@timpowers Do you have any advice on finding the right balance between creating fiction and using realistic research to back it up? I think the first story I wrote was too real and my second was too made up.
Small steps add up to miles.
V38: R, R, HM, HM
V39: RWC, HM, HM, SHM
V40 : HM, RWC, R, HM
V41 : RWC, P
"Amore For Life" in After the Gold Rush Third Flatiron Anthology
"Freedom’s Song” in Troubadour and Space Princesses LTUE Anthology
"Experimenting with the Dance of Death" Coming in Jun '24 in Love is Complicated LUV Romance Anthology.
Tim, thanks for your part of the workshop. I've taken it twice hoping to let the information seep into my thinking.
Would you accept an invitation to visit the space station, and while there write a story.
Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships
Thank you!!
v35: Q4 - HM
V36: R, R, R, R
V37: SHM, HM, HM, SHM
V38: SHM, HM, HM, HM
V39: HM, R, SHM, HM
Indie author of The Lex Chronicles (Legends of Arameth), and the in-progress Leyward Stones series--including my serial, Macchiatos, Faerie Princes, and Other Things That Happen at Midnight, currently available on Kindle Vella.
Website: http://ccrawfordwriting.com. I also have a newsletter and a blog!
Short story "Our Kind" published in DreamForge Anvil, Issue #5, and also "One Shot at Aeden" published in DreamForge Anvil, Issue #7!
Tim,
Any writing resources you find particularly valuable? (Not necessarily craft books--anything from solid research sources to useful computer programs could qualify.)
Much thanks,
Liz
If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn't expecting it. ~ H.G. Wells
If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. ~ Mark Twain
R, SF, SHM, SHM, SHM, F, R, HM, SHM, R, HM, R, F, SHM, SHM, SHM, SF, SHM, 1st Place (Q2 V38)
Ticknor Tales
Twitter
4th and Starlight: e-book | paperback
Would having previously self published affect the chances of getting newer works traditionally published?
R:6 RWC:1 HM:9 SHM:3
My Blog
Thanks for being here, Tim! Can you share a few thoughts on the benefits this Contest brings to aspiring writers? Many have launched successful careers through it, more so than any other contest. Why do you feel that's the case?
And here's a question for me. What's the craziest place you've visited while doing research, and the weirdest experience you had there?
Thanks, Tim! My best to Serena!
Hi, Wulf -- the contest has lots of benefits! For one thing, it's for newcomers, so you're not in competition with Neil Gaiman or somebody; and you get all sorts of advice in the workshop from me and Dave Farland and Scott Card, plus heaps more advice after hours in the bar from the judges who attend the event; and Author Services doesn't just drop you afterward -- they arrange interviews and signings, and explain how to handle those things. It's a real launch of a career. And -- the craziest place we ever visited for research might be the ruins of the Houdini mansion off Laurel Canyon in Hollywood -- we had to climb through a fence, climb over ruins and masses of fallen palm fronds, and evade crazy homeless people.
@timpowers Thank you for your advice. I will learn when to hit delete on Grammarly’s suggestions.
Small steps add up to miles.
V38: R, R, HM, HM
V39: RWC, HM, HM, SHM
V40 : HM, RWC, R, HM
V41 : RWC, P
"Amore For Life" in After the Gold Rush Third Flatiron Anthology
"Freedom’s Song” in Troubadour and Space Princesses LTUE Anthology
"Experimenting with the Dance of Death" Coming in Jun '24 in Love is Complicated LUV Romance Anthology.
Great answers Tim. Thank you.
Another fun question for you. ...What's your favorite historical time/setting. What is its appeal to you as a writer?
WOTF Stats
(2014) V31 – R
(2018) V35 – HM
(2019) V36 – HM, SHM
(2020) V37 – R, HM, SHM, Finalist
(2021) V38 – SF, SHM, SHM, HM
(2022) V39 – HM, SHM, SHM, SHM
(2023) V40 - HM, SF, tba, tba
Thanks for your response!
What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever got? What’s the worst?
V34: R,HM,R
V35: HM,R,R,HM
V36: R,HM,HM,SHM
V37: HM,SF,SHM,SHM
V38: (P)F, SHM, F, F
V39: SHM, SHM, HM, SHM
Published Finalist Volume 38
Pro’d out Q4V39
www.rebeccaetreasure.com
Managing Editor, Apex Magazine
Tim, You have been a judge for Writers of the Future for many years. What have you observed is its contribution to SF&F? And, what sets the Writers of the Future anthology apart from other SF&F anthologies?
Thanks!
Hi, John -- Short stories are always where new ideas and new writers show up in our field, and the Writers of the Future anthology is designed exclusively for new writers -- so it's no surprise that a whole lot of the now-established SF/F writers started from the contest and the anthology. Basically it's the fact that the contest is only open to new (i.e. fresh viewpoint) writers, and that the "editors" are a whole lot of established professional writers, that makes the anthology uniquely important. It's all new, in every sense.
Tim, if you had one top piece of advice to give aspiring writers, what would it be?
You've heard it before, but -- read ceaselessly, and not just fiction, and not just current stuff; and write ceaselessly, and get what you write to editors. (Also, re-read books that affect you! It's on the second or third re-read that you see past the scenery and catch on to how the writer got the effects.)
-- and one more thing: read books, don't just listen to them on audio! You need to see how writers break up paragraphs.
Thank you for that- I like the bit about knowing what each character would do anything to get.
"If writing is easy, you're doing it wrong." -Bryan Hutchinson
V36-37: R x6
V38: R, HM, R, HM
V39: HM, HM, HM, HM
V40: HM
Hi, Tim! Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions today. It's been very helpful so far.
I would be interested to hear some of your thoughts on figurative language. I think it can really make a story come to life if done well, but I struggle to incorporate it into my own writing because I worry it will veer into purple prose or that the metaphor/hyperbole/etc. is unoriginal. How do you come up with powerful uses for figurative language, and how do you know when it doesn't fit in the story even if it's good?
I agree that it really makes a story come to life -- metaphor, analogy. I think of Raymond Chandler, Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury. What I do is indulge myself in it in the first draft, then after a cooling-out period re-read it -- and when a comparison strikes me as so striking that it calls attention to itself, away from the story, I cut it. Regretfully sometimes, but you do want it all to be flowing in the same direction, not sticking out in a way that's memorable by itself!
Thanks so much for doing this, Tim. A few more questions.
1. How do you make a good first impression at conferences and such (when you get to meet with agents or editors, etc)?
2. Same question, but backwards. What, uh, makes a bad first impression (things to avoid)?
Brittany Rainsdon
R-SHM-HM-R-HM-R-F-F-HM-HM-SHM-HM-HM-SF-PF-2nd place!
Published Finalist Volume 37 Quarter 4
Second Place Volume 38 Quarter 1
First publication was "Perfectly Painted Lies" published in Deep Magic Spring 2021 and reprinted in the anthology, Best of Deep Magic Volume 2.
Learn more about me at rainsdonwrites.com
Thanks for telling our members about the benefits of the Contest, Tim.
Writing takes tremendous focus, and a novel takes a solid block of time to complete. How do you keep the world away in order to finish your novel? Phones ringing, friends that want to get together, meals to be cooked, shopping and daily appointments to be done, plus for most of us, the job that pays the bills. How do you protect your writing time?
Click here to JOIN THE WULF PACK!
"Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler" won Best SFF Story of 2019! Read it in Writers of the Future, Vol. 35. Order HERE!
Need writing help? My award-winning SUPER SECRETS articles are FREE in DreamForge.
IT’S HERE! Many have been begged me to publish the Super Secrets of Writing. How to Write a Howling Good Story is now a #1 BESTSELLING BOOK! Get yours at your favorite retailer HERE!
@timpowers Thank you! I'll keep that in mind.
V37: -, -, R, SHM
V38: R, SHM, HM, HM
V39: SHM, HM, HM, ?
@timpowers Do you have any advice on finding the right balance between creating fiction and using realistic research to back it up? I think the first story I wrote was too real and my second was too made up.
Well for one thing I generally don't have a story in mind when I begin to do research. I let the research suggest what locales, situations, characters, and problems would be good, and then I more-or-less connect the dots. And I do think that if you're writing SF/F, it's extra important to make everything tangible, real, sensory, moored-in-reality, since you're going to be making some demands on the reader's credulity. So -- mesh your impossible stuff firmly in realistic stuff (even if the realistic stuff is a colony on a Jupiter moon or a Middle Earth-type imaginary world). Crank both realism and impossible up to the max, basically!
Tim, thanks for your part of the workshop. I've taken it twice hoping to let the information seep into my thinking.
Would you accept an invitation to visit the space station, and while there write a story.
I would accept the invitation, though I'd dread actually going! And I think I'd be too nervous the whole time I was aboard to think about writing a story -- I'd probably just be figuring out how to swallow in zero gravity. Afterward I'd write a story!
Thanks Tim. I really appreciate your time and advice.
WOTF Stats
(2014) V31 – R
(2018) V35 – HM
(2019) V36 – HM, SHM
(2020) V37 – R, HM, SHM, Finalist
(2021) V38 – SF, SHM, SHM, HM
(2022) V39 – HM, SHM, SHM, SHM
(2023) V40 - HM, SF, tba, tba
Tim,
Just wanted to say a big thanks for your time here today. I appreciate your efforts with the online Workshop, too--you're section on suspense and known risk for main characters was really helpful.
As have been the many wonderful comments you've shared today.
Thank you!
"If writing is easy, you're doing it wrong." -Bryan Hutchinson
V36-37: R x6
V38: R, HM, R, HM
V39: HM, HM, HM, HM
V40: HM
Thanks so much, Tim! This was fabulous.
Brittany Rainsdon
R-SHM-HM-R-HM-R-F-F-HM-HM-SHM-HM-HM-SF-PF-2nd place!
Published Finalist Volume 37 Quarter 4
Second Place Volume 38 Quarter 1
First publication was "Perfectly Painted Lies" published in Deep Magic Spring 2021 and reprinted in the anthology, Best of Deep Magic Volume 2.
Learn more about me at rainsdonwrites.com
Thank you @timpowers for your time today.
Small steps add up to miles.
V38: R, R, HM, HM
V39: RWC, HM, HM, SHM
V40 : HM, RWC, R, HM
V41 : RWC, P
"Amore For Life" in After the Gold Rush Third Flatiron Anthology
"Freedom’s Song” in Troubadour and Space Princesses LTUE Anthology
"Experimenting with the Dance of Death" Coming in Jun '24 in Love is Complicated LUV Romance Anthology.
Tim,
Any writing resources you find particularly valuable? (Not necessarily craft books--anything from solid research sources to useful computer programs could qualify.)
Much thanks,
Liz
Yes -- Asimov wrote about 400 essays about different sciences, which have been collected into books, and I find them understandable and useful. (I often use physics effects translated into fantasy, which I think makes for a more plausible and unusual sort of magical effect.) Any book called "Day to Day Life in [X]" is useful. Books on religion, sailing, guns/swords, liquor, often provide bits that link up in unobvious ways to suggest stories. General wide input, really, and synthesis, while always looking for clues to build stories on! And I use Youtube and Google Maps all the time. As for computer programs -- I just use Microsoft Word.
Thank you for the great answers to our Forum members' questions, Tim! See you and Serena in October at the WotF workshop!
Click here to JOIN THE WULF PACK!
"Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler" won Best SFF Story of 2019! Read it in Writers of the Future, Vol. 35. Order HERE!
Need writing help? My award-winning SUPER SECRETS articles are FREE in DreamForge.
IT’S HERE! Many have been begged me to publish the Super Secrets of Writing. How to Write a Howling Good Story is now a #1 BESTSELLING BOOK! Get yours at your favorite retailer HERE!
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today @timpowers! As a new writer, I really appreciate the hints and tips from someone who's been in this business for a while.
-David
Death and the Taxman, my WotF V39 winning story is now a novel! (Click Here >).
Subscribe to The Lost Bard's Letter at www.davidhankins.com and receive an exclusive novelette!
New Releases:
"Milo Piper's Breakout Single that Ended the Rat War" in LTUE's Troubadours and Space Princesses anthology
"Felix and the Flamingo" in Escape Pod
"The Ghosts of Hart's Gambit" in Renaissance Press's There's No Place anthology
"The Devil's Foot Locker" in Amazing Stories
Yes, thank you, Tim!
v35: Q4 - HM
V36: R, R, R, R
V37: SHM, HM, HM, SHM
V38: SHM, HM, HM, HM
V39: HM, R, SHM, HM
Indie author of The Lex Chronicles (Legends of Arameth), and the in-progress Leyward Stones series--including my serial, Macchiatos, Faerie Princes, and Other Things That Happen at Midnight, currently available on Kindle Vella.
Website: http://ccrawfordwriting.com. I also have a newsletter and a blog!
Short story "Our Kind" published in DreamForge Anvil, Issue #5, and also "One Shot at Aeden" published in DreamForge Anvil, Issue #7!
Would having previously self published affect the chances of getting newer works traditionally published?
No, not at all. A new work is a whole fresh thing, and if anything the fact that you had a self-published book previously could only mean that you've already got some readers. There's lots of things writers can worry about validly, but this isn't one of them!
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us today @timpowers! As a new writer, I really appreciate the hints and tips from someone who's been in this business for a while.
-David
Thanks, David! It's all my own conclusions and opinions, but -- I think they're mostly valid!