In September of 2007, I started this blog
with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how
little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak
at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the
writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran,
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together
they write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors,
publishers, columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got enough
publications now that I can share some of the things I did “right” and I’m busy
sharing that with you.
While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make
enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the
professional writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what
I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a
point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote
above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and
sales! As always, your comments are welcome!
Probably the most
important thing that went right about “Blood & Spit” was that the story
takes place in a world I have been working in for a long, long time.
The first story I
ever wrote for the civilization that had grown in the clouds of a gas giant
world called River was “The Baptism of Johnny Ferocious”. (I just realized that
I didn’t write about what I did right about that story! That will be a subject
for a later Advice coumn!) In it, I introduced the violent nature of the “skies
of River” and the society that had developed. I also established that it was in
a disputed area of space called the Brink and that the Confluence of Humanity –
who embrace genetic engineering; and the Empire of Man – who embraced Human
purity; were in a constant state of tension.
The second most
important thing was that long ago, when I got serious about my writing, I made
a promise to myself that I wouldn’t write about disposable worlds. A disposable
world, like a disposable diaper, was made for a single use then gets thrown
away. SF writers – in fact all writers – have been doing this since the first
writer pressed a stick into soft clay. We make up places in order to make a
point.
I have no trouble
with that and have done it myself, but it seems both wasteful and vaguely obscene
to create an entire world, use it to make some mundane point, then toss it away
and make another one. Aside from the fact that I enjoy reading series of
stories, it seems to me to be a brand of hubris to tell a story then assume
that there’s nothing else to say in that world.
Last of all, with “Blood
& Spit”, I’ve added to a growing series of stories, developing different
aspects of a complex civilization. In “Into the Deaths”, (accepted for
STUPEFYING STORIES) I look at the responsibilities of the highest echelon of
Imperial society and explore their responsibilities; in “The Stars Like Nails”,
I look at a different world to see how life debts are paid in different
cultures; in “A Choice of Sunrise”, I take on our own ways of looking at the
celebration of a life passed; and in “Hūmbūlance”, I explore the real
foundational difference of Confluan and Imperial society: in the Empire, you
are Human only if your DNA is 65% untampered. Stan Schmidt, former editor at
ANALOG liked this idea. But only three of the six have been published.
Eventually, I’ll merge them into a novel called IN THE SKIES OF RIVER, but
until then, I’m going to keep on exploring the place.
So what did I do
right?
1) I used a world with which I am already
familiar.
2) I refuse to use
disposable worlds.
3) I developed
another aspect of a complicated civilization.
How about you – do YOU
like series? (I know my daughter dislikes them, preferring her stories tied up
by the end! Lots of people do like series but maybe more do not. Certainly CJ
Cherry’s Human/Atevi FOREIGNER series deserves more recognition than it’s
gotten – so do “disposable universe” folks hold sway in speculative fiction
when it comes to awards?)
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