Infinite Realms and Boundless Imagination – Scifi by Jackson Allen
So yeah, life is horrible sometimes but you know what? Sometimes people are really cool. I posted something on Imgur yesterday about the struggle of being an author. The real story wasn’t the picture, though. It was how kind the community was to me and the other struggling, aspiring authors in the thread. To promote…
So let me talk to the authors and aspiring creatives for a moment. Like you, I suffer with author ‘imposter syndrome’ and other toxic self-defeating behaviors. Many authors do. That’s why I cheer when Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi murder your author myths. They’ve already been through the meatgrinder, giving them the requisite insight to…
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Even a blind pig finds acorns once in a while. I ran across some writing rules from Emmy-Winning writer and producer Dan O’Shannon and am passing them along to you. Ignore for the moment that Dan’s career spans hit series’ like Cheers, Frasier and Modern Family. Now he’s back in Ohio, spinning out wisdom on…
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The heatwave is over, thank God. Makes you wonder how Tennessee Williams, and William Faulkner did it. They wrote amazing, poetic stories about love and loss. All I could do was take care of the cats and try not to think about moving to Siberia. A rejection and a round of feedback from my beta…
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Shout-out to @ThomHarp for this writing hack, which lets you effortlessly build your scenes whether you’re writing a novel, a short story, or a movie screenplay. Like many of you, I’m on the lookout for any tool or hack that simplifies the process of writing. That’s why I found this little trick to be a…
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Inspiration comes from the strangest places. Two weeks ago, a news article about unruly air passengers led to an idea that I expressed on Reddit: “BRB, making a ‘If you act up on this plane I will help the flight attendants kick your butt’ shirt.” Some Redditors expressed interest, leading to a new t-shirt design…
Some quick notes for this Wednesday morning – while Mesh makes the rounds with lit agents, I’m starting work on a new novel. This includes story mapping to help me figure out where and when everything will happen. I will admit, right now I’m not happy with what I have so far. That’s okay. One…
No Sci-Friday this week. I’ve been shooting out author query letters for MESH and that brings up another author-related topic for you, the aspiring writer. You’ve written your first novel – congratulations! That’s a big step, and you should be proud of yourself. Now it’s time to think about selling your project to a publishing…
Ran into this helpful site while discussing short story publishing. The Submission Grinder is a website dedicated to the process of submitting scifi and fantasy short stories. Why? Because you get rejected a lot! Every SF/F writer has about a million rejection slips on their desk these days. This revelation has given me new energy…
Fun fact: You can type the phrase ‘beta readers’ only using your left hand. These are the things you learn, slamming to a stop after months of writing, fretting, honing, and polishing your very own novel. Last Friday, I turned Mesh over to my beta readers and stood back to let them read, review, comment,…