Then I write 50 pages, discover that I’ve phoned in the heroine, swear a lot, rip her out, do a better job characterizing the heroine, rewrite the outline and restart the first fifty pages, and resume forward writing progress. Rinse. Repeat.
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I love trains, and always have. When I was a kid, growing up in Huron, Ohio, I lived maybe half a mile from the New York Central main line (now Amtrak’s) between New York and Chicago. Sometimes we would get … Continue reading
I write in different genres; I like different kinds of cookies. Today I was in a frivolous mood, so to celebrate Spring I made some little decorated sugar cookies. These are tiny, about one inch across, so one cookie has … Continue reading
I give a writing workshop on generating speculative fiction ideas that has become a sort of fan favorite at conventions I attend. I did it for the first time with a group of writers I was mentoring and discovered that … Continue reading
Recently I’ve been having trouble with my contact lenses. I’ve worn them so long – over 50 years –that most of the time I don’t even think about how different the world looks when my vision isn’t corrected. Like many … Continue reading
Writer Brenda W. Clough has stitched together an exotic quilt of a career and a life. She’s written classic fantasy, fantasy humor, fantasy for children, science fiction, steampunk, and even contemporary mystery. Recent novels include Speak to Our Desires, an unusual murder mystery that takes place in 1969 New York City, and Revise the World, a science fiction tale of time travel, FTL drives, and resurrected Antarctic explorers. Her latest work from Book View Cafe is the re-release of How Like a God, where she asks the question, “Does absolute power corrupt absolutely?” A man on the edge is about to find out.
Continue readingWriter Nancy Jane Moore pursued both the law and martial arts with equal vigor, applying their lessons to many areas of her life. She found that questions of justice, fairness, and equality were extremely important to her. This led to her championing low income housing, food co-ops, and working as a legal editor. As she puts it, she didn’t become rich from the law. However, she is a fourth degree black belt in Aikido, both teaching the art and expanding her own knowledge of it. Here at Book View Cafe we suspect she is secretly a superhero.
Her approach to fiction is equally mind-bending.
Continue readingBy Brenda Clough Oh happy day, the second Hobbit movie is out! Perhaps you, like I, cannot get to the theater this weekend. So to tide you over, here is another LOTR song parody for the occasion, dug out from … Continue reading
Laura Anne Gilman. Writer. Editor. Tired Person.
This has been Laura Anne Gilman’s tag line forever, and with good reason. She does enough work for three people—she’s worked for major New York publishing houses and start-ups, including running the successful ROC Line; she has a flourishing editing business, and writes under both her own name (fantasy, SF, urban fantasy, YA) and L.A. Kornesky (mysteries).
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Writing is not for the faint of heart… or the lazy. I realize the public thinks of authors as desk jockeys who stare out their windows all day until a burst of genius has them rattling their keyboards. All right, … Continue reading