Nichole asks:I’m trying to find good resources to help me do better spacing with my paragraphs, and such for my fiction writing. I have a good grasp on overall grammar. (Though my hurried emails don’t show this…) But some of the different spacing for paragraphs, when to indent and how …
Indiana Jim asks:You said on Twitter you had read a 500-page book by a reputed master, whom in the last eight pages, “breaks all thematic, plot, and character logic.” Without throwing this particular author under the bus, could you provide more detail on how this was accomplished so that we …
Herb asks: I know that stealing from two sources versus one is the difference between being inspired and plagiarizing, but what good old “I could have told that tale better.” I can’t be the first new writer to be inspired in part by watching some movie or reading some book …
Herb asks: I know you’re a big fan of cycling for revision, but what about retyping. Lawrence Block in his book on writing novels, which is from the 70s, spends some time discussing how retyping to make a clean copy for submission is a great way to add polish. In …
Tim asks:Have you ever developed ancillary materials for one of your stories? The Man in the Rain
Tim asks:What kind of pressures work best for you creatively? Deadlines? Self-imposed or other consequences? No pressure at all?
Tim asks:I remember you telling Dave Robison on the Roundtable, when discussing one of his story ideas, that he should ‘try to stay interested, rather than obsessed’ and I’m curious if you could elaborate on the difference between the two states of mind. Resources MentionedRoundtable Podcast: First Anniversary Episode
Tim asks: I’ve looked back to the first novel I ever wrote – when I was 14 – over the last week. I was surprised to find it had a stronger theme than most of my books. What kind of value do you place on the theme, whether discovered or …
Indiana Jim asks:In Secrets of the Heinlein Juvenile, chapter 18, you write about the protagonists making adult moral choices. Can you go a little deeper into specifically how modern YA fiction manifest the “native idealism, flippant _fait accompl_i, and/or deep self-seriousness,” and how to avoid it? Resources MentionedThe Secrets of …
Nichole asks: Could you talk about different things that you do or can’t do if you want to go out to the wilderness and write? 100w Portable Solar KitPortable Power Bank1500w Inverter GeneratorManual Typewriter My Luck, by Mel Todd
