Captain's Blog
Ahoy, Critterfolk!
New entry May 03
Critter Notices
[It's Freebie Friday in the Critters Store...]
Awesome new book,
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SPECULATIVE FICTION OPENINGS,
from a Critter member whose unearthed a shard of The Secret
to becoming a pro writer. Really good piece of work.
"...if you're at all concerned about story openings, you'd be nuts not to read what Qualkinbush has to say." —Wil McCarthy, author of BLOOM and THE COLLAPSIUM
New Book from a Critter Member
Awesome new book,
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SPECULATIVE FICTION OPENINGS,
from a Critter member whose unearthed a shard of The Secret
to becoming a pro writer. Really good piece of work.
"...if you're at all concerned about story openings, you'd be nuts not to read what Qualkinbush has to say." —Wil McCarthy, author of BLOOM and THE COLLAPSIUM
Stayin' Alive
If you want to make a career of SF writing, STAYING ALIVE - A WRITER'S GUIDE by three-time SFWA President Norman Spinrad, published by your Critter Captain's ReAnimus Press, is an indispensable guide to the SF publishing industry by an expert.How to Write SF
Hot off the presses from ReAnimus Press! The Craft of Writing Science Fiction that Sells by Ben Bova, best-selling author and six-time Hugo Award winner for Best Editor. (This is one of the books your ol' Critter Captain learned from himself, and I highly recommend it.)
Book Recommendation
It's like discovering a new Heinlein book:
POINT ULTIMATE
by Star Trek writer Jerry Sohl.
Announcing ReAnimus Press
If you need help making ebooks from manuscripts or print copies—or finding great stuff to read—look no further! An ebook publisher started by your very own Critter Captain. (And with a 12% Affiliate program.) [More]
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FEATURED BOOK
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The Rules of Writing
> Learning to create art--drawn, written, musical--has its rules. You > don't hold the trombone with your toes and play with your nose > (although there's probably someone who can break even those rules and > create something meaningful). The problem with the word "rules" is that it can mean either "mandatory" (as in law) or "customary." "Rules" in art are the latter, but many beginners assume the former when they hear the word "rule," and thus may inappropriately demand compliance by others. I think of art as having "conventions": "A practice or procedure widely observed in a group; a custom". By convention you hold the trombone in your hands, you don't split infinitives, etc. You should learn what the conventions are, but not feel they are Laws, nor demand others follow them. In critiquing, you can, instead, offer your opinion that someone's unconventional usage didn't work for you. (Now, in the "mandatory" sense, computer programming has Rules. If you misplace a semi-colon in a program, it simply doesn't work. :-)
