Yesterday a friend e-mailed a short story he’d written for a college course. Could I look over the story and make grammar and word suggestions? he asked. It was no problem, I said, and I’d be glad to do it. I read through the story last night, making a few notes as I went. TheContinue reading “On Editing”
Category Archives: Writing
On Why Things Explode
I told someone today, in all seriousness, that the reason Photon Torpedoes make Really Big Bangs is that the explosive charge is Illudium Q-36, a mineral found only on Mars. This will doubtless come in very handy for his writing endeavors. Bwah-ha-ha!
On Bad Writing
I was thinking today of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was a writer I discovered in college, and I discovered Hemingway much on my own. I cannot think of a single English class where I had to read any Hemingway. One day, I went to the bookstore, picked up a copy of A Farewell to Arms, pluckedContinue reading “On Bad Writing”
On Having the Book in Hand
Yesterday I received from Amazon copies of both Constellations, the 40th-anniversary Star Trek anthology, and McCoy: Provenance of Shadows, the first book in David R. George III’s Star Trek trilogy Crucible. I held Constellations in my hands, ran my fingers across my name on the front and back covers, flipped it open delicately and foundContinue reading “On Having the Book in Hand”
On Annotations
In the spirit of annotations for Star Trek novels such as David Mack’s Harbinger, Keith DeCandido’s Articles of the Federation, and Steve Mollmann & Michael Schuster’s The Future Begins, I have compiled and posted annotations for Star Trek: Constellations, the anniversary Star Trek anthology of which I am a part. Not all of the anthology’sContinue reading “On Annotations”
On "Make-Believe"
Constellations, Pocket Books’ anthology celebrating Star Trek‘s 40th-anniversary, has begun appearing in bookstores and shipping from online vendors. My contribution to the volume, “Make-Believe,” closes out the book. When an Enterprise shuttle crashlands on an alien planet, to what ends will Captain Kirk go to find his men? Why is the welfare of his crewContinue reading “On "Make-Believe"”
Still More on Constellations
I’d thought I’d posted my last pre-release posting on Constellations, the 40th-anniversary Star Trek anthology, two weeks ago with the announcement of the anthology’s contents and running order. I’d thought, at the time, that my next posting would be a comments-thread for “Make-Believe,” my story in the volume. But no! There’s more pre-release news. FromContinue reading “Still More on Constellations”
On Goofy Lines
At work yesterday morning an idea for a short story struck. As I went about my business for the day I massaged the idea, jotted down one line on a scrap of paper, and when I got home I sat down and began putting down words. An hour later, a thousand words later, I wasContinue reading “On Goofy Lines”
On a Story's Scrapbook
Yesterday, cleaning around the office, I went through a pile of papers. There, at the bottom, was the galleys for “Make-Believe.” A few months ago after going through the galleys for misplaced punctuation and misspelled words I left the papers there, and other things–from job postings to work spreadsheets to store supply orders–were placed atop.Continue reading “On a Story's Scrapbook”
On the Book at Hand
Tagged by Keith DeCandido: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 123. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pickContinue reading “On the Book at Hand”