Genrewonk

S Andrew Swann | October 8, 2010

Category: Apotheosis Trilogy, book covers, publishing, science fiction, writing | 5 Comments »
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S Andrew Swann | October 3, 2010

So Scalzi opines on Atlas Shrugged (which I’m currently reading for the first time, via a 64-hour long audiobook.  If you’re curious, the book that filled the Atlas Shrugged slot in my teenage-reader political awakening was the Illuminatus! Trilogy.  Yeah, I’m weird that way.) and while I don’t have a lot to say about his [...]

Category: internet, philosophy, politics, rants, we're all goinna die, writing | 2 Comments »
Tags: Author Stuff

S Andrew Swann | September 14, 2010

Note: This post may contain spoilers, you’ve been warned. A while ago, I posted some tips on writing “tightly-plotted” fiction.  This was in large part due to some reviewers using the term to describe my shaggy-dog space opera Apotheosis.  However, after listening to the audiobook American Gods by Neil Gaiman I thought it would behoove [...]

Category: writing | No Comments »
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S Andrew Swann | September 7, 2010

For my birthday I got a subscription to Audible.com and I’ve lately been listening to American Gods by Neil Gaiman, turns out to be a great choice for an audio book given how deeply rooted the whole narrative is in storytelling.  I daresay you won’t find so many stories-within-stories this side of A Thousand and [...]

Category: writing | 2 Comments »
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S Andrew Swann | September 2, 2010

Well, I’m getting the chance to practice what I preach.  I’ve said that the most important part of being a writer is actually writing, butt in chair, day in and day out.  Right now it would be very easy for me to slack off.  I have one proposal and a full MS in my agent’s [...]

Category: real life, writing | No Comments »
Tags: au, Author Stuff

S Andrew Swann | August 30, 2010

For audiobook fans, I have good news.  Blackstone Audio has just contracted to do an audiobook version of Wolf’s Cross.  I’ve also added buy links for the Audible.com versions of Prophets and Heretics.   I also finally added this widget: . // To the Wolf’s Cross page.

Category: Apotheosis Trilogy, about the blog, blatant self-promotion, wolfbreed | No Comments »
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S Andrew Swann | August 23, 2010

Category: blatant self-promotion, book covers, publishing, wolfbreed, writing | No Comments »
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S Andrew Swann | August 20, 2010

For some reason, lately, I’ve been running across a lot of info on writing query letters. I’ve written myself about them, but I thought I’d pass on linkage to some of the items I’ve run across lately. Joe Moore at Kill Zone gives 8 tips on writing a strong query letter. A.C. Crispin from Writer [...]

Category: internet, publishing, writing | No Comments »
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S Andrew Swann | August 18, 2010

TV Tropes is a massive time sink, but there are some gems in the general pop-culture amusement that I think could use some wider currency with those of us who workshop or otherwise talk about the nuts and bolts of story construction on a regular basis.  Some of these are just too useful not to [...]

Category: internet, writing | 4 Comments »
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S Andrew Swann | August 16, 2010

From conversations I had at a party this weekend: 1) After you establish a character in a story, make sure you ask yourself the following two questions before every subsequent appearance of that character:  Where were they since we last saw them?  And what were they doing during their time off-screen?  It’s easy to lose [...]

Category: writing | No Comments »
Tags: Author Stuff