The journal and sometimes blog of author, Joseph L. Selby.
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Echoes of Halloween
This is our first year in our new townhouse and as such, we did not know how many kids would stop by (10-12 was the final count). We WAY overbought on candy. Suggestions of taking the left overs into work have been shot down by the missus. The plan is to keep the bag until…
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Stuart Greenman has the right of it
Livia Blackburne tipped me off to Stuart Greenman’s entry into the Bulwer-Lytton bad writing contest. In one sentence (and pay attention, it really is one sentence), Stuart Greenman shows everything that drives me nuts about fantasy: A quest is not to be undertaken lightly–or at all!–pondered Hlothgar of the Western Boglands, son of Glothar, nephew…
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“You have a right…”
So the whole Amazon pedophile thing has stirred up an argument I absolutely hate. It begins when someone says “You have a right…” and trails off into some moronic thing you don’t actually have a right to. So for all you American readers/writers (as a number of modernized countries don’t offer a right to free…
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Don’t Make the Pimp Hand Angry
A proposal: Stop being passionate about your writing. Writing is not dating. You are not trying to find a spouse or get to third base with your manuscript. You may find yourself enthusiastic about a project, passionate or even obsessed, but those feelings will fade over time, much like when you were dating in high…
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Sticking It to the Predators
I want to query known predator agents so they’ll request my work. They’ll tell me they charge a reading fee because they’re so busy. I’ll respond that I charge a writing fee because I’m so busy. I will gladly pay their reading fee if they pay my writing fee. Bitches.
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The Obnoxiousness of Fantasy Characters
Fantasy characters are dicks. In fiction, in D&D adventures, anywhere “adventurer” is available as a life choice, people are dicks. You see it all the time. Main character meets Douchebag McAsshole and DMcA immediately starts talking down to him. I’m a wizard. I’m a barbarian. I don’t bow before anyone. I don’t show any semblance…
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Testing Your Mettle
One WIP at a time. There’s a reason I have that rule, a very important reason. When you’re writing your novel and things get hard, your imagination is your worst enemy. When people talk about ideas of how to get inspired, they’re ignoring a greater problem: only writing when you’re inspired. You need to be…
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50,000 words
If not for a dead battery, I would have passed 50,000 words yesterday in my WIP. I instead passed it this morning. Making a similar comment on Twitter yesterday, I pondered why I put so much stock in 50,000 words. Certainly it doesn’t represent the end point of the manuscript nor the midpoint. I have…