At a recent writers workshop I was surprised to hear repeatedly the question, ‘How do you know how long a piece should be?” and almost as equally surprised to hear the answer “You just find out as you are writing.” Now, no doubt, the writers giving those answers were writers who are more experienced thanContinue reading "Short Story or Novel: Smart Choices Help You Write What You Intended"
The Justice of Kings
One liner: We follow Helena Sedanka, clerk to Sir Konrad Vonvalt, an Emperor's Justice as he investigates a noblewoman's murder and uncovers a political plot that goes much, much deeper. The Pros: The magic is sparse, but very well done. Combining legal considerations, and investigation and fantasy is original and truly refreshing The world feelsContinue reading "The Justice of Kings"
Twitter #PitchContests
So it is the evening of August 25th and I spent the day taking part in the Twitter pitch event #SFFPit. Many of you will know what this is, but for anyone that does not: it is a day where you get to tweet a 280-character summary of your novel as a ‘pitch’, once perContinue reading "Twitter #PitchContests"
Writer’s Block: My Top Ten Remedies
I don’t claim to know it all as far as writing, or writer's block, and I would love, if you have other ideas than below, if you share back via the comments. However, after over a hundred scientific articles, three novels, and a decent amount of flash fiction, I have suffered from my fair shareContinue reading "Writer’s Block: My Top Ten Remedies"
Making your first writer’s website: insight from the recently initiated
Having recently made my own writer's webpage ( gideonpsmith.com ) and having learned a lot from doing so, I thought I would write a blog post about my experience in case it is helpful to anyone else. For anyone not wanting to read the whole blog, I made a helpful summary table at the end,Continue reading "Making your first writer’s website: insight from the recently initiated"
The Bone Shard Daughter
One liner: The emperor's rule is failing, but his daughter Lin has not yet mastered bone shard magic, and will need to if she is to take her rightful place on the throne. The Pros: Awesome magic system dependent on harvesting people's energy by taking shards of their bonesImaginative world on a world of islandsMultipleContinue reading "The Bone Shard Daughter"
Perseids Meteor Shower Next Three Days
One of the things I love about science fiction is the ability to imagine other worlds and the possibilities in the immense universe in which we live. Growing up in rural Scotland, our long, dark, winter nights were the perfect canvas for my imagination. Staring at the stars there you could see the entire bandContinue reading "Perseids Meteor Shower Next Three Days"
Chicon8!
I just registered. I've been to a lot of conferences - physics conferences, geology conferences, natural sciences conferences, student conferences, human rights conferences, medical conferences, and pharmaceutical conferences (amongst others). But this is my first SFF conference and I can honestly say I've never been quite as excited to go to any conference as IContinue reading "Chicon8!"
Gideon P. Smith 