead Robot's Society writer's podcast (which I've become a fan of recently), among the myriad topics they've covered, they did two especially good interviews with Robin J. Sullivan of Ridan Publishing. Ms. Sullivan is something of an indie book marketing guru and gave great advice in general in the first interview, but the second interview has some especially good thoughts on the importance of book covers. (Hint- they're the most important piece of marketing material a book h...
10,000 words of fiction a day? Is that possible?
According to author Rachel Aaron it is!
While I think my best so far has been around 4,000 (on really really good day) she claimed in a recent interview on the Dead Robots Society podcast that she's managed as much as 14,000 in a single day. (She says she finished a 75,000 word novel in 12 days as part of a personal challenge, and this was one of the better days.)
How did she do it? Well, as she explains well in the above interview (worth a listen), which was based on this blogpost, it...
December 15, 2011
At 91,746 words, the first draft of Twin Stars, Book One (the novel) is finished! Can I rest now? #amwriting
Well, tonight after two long months of hard work, I have at long last completed the (very) rough draft of my first Twin Stars science fiction novel- right on schedule! I gave myself two months to complete it, and have done so almost to the day! What a long and gruelling experience this has been, and I now have more respect than ever for those who have completed a book! Two months of avoiding TV, movies, video games, and every other time-sucker I could think of to sit and write-write-write.
Mor...
December 11, 2011
December 10, 2011
First Capture: 8-page Go Mini Comic
My friend the artist Brushmen just released a cute 8 page minicomic outlining one of the basic rules of Go. Well worth a look! 
Follow the link you'll find by clicking here:
brushmen @ blogspot: 8-page Mini Comic.
This post is from my blog at robynpaterson.com.
December 9, 2011
Scriptwriting R US. (errr…ME!)
Every Autumn my college puts out a call for new course ideas for the arts department, with the intent that these course will be taught the following September if there's enough interest by students. I tossed my hat in the ring this time, and the results were just released!
I'm the new course designer (and presumed teacher) of Scriptwriting for Mixed Media (working title) at Fanshawe College in Fall 2012.
It's going to be interesting, but I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks to my time...
December 7, 2011
The Swivet [Colleen Lindsay]: On word counts and novel length
Finally! I found someone who lays out the word count targets for different types of books and genres. She's a former professional agent, and knows of which she speaks!
I'd always wondered how long was too long, or too short in terms of word count. Check the link for details.
science fiction & fantasy = Here's where most writers seem to have problems. Most editors I've spoken to recently at major SF/F houses want books that fall into the higher end of the adult fiction you see above; a few of...
December 6, 2011
I am worried about my grade – YouTube
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