Seattle WorldCon
I’m one of the programming leads, so most of the time I’ll be hanging out monitoring the sessions I organized. I will be at the Friday autographing 10:30-11:30 and then will be reading at 3 PM as well. I helped organize the writing classes track, and I am superstoked to present what I think are some very cool offerings, including a class on Writing LitRPG with Matt Dinniman, Linda Addison talking about writing horror, and Michael Swanwick discussing how to write flash fiction.
If you’re a member of my Patreon community, I am scheduling a couple of meet-ups for my peeps and I will have buttons and badge ribbons to give out. Look for locations and times to be posted on Discord and the Patreon.
New Books
This fall I’ve got not one, but TWO books coming out. The first, being released on September 30, is the final book in the Tabat Quartet, WINGS OF TABAT, which you can pre-order here. It will be appearing in audio book as well.
The second is a story collection from Hydra House, ALL THE PRETTY LITTLE MERMAIDS, which should be appearing in November. This will be my third book with Hydra House and I know it will be just as lovely as the first two. I should be posting the cover and pre-order information soon.
Upcoming Classes
9/6 Creating Mood and Atmosphere in Your Fiction. 9:30-11:30 AM Eastern.
Mood matters, whether you’re writing cozy fantasy, hard-hitting horror, or interstellar hijinks. In this class, we’ll discuss tips, tricks, and techniques for creating the mood and atmosphere you want in your fiction. $39; Patreon rate is $29.
9/7, 9/14 & 9/21 Using Theme and Motif in Your Fiction, 7-9 PM Eastern.
Everyone tells you that a story needs a theme, but how do you figure out what your story’s theme is? And once you know that, how do you go about conveying and underscoring that theme without hammering a reader over the head with it? How do motifs, symbols, and other devices work to enhance the theme? We will explore theme, motifs, and symbols from a craft perspective and develop skills with them through a mixture of lecture, discussion, and writing exercises. Three part class. $199; Patreon rate is $149.
10/4 Creating Tension and Suspense in Stories. 9:30-11:30 AM Eastern.
You want to keep your reader on the edge of their seat – but not frustrate them so much they quit reading. How do you find that balance? In this class, we’ll discuss tips, tricks, and techniques for creating the tension and suspense you want in your fiction. $39; Patreon rate is $29.
10/5, 10/12, & 10/19. Further Out and Further In: Character Interiority, 7-9 PM Eastern.
Our characters have rich inner landscapes that help make them who they are. How does a writer go about figuring out what a character’s history is like and how it affects their personality? How does a character’s psyche affect what they do as well as how they do it? Three part class. $199; Patreon rate is $149.
11/1 Pacing and Story Beats. 9:30-11:30 AM Eastern.
How do you move a story along, and what parts can you leave out? Everyone talks about story beats – so what are they, and how does a writer best employ them? In this class, you’ll learn how to figure out your story’s beats and use those to set the pace you want. $39; Patreon rate is $29.
12/6 Writing Friendships. 9:30-11:30 AM Eastern.
There’s plenty of advice on writing love scenes, but what happens when the relationship’s purely platonic? What special considerations come into play when writing friendships, and how do you convey all the shared history on the page so the reader can experience the friendship’s depth? In this class, we’ll talk about how to write friends. $39; Patreon rate is $29.
12/7, 12/14, & 12/21. Working with Voice and Point of View, 7-9 PM Eastern.
How do voice and point of view work together to create an engaging character? How do different POVs work to create intimacy or distance in a piece of writing – and how do you know which to use? Three part class. $199; Patreon rate is $149.
Recent Appearances and Publications
I was just in Pittsburgh at Confluence, a wonderful small science fiction convention where I was one of the Guests of Honor. It was a stellar time, and I’m looking forward to returning next year. I always appreciate a Pittsburgh visit since it means I get a chance to hang out with my fabulous co-host of If This Goes On (Don’t Panic), Alan Bailey
A story of mine, “Broken All My Boughs, and Brittle My Heart,” appeared as part of Escape Pod’s Disability Pride month. I did the narration as well, and it’s one of my favorite stories, showing another region of the world where Tabat is located. In recording it, I got to use my little podcasting studio I’ve created in a back closet. It’s tiny, but I lined it with sound dampening panels, and it’s much better for recording than the street-facing front room.
Community News
Patreon events for July included the Short Story Discussion Club talking about Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the Craft Book Discussion Group starting Ursula K. Le Guin’s STEERING THE CRAFT, five sessions of Writing to Prompts, Harry Turtledove talking about his new book POWERLESS and writing alternative history, and the usual Monday Motivation and Friday Chat and Co-work sessions. I also posted Writing Critiques Are Not the Place to Be Clever and 20 Exercises for Deepening Characters.
Here’s the prompts we used in this month’s writing games: Writing to Market Calls, Get Lit!, Sound Off, Tell Me Something Good, and Dealer’s Choice.
If you’re a writer looking for a craft-focused, encouraging online community, please check my Patreon! The community there includes a lively Discord server exchanging market news, stories, and pet pictures. Membership starts at $2 per month.
This month saw a wealth of awesome publications by community members:
- Find some fun books to read among the batch Rosemary Claire Smith reviewed in her regular review column in the July/August issue of Analog Magazine: https://analogsf.com/current-issue/the-reference-library/
- Rosemary Claire Smith’s beautiful novelette “Songs for Obsidian” is up at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, as is Malda Marlys’ lovely accompanying store, “Woman Like Stone Like Water“.
- Edgard Wentz has a July story, Water to a Goose, up at GigaNotoSaurus.
- Richard Crawford produced Prompt No. 28 – Bloginomicon, Prompt No. 30 – Bloginomicon and Prompt No. 31 – Bloginomicon
- Priya Sridhar produced a recipe for Cornish Maple Cornbread and ‘Careless People’ is Traumatizing and Demoralizing, How Thanos in ‘Squid Game’ saved actor and rapper T.O.P., 34: Lucky Beginnings – Priya J Sridhar, Squid Game Season 3 Didn’t Keep Its Previous Seasons’ Promises, What The Horror Game Giggleland’s Themes Say About American Farming Worship, and Itch.io Has Suspended Thousands of “NSFW” Games Without Means of Download or Preservation.
- Kathy L Brown wrote The Truth About Book Reviews by Joe Walters: A Book Review – Kath…
- One of Mar Vincent’s stories got shortlisted for Violet Lichen’s Best Speculative Ecofiction of 2024!
- Pauline Barmby’s story “Abdication Day” is out in Androids and Dragons.
