by Katherine Villyard | Aug 13, 2006 | short fiction
Ann Crispin recommended The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman for her writer’s workshop. The chapter on subtlety was sweet, sweet validation. Yeah, sure, I’ve been known to overdo it on occasion. I’d rather understate than write the scene where...
by Katherine Villyard | Aug 1, 2006 | procrastination
I got it from Jen; can I blame her for my posting a quiz? 😉 http://www.scifi.com/sfw/column/sfw13339.html I got an 80. “A score of 66 or higher—You’re a E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith, Larry Niven, Greg Bear, Vernor Vinge, Charles Stross or Nancy...
by Katherine Villyard | Jul 30, 2006 | short fiction, writing mysticism
It’s fine to have a programmer’s aesthetic when writing fiction. Just make sure you declare your variables and functions up at the top. 😉
by Katherine Villyard | Jul 21, 2006 | selling fiction
Up until this point, I’ve been very firm in the idea that I should not rewrite old stories. (I’m not sure what the definition of “old” is, in this case, but…) Well. I believed quite firmly that “Median Effective Dose” was the...
by Katherine Villyard | Jul 6, 2006 | novels
Deciding a scene needs to be moved to the beginning of the story is one thing, but then there’s rewriting every scene that came after. Oops. But as long as it makes the story better, that’s more important than an increasing wordcount…...
by Katherine Villyard | Jul 1, 2006 | geekiness, life, the universe, and everything
Getting my gallbladder hacked out. I’d hoped, in my naïevete, to get some writing done in the week off work. But no. I also thought that I’d finish an involved novel critique I’m doing for someone, and that was also Not Meant To Be. I should get...
by Katherine Villyard | Jun 6, 2006 | novels
So, I went to introduce the love interest, and… This scene needs to open the book. I just accidentally incorporated information that used to occur in an unlovely infodump that I planned to edit out later. No, really, I didn’t plan it, but it works. I love...
by Katherine Villyard | Jun 5, 2006 | novels, procrastination, scripts
I’m kind of… …not writing. I suspect I’m less well prepared for my novel than I thought I was–I’ve been opening the document file and staring at it and closing it without adding anything new. Perhaps making the outline a bit clearer...
by Katherine Villyard | May 20, 2006 | novels
Now that I’m working on a novel, I keep having to tell myself to slow down, that I have plenty of room. I’m not convinced it’s working. In fact, I think I’m going to have to go back and flesh stuff out. I’ve got stuff in here that’s...
by Katherine Villyard | May 18, 2006 | geekiness, novels, scripts
I actually have… an outline. And the motivational spreadsheet of doom to track my wordcount. And… version control. Yes, version control, like programmers use. Why, yes, I am a geek. But I could have used version control sooner–I realized at one point...