Category Archives: Writing
On Writing Silly Short Stories
I Tweeted this morning that “I woke up with the feeling that I dreamt a short story, but the feeling doesn’t tell me what it was or anything about it, just that it was.” What that story was came to me, somewhere around 11:30. Unsurprisingly, my immediate thought was, “Wait, I dreamt that?‽!” Clearly, Sunday’sContinue reading “On Writing Silly Short Stories”
On Story Ideas Rattling Around
When it comes to writing, I like to play with form. I’d point to “The Spindle of Necessity” as perhaps the pinnacle of my “playing with form” — the story is a four-part Socratic dialogue, complete with scholarly introduction (and, had I the room under the word cap, it would have had footnotes!) — butContinue reading “On Story Ideas Rattling Around”
On Writing Fiction at Stupidly-Short Lengths
This morning at Shore Leave I will be on a panel, with Dayton Ward, titled “Writing Fiction at Stupidly Short Lengths.” I described this panel, a few days ago, thusly: Learn about Twitterfics, Drabbles, and Flash Fiction as writers talk about creating stories at super-short lengths that make conventional stories look like War and PeaceContinue reading “On Writing Fiction at Stupidly-Short Lengths”
On My 2010 Shore Leave Schedule (Reprise)
Shore Leave begins today. Shore Leave, the media science-fiction convention held in Hunt Valley, Maryland each and every mid-July. :spock: Last week, I posted my schedule, but for the convenience of my three fans, here’s a reprise. 😉 My schedule for panels looks like: Friday Meet the ProsHunt/Valley Hallway — 10pm-MidnightIt’s the traditional author meet-and-greet;Continue reading “On My 2010 Shore Leave Schedule (Reprise)”
On the State of Blogging
I’ve been thinking recently about blogging. Not my blogging, but blogging in general. I’ve noticed, from completely unscientific personal observations, that blogging is on the decline. Eight years ago, when I started up this website, it seemed like the rage. A journal… online! There was no reason I couldn’t have done that before; software (namelyContinue reading “On the State of Blogging”
On Writing to Soundtracks
To an outside observer, my last.fm profile has gone wonky this week. I’m in soundtrack mode. Specifically, Lord of the Rings soundtrack mode. I discovered a few days ago that the soundtrack to The Hunt for Gollum, a fanfilm that dramatizes Aragorn’s search for Gollum during the early part of The Fellowship of the Ring,Continue reading “On Writing to Soundtracks”
On My 2010 Shore Leave Schedule
Shore Leave! It’s the media science-fiction convention held in Hunt Valley, Maryland every mid-July. This year, it falls on the calendar from July 9th through 11th. :spock: This year, barring any unforeseen happenings, I will again be attending the convention as a guest. My schedule for panels looks like: Friday Meet the ProsHunt/Valley Hallway —Continue reading “On My 2010 Shore Leave Schedule”
On Growing Sentences
I took a seat on the train, pulled out my notepad, took my pen in hand. The pen’s tip scratched across the paper, and a sentence was drawn out in ink — Travelers in the lands west of the River Anduin, on the well-worn road that runs from Imladris to the Grey Havens, speak ofContinue reading “On Growing Sentences”
On the Sins of Comic Sans
I like fonts. I have many many fonts. Fonts are cool. Comic Sans, however, is not cool. Todd Klein, perhaps the greatest letterer comic books has ever seen, addressed its myriad problems in a blog post about a year ago: “Comic Sans is nothing more than a way to label yourself clueless about comics, fonts,Continue reading “On the Sins of Comic Sans”