(date: 2024-03-08 07:50:14)
date: 2024-03-08, from: Final Draft blog
Rare is it that a movie will have a studio backing its sequels before the filming of the first frame of the first film. But when visionary director Denis Villeneuve is building the epic world of Dune, based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, the story becomes bigger than a single film can hold, and a trilogy is born.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/what-dune-part-two-teaches-you-about-writing-a-sequel Save to Pocket
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-07, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
Elise’s jewellery is art ans she’s a good person.
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date: 2024-03-07, from: Author’s Union blog
Some of you may recall that Authors Alliance published our long-awaited guide, Writing About Real People, earlier this year. One of the major topics in the guide is the right of publicity—a right to control use of one’s own identity, particularly in the context of commercial advertising. These issues have been in the news a […]
https://www.authorsalliance.org/2024/03/07/writing-about-real-people-update-right-of-publicity-voice-protection-and-artificial-intelligence/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-07, from: Locus Magazine
COVER REVEAL: Check out the drama in this cover reveal for Madison Lawson’s new title: The Registration Rewritten, out from CamCat Books this fall!
From the publisher:
When your greatest enemy is your best chance of survival. Still bearing wounds from her fourteen days of running for her life, Lynell struggles to fill her new role as the heir and leader of the very system that aimed to …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/cover-reveal-the-registration-rewritten-by-madison-lawson/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-07, from: Locus Magazine
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, Shubnum Khan (Viking 9780593653456, $28.00. 320pp, hc) January 2024.
When I started Shubnum Khan’s first novel to be published in the US, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years, I had no idea what to expect. I haven’t read much South African speculative fiction, and nothing that delves into Indian culture transplanted to Africa. It’s not a history or culture I’m familiar with, …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/alex-brown-reviews-the-djinn-waits-a-hundred-years-by-shubnum-khan/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-07, from: Locus Magazine
Baen Books has announced the ten finalists for the 2024 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award:
The Grand Prize winner will be featured on the Baen website. The author will be given a trophy and paid professional rates.
Grand Prize, second, and third place winners each receive free …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/2024-jim-baen-memorial-award-finalists/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Locus Magazine
Users by Colin Winnette (Soft Skull), has been shortlisted for the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
The prize “honors the best published works of fiction by American citizens in a calendar year.” This year’s judges are Xochitl Gonzalez, Alan Michael Parker, and Lynn Steger Strong
The winner, to be announced in April, will receive $15,000. Finalists each receive $5,000. For more information, including the complete five-title shortlist, see the PEN/Faulkner …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/winnette-shortlisted-for-2024-pen-faulkner-award/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Locus Magazine
The Audio Publishers Association (APA) has announced the winners for the 2024 Audie Awards, “recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.” Winners of genre interest include:
Science Fiction
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/2024-audie-award-winners/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Locus Magazine
The Robert E. Howard (REH) Foundation has announced the shortlist for the 2024 Robert E. Howard Awards.
The Atlantean – Outstanding Achievement, Book (non-anthology/collection)
The Valusian – Outstanding Achievement, Book
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/2024-reh-foundation-awards-finalists/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Final Draft blog
“The movie in many ways is about creativity. And it’s one of the reasons why I really love it. It’s not just about an evil haunted teddy bear. It’s about the power of imagination. There’s a reason why the movie isn’t called Chauncey - it’s called Imaginary. It was really fun as screenwriters to just let our creativity run wild and think of all the different ways we could explore imagination and creativity through the lens of a movie,” says Jeff Wadlow, director and co-writer of Blumhouse’s new film Imaginary.
https://blog.finaldraft.com/write-on-imaginary-writers-jeff-wadlow-greg-erb-and-jason-oremland Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Locus Magazine
The winners of the 2024 Fan Activity Achievement Awards (FAAns) were announced at Corflu 41, held February 29 – March 3, 2024 in Las Vegas, NV.
Best Personal Zine
Best Genzine
Best Special Publication
Best Fan Writer
Best Letterhack
Best Fan Artist
Best Fanzine Cover Art
Corflu Lifetime Achievement Award
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/2024-faan-awards-winners/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Locus Magazine
The results of the annual Clarkesworld readers’ poll for best stories and cover art of 2023 were announced in the March 2024 issue.
Best Short Story
Best Novelette/Novella
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/2023-clarkesworld-readers-poll-winners/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Locus Magazine
Convergence Problems, Wole Talabi (DAW 978-0756418830, $27.00, 320pp, hc), February 2024.
After the exuberant fantasy/heist caper that was his debut novel Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, it might be easy to overlook Wole Talabi’s background as an engineer and SF writer. His new collection, Convergence Problems, serves as a rewarding reminder of his connections to more-or-less traditional SF themes and techniques. A story like ‘‘Blowout’’, …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/gary-k-wolfe-reviews-convergence-problems-by-wole-talabi/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-06, from: Literature & a Latte blog
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://player.fireside.fm/v2/FGsx06Yz+1QRzCpub?theme=light" width="740"></iframe></p>Show notes:
<a href="https://www.toddhenry.com" target="_blank">Todd Henry</a>
<a href="https://www.toddhenry.com/books/" target="_blank">The Accidental Creative</a>
<a href="https://www.toddhenry.com/business/thing-every-day/" target="_blank">The Thing You Do Every Day</a>
<a href="https://www.toddhenry.com/creating/alone-with-your-thoughts/" target="_blank">Alone with Your Thoughts</a>
<a href="https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/distraction-free-writing-with-scrivener" target="_blank">Distraction-Free Writing with Scrivener</a>
<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Born-Standing-Up/Steve-Martin/9781416553656" target="_blank">Steve Martin: Born Standing Up</a>Learn more about Scrivener, and check out the ebook Take Control of Scrivener.
If you like the podcast, please follow it in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave a rating or review, and tell your friends. And check out past episodes of Write Now with Scrivener.
Todd Henry teaches people to be more creative and to solve problems. He writes books for what he calls “on-demand professionals.” These are people who “go to work, solve problems, write things, design things, come up with ideas, provide solutions on demand.” His ideas aren’t limited to creativity in business; many of them apply to all creatives, including writers.
Todd points out that “creativity doesn’t like to show up whenever we beckon it. Creativity has to be lured, it has to be cultivated.” This is an important point for creative writers. On his website, in The Thing You Do Every Day, he says that “If you’re a writer, your (everyday) habit of writing things you don’t always care for is what enables you to write the (once-in-a-while) 60,000-word book manuscript.” He explains that “for anyone who wants to write well, and write brilliantly, write uniquely, that starts with having an everyday practice of writing. Some days, you get to the end of your writing session and say, ‘It’s awful, or it sounds derivative,’ but it doesn’t matter because you’re building those muscles, you’re developing the stamina to be able to sit down and write on demand. And the only way you ever get to the point where you do something unique is by persistent repetition and developing your voice over time.”
I pointed out that writers need to read a lot to learn about good writing, and Todd said, “One of the mistakes I think a lot of people make is that they only read, or study, or delve deeply into a specific area of interest that is uniquely attached to their own profession or their area of interest.” Extending this to creative writing means that while you may write in one genre, and read extensively in that genre, it can be helpful to read other types of fiction as well. “You have to be an expert in what you’re writing about if you’re writing nonfiction, especially. But my encouragement would be to listen, and seek inspiration outside of the confines of your specific area of focus, because most of the non-intuitive leaps, the brilliant connections that you’re going to make, are going to come from taking something from over here, something from over there, and finding a connection that nobody else has discovered to this point.”
In another article, Alone with Your Thoughts, Todd discusses a technique he discovered 15 years ago, which involves “plopping down in a chair first thing in the morning with a notebook and staring at the wall” to generate ideas. Most people can’t sit and do nothing. “Most of us are not even aware of what’s on our mind because we don’t pause long enough to discover what our mind is trying to tell us. We expect ideas to happen in the cracks and crevices of our incredibly frenetic life. That’s not the way that creativity works. It’s slow-emergent; it has to be merged over time very slowly, often.”
Todd opened our interview by saying that Scrivener is “one of my favorite tools in the world,” and he uses it to write all of his books. “I can’t imagine now writing a book in anything other than Scrivener because it so perfectly matches the way that I want to work.”
He didn’t use it for his first book, but quickly realized that his process needed improvement, because, “I don’t think in a linear way, nor do I like to write in a linear way.” He did some research and discovered Scrivener, and says, “The thing that I love about Scrivener is that I can write books from the inside out. I tend to write books in sections. What section do I feel like writing about today? It might be in chapter five today, and tomorrow it might be in chapter two. Next week, it might be chapter seven, or maybe I’ll write three or four sections in chapter two today. Because it’s all text files that can be moved around wherever I want, it’s easy to track when I’m writing, and it’s easy to organize when I’m writing in a very streamlined way.”
Todd also loves Composition Mode, which provides a distraction-free environment for writing. “One of the things I love about Scrivener, is I always operate in full-screen mode, I’m always writing with a black screen with white text. There’s none of this, none of the complexity of the distractions, the tools; when I’m writing, I want to be writing, that’s what I want to be doing.”
<p>Kirk McElhearn is a <a href="https://kirkville.com" target="_blank">writer</a>, <a href="https://kirkville.com/podcasts/" target="_blank">podcaster</a>, and <a href="https://kirkville.com/kirks-photos-2/" target="_blank">photographer</a>. He is the author of <a href="https://www.literatureandlatte.com/store" target="_blank">Take Control of Scrivener</a>, and host of the podcast <a href="https://podcast.scrivenerapp.com" target="_blank">Write Now with Scrivener</a>.</p>
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/write-now-with-scrivener-episode-no-36-todd-henry-productivity-and-creativity-author Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-05, from: Locus Magazine
The shortlist for the 2023 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards has been announced, with newly revised and expanded categories.
Best Novel
Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/2023-bsfa-shortlist/ Save to Pocket
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-05, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
Good to know. (I’m still proud of my Cherry story.)
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@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-05, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
I just supported Locus Magazine. Some amazing rewards for people who do likewise…
https://igg.me/at/locusmag2024/x/23242538
https://bsky.app/profile/neilhimself.neilgaiman.com/post/3kmxxoeuzij27 Save to Pocket
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-05, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
Thank you!
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@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-05, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
I’m so proud of it.
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date: 2024-03-05, from: Locus Magazine
Baptiste, Bethany: The Poisons We Drink (Sourcebooks Fire 9781728251950, $18.99, 480pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 03/05/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel. Teen witcher Venus Stoneheart makes illegal potions to support her family, but a corrupt coven forces her to make potions to enslave politicians.
Black, Holly: The Prisoner’s Throne (Little, Brown 9780316592710, $20.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 03/05/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel, second in the Stolen Heir duology in the …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/new-books-5-march-2024/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-05, from: Locus Magazine
Hugo tampering was previously reported, but is updated and expanded below:
On February 14, 2024, Chris M. Barkley and Jason Sanford released ‘‘The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion’’, an extensive look at the irregularities in the recent Hugo Awards presented in Chengdu, China, including a set of leaked emails from Diane Lacey, one of the awards eligibility researchers. The earlier release of the Hugo Awards nomination …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/hugo-awards-tampering-expanded/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-05, from: Locus Magazine
Tor Books founder Tom Doherty is the winner of the 2024 Robert A. Heinlein Award, given for “outstanding published works in science fiction and technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space.” This award is “in recognition of Mr. Doherty’s work in bringing the inspiring books of hundreds of authors writing about our future in Space to public awareness.”
The selection committee consists of science fiction writers and was …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/doherty-wins-heinlein-award/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-05, from: Final Draft blog
Your environment when screenwriting isn’t often talked about, but
it plays an important role in the creative process. From the lighting to
the music you are playing, the ambiance of your workspace can foster
your imagination and productivity from the lighting to the music you
might have playing. Below I’ll give some tips to creating the perfect
environment for screenwriting!
https://blog.finaldraft.com/how-you-can-create-the-perfect-environment-for-screenwriting Save to Pocket
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-05, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
Out in 3 weeks. Pre-order it now wherever you get your books:
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date: 2024-03-04, from: Locus Magazine
The five judges for the Philip K. Dick Award for works of science fiction published as paperback originals in the US during the year 2024 have been announced:
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/2024-philip-k-dick-award-judges/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-04, from: Locus Magazine
Several titles and sets of Frank Herbert’s series that begins with Dune (Ace), including a three-book boxed set and a six-book boxed set, are selling on the Amazon sites today. Two of them rank as high as #3.
Title Debut / #wks on any list NYT 03.10 LAT 03.03 USAT 02.25 PW 03.04 Amz (03.04) UK: Amz UK (03.04) Canada: Amz.ca (03.04)
Items on list -x- number of lists surveyed …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/weekly-bestsellers-4-march-2024/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-04, from: Locus Magazine
Vajra Chandrasekera’s The Saint of Bright Doors (Tor) is the winner of the 2024 Crawford Award, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) for a first book of fantasy fiction.
The awards committee also named honorable mentions:
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/chandrasekra-wins-crawford/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-04, from: Locus Magazine
In conflict, we find clarity.
We all hold contradictory views: We love our families, but they drive us crazy. We want more housing in our cities, but we don’t want our property values to decrease with expanded supply. We want better schools, but we recoil from a 0.1% municipal levy to fund them.
It’s normal to hold contradictory views, but when those views come into conflict, how we act shows …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/cory-doctorow-capitalists-hate-capitalism/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-04, from: Locus Magazine
Paladin’s Faith, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions 978-1614506096, $6.99, 422pp, eb) December 2023.
T. Kingfisher (AKA Ursula Vernon) ventures back into her Saint of Steel universe with Paladin’s Faith. Each book in the planned seven-book series is nominally about one of the paladins whose spirits were broken when their animating saint died. But Kingfisher expands what we know about these paladins, their god, and his demise with each volume. …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/adrienne-martini-reviews-paladins-faith-by-t-kingfisher/ Save to Pocket
@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-04, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
A very educational TikTok about Sandman, swearing and Victorian sex workers.
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@Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky (date: 2024-03-04, from: Neil Gaiman @ BlueSky)
That brings back memories! #babylon5
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date: 2024-03-03, from: Locus Magazine
Equimedian, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Hex 979-8988082712, hardcover, 326pp, $31.99) February 2024
I would venture to guess that most SF fans know Alvaro Zinos-Amaro as one of our best critics and interviewers. Case in point is his recent volume, Being Michael Swanwick, which I reviewed on this platform just a short time ago. But like Green Arrow or Hawkeye, the man has more than one arrow in his quiver. (I …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/paul-di-filippo-reviews-equimedian-by-alvaro-zinos-amaro/ Save to Pocket
date: 2024-03-03, from: Locus Magazine
Same Bed Different Dreams, Ed Park (Random House 978-0-8129-9897-9, $30.00. 544pp, hc) November 2023. Cover by Will Staehle.
Framed from the perspective of Soon Sheen, a writer-turned-tech worker, Ed Park’s Same Bed Different Dreams is an intricate and entertaining puzzlebox of a novel, an expansive and allusive meditation on Korean history and much else. Soon works for GLOAT, a giant and quietly dystopian tech company in the mold of …Read More
https://locusmag.com/2024/03/jake-casella-brookins-reviews-same-bed-different-dreams-by-ed-park/ Save to Pocket