Workshopping with the Hickmans

Back in action after a long vacation, but you’ll see I haven’t been a total slacker.
I’m a regular at BYU’s Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop, and this year I was able to participate in the group led by Laura and Tracy Hickman. Yes, the two people who are directly responsible for all the [...]

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Converging on Everest with Le Guin and Russo

The March 2008 issue of F&SF carried a story by Richard Paul Russo called “The Second Descent.” Its characters are descending from a summit, and their reality and perceptions and memories lose coherency as the story progresses. Generally I prefer clarity in narrative, and quickly forget stories that lack it. But Russo’s story ended with [...]

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My Wife Is Sabotaging Me!

If I never become the famous author I deserve to be it’ll be my wife’s fault.  She knows better than anyone how weak-willed I am.  So I can only ascribe it to malicious intent when I open up one of my Christmas presents to find the Gold Edition of Sid Meier’s Civilization IV.
I’ve wasted more [...]

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Workshopping KidLit at BYU

Last week I participated in the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop at Brigham Young University.  This is an excellent week-long conference with authors, illustrators, editors and an agent, focusing on the whole range from picture book to YA novels.
Writing for younger readers is a new interest for me, something I accidentally picked up a [...]

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8 Things College Football Teaches Me About Science Ficiton

In honor of the 8-team (or 16-team) playoff that the unethical BCS cartel will never let happen, here are some lessons college football teaches me about writing science fiction:

Laundry matters:  Michigan can lose to Appalachian State and climb back into the rankings in a matter of weeks.  But the bar is set much higher for [...]

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Poetry Makes Good Prose

At a reading Leslie Norris, whom I always thought of as a poet, said poetry had become the best way for him to hone his skills for prose.  My own first attempts to write seriously were in poetry. (1,2)
Though I came to know I could never really be a poet, I believe those skills and [...]

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