Writers & Illustrators of the Future Podcast

I think you guys might enjoy this. I got to sit down with Dean Wesley Smith and chat about the importance of not giving up.

https://soundcloud.com/writersofthefuture/5-preston-dennett-and-dean-wesley-smith-the-topanga-canyon-never-give-up-story?fbclid=IwAR0P6hF5X3cNIUrTk5dbIzpJ4VZZc-lI6fscszoQDhlZsekQlQc8xLqnwNU

Hey Preston,

Thanks for sharing! I stumbled upon this on Dean's blog and it's an incredibly inspiring story. Listening to this actually motivated me to submit to WotF again.
Cheers,
Helge

I think you guys might enjoy this. I got to sit down with Dean Wesley Smith and chat about the importance of not giving up.

https://soundcloud.com/writersofthefuture/5-preston-dennett-and-dean-wesley-smith-the-topanga-canyon-never-give-up-story?fbclid=IwAR0P6hF5X3cNIUrTk5dbIzpJ4VZZc-lI6fscszoQDhlZsekQlQc8xLqnwNU

Topanga Canyon is a great story! Glad you gave it a happy ending, Preston! I also think it was very fitting Joni sat us together at the gala.

Enjoy his interview with Dean, everyone! It's inspiring!

All the beast,

Wulf Moon

Watched a while back and left a comment in the wrong forum thread - being unaware of this one.

Yes, great story. Very inspiring.

(If I can't improve my stories, I'm wondering if I could at least get a more interesting address. Perhaps I'll just give my house a silly name.)

Orson Scott Card in his podcast says that fantasy novels have trees on the cover and science fiction novels have rivets! You must listen to the podcast at 1:02. Mr. Card explains in detail why you must write fresh stories and not re-writes! Wulf Moon's advice is confirmed by a master! https://www.writersofthefuture.com/podcast?fbclid=IwAR33unX-KJBDnMi2tYTk8pqFXakp-sjw_hRZ-rP1W_wQuvU76GCB-9MaKow

This may be a subtle difference, but starting at 1:02 I didn't hear a call to write fresh stories but rather (in Card's words) to "reinvent" the story. It's fine to do be big rewrites (he talks about ditching even 200 pages and starting over from the beginning) of the same story. What he cautions against is the small-scale rewrites of individual scenes: if you "wash garbage it's still garbage." I.e. if the scene feels wrong, don't try to fix it by shuffling pieces around or tweaks.

It seemed that Card was much less skeptical about editing when the scenes, both individually and in conjunction, seemed right because when they all seem right you already have a good story. At that point making the prose sing could be worthwhile.

I wonder what Card would say about the case where everything seems right except for one scene that seems very wrong. That was actually the situation I was in for my winning story: a bunch of scenes with great pacing and dialog and a good character arc... behind 2200 words of info dump!

He tells the history of fantasy and science fiction publishing! Highly recommended podcast.

And I am adding the link here for everyone (Jason)

59. Tom Doherty, Publisher of Tor, on the history of SF and value of Writers of the Future

If you have an audible subscription, I highly recommend the Great Courses "How Great Science Fiction Works" lecture series. I loved it, and found the speaker very personable. Not always the case - I've quit lectures before because of a boring professor!

He tells the history of fantasy and science fiction publishing! Highly recommended podcast.

Tom Doherty is a giant in publishing. Joe Haldeman and his wife Gay invited me to join them for lunch at the Nebulas one year. Who were they having lunch with? Tom Doherty! One of the most memorable convention lunches I've ever had.

I look forward to listening to this! Thanks, for the reminder, crlisle!

Cheers!

I listened to this last week. I love his broad definition of Science Fiction to also include the likes of Techno Thrillers.

You can tell he is a master of his craft

The Mike Resnick podcast by Wulf Moon will be up and running on Wed, 2/12/2020
For subscribers of Future Science Fiction Digest, it is accessible now.

Mike's stories are funny, creative, and wonderful!
Wulf Moon's podcast is excellent!

Well worth the time spent!
I love Mike's stories!

The Mike Resnick podcast by Wulf Moon will be up and running on Wed, 2/12/2020
For subscribers of Future Science Fiction Digest, it is accessible now.

Mike's stories are funny, creative, and wonderful!
Wulf Moon's podcast is excellent!

Well worth the time spent!
I love Mike's stories!

Very kind of you to post this, Candice! Thank you.

You can hear the tribute podcast of Mike Resnick's stories at Future-Sf.com!

You've got to listen to David Farland being interviewed by John Goodman!
He explains why he changed his name from Wolverton!
Great stuff!

Where can I listen to this podcast?

I need more.

I found this one of the best WotF podcasts. Found him a really interesting speaker - and they have plenty of his books in my library. (Whereas I've had to buy one of Charles Gannon's. Flippin' podcasts are costing me money!)

RJ seems to have found a fan in John.

Link.
https://www.writersofthefuture.com/podcast/
Cast # 104

Link.
https://www.writersofthefuture.com/podcast/
Cast # 104

This one really is fantastic. Filled with great advice for all writers, but especially aspiring. I highly recommend.

John Haas is a winner from Writers of the Future, Volume 35. He was also my roommate for the week and is a great guy. He wrote one of my favorite stories in Vol. 35, and he's got the prequel to the story coming soon through Kevin J. Anderson's WordFire Press. You can listen to the interview here! https://soundcloud.com/writersofthefuture/122-john-haas-when-life-gets-in-the-way-dreams-can-still-be-made-to-happen

John's winner was Damned Voyage, wasn't it? Great story. I wonder how far back the prequel will go?

As for the podcast, I'm still working my way through a couple of the other WotF podcasts each morning. I'll get to John's soon!

Posted by: @scott_m_sands

John's winner was Damned Voyage, wasn't it? Great story. I wonder how far back the prequel will go?

As for the podcast, I'm still working my way through a couple of the other WotF podcasts each morning. I'll get to John's soon!

 

Yes. “The Damned Voyage” was dark historical fantasy, a great example of where the edge is in the Contest on horror. One of my favorites in Volume 35, and it was in the same Q4 as myself and the Golden Pen winner. Dave said in an Apex Writers’ interview that was an exceptional quarter, and he spoke highly of John’s story. Well worth the read and study. John Haas talks about the prequel in the interview, so your answers will be there.

Do take note of John Goodwin’s comments on hopeful, positive messaging for the Contest. They are seeking stories that will inspire the future for humanity. I think it’s important to stay on that side of the line for WotF if you hope to be selected as a winner.

Yeah, I listened to this one a while back. Very easy to put on while driving home from work. I love that the podcast has such a variety of people sharing (including the publisher of Tor!)

I listened to this one recently. Very interesting why he changed his pen name.

Especially given that my last name is Sands.

I'm pretty sure he spoke about not editing? I shudder to think what some of my stories would be like without a once over (several times over).

He also mentioned that every story he's every written has sold, which I thought was cool. I question the quality of one or two of my oldest stories. It's nice to think that some of my slightly older stories just haven't sold yet.

To be fair, part of the reason all of his stories have sold might be because he puts out massive short story collections every so often. In at least one of the collections I've got--because I bought at least two back in the day--I'm pretty sure there's a whole section of short stories he hadn't sold elsewhere, which meant they were getting published there for the first time. (I might be remembering wrong, but I think that's what I remember the intro to that part of the book saying.)

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

To be fair, part of the reason all of his stories have sold might be because he puts out massive short story collections every so often. In at least one of the collections I've got--because I bought at least two back in the day--I'm pretty sure there's a whole section of short stories he hadn't sold elsewhere, which meant they were getting published there for the first time. (I might be remembering wrong, but I think that's what I remember the intro to that part of the book saying.)

That sounds perfectly likely, though to be honest, if all of my stories sold I would probably be horrified. I have written, and still sometimes write, some really junky fiction that I would probably rather nobody reads.

172. Damon Courtney how to build fans with BookFunnel

Damon Courtney (writing under the alias Damon J. Courtney) wrote an epic Fantasy series, Dragon Bond, that he desperately wanted to give to the world (whether they liked it or not). He had already published two books, and now the third and final book in his (to him) magnificent trilogy was complete. But, how to find readers… And so begins the story of Book Funnel. BookFunnel delivers more than 2 million ebooks every month for indie authors just like you.

Click here to listen>>

@jason Thanks for your work on these, Jason. The podcasts are a tremendous resource, giving us a broader perspective on the industry. My faves of late were Hugh Howey and Rob Sawyer. I look forward to Damon Courtney’s. Thanks for the heads up!

173. 3 Australian writers talk about winning Writers of the Future

J. A. Becker (WOTF 37), Michael Gardner (WOTF 36), and C. Winspear (WOTF 36 Gold Award winner) all won Writers of the Future. They all share amazingly different journeys that led them to Hollywood to celebrate becoming winners. And boy do we have a lot of fun!

Click here to listen>>