What did you blog about today?

I can't read yet! Im 34%/through this on my kindle, but with NaNo, my reading time has dwindled to almost nothing! And the library is telling me Aftermath is ready to pick up.

I do like it a lot so far. Has that fun fantasy feel to it.
 
Hello all,

Well I have been kicking about this site for a little while now and Brian said I could do no shameless self promotion until I hit 100 posts. Well I am well over and still posting so figured now would probably be a good time.

I have never published anything for others to read and while I am an aspiring SFF writer (mainly I have produced shorts) I have a major problem actually letting people read my work - sort of like when people have trouble listening to their own voice, I feel the same with my writing.

So in order to get over my fear/embarrassment I decided to start a blog and just put up some reviews/news articles. Just a couple of SFF reviews up at the moment and the site is quite basic but I do intend to upgrade the site and include more functionality next year when there is more content.

Anyway if any wants to drop on over and have a read that would be great - more articles and news is upcoming.

https://sffden.wordpress.com/
 
I don't like zombies either, but my husband is addicted to them. Which is weird, because normally he is not at all into horror. Maybe he just likes the tension and the brave characters fighting against insurmountable odds.

It's an interesting post.

And you make a very good point that as fiction writers we have to work harder to draw readers into each scene. The difference is very clear when comparing a book with a script. Not that scriptwriting isn't hard in different ways, I'm sure. But novelists have to do the work of actors, set designers, all sorts of technicians, and still keep the action going and not bog down in description.
 
Good one Jo. I do see more family stuff in Fantasy for sure. The current Star Wars book has some family dynamics in it. And Scalzi added a family dynamic to John Perry's story, which was well done. Other than that, I sometimes read that scene in a SF book where a pilot is going off to battle and thinking about their family back home; a picture of their little one taped in the cockpit.

I wonder if it is part of the draw of the escapism of reading. People want to live an adventure of a single hero, roaming the universe looking for something. I would like to read something with a more family centred plot. Do you see that more in YA or MG maybe? I haven't read a lot to know.
 
ratsy said:
Good one Jo. I do see more family stuff in Fantasy for sure. The current Star Wars book has some family dynamics in it. And Scalzi added a family dynamic to John Perry's story, which was well done. Other than that, I sometimes read that scene in a SF book where a pilot is going off to battle and thinking about their family back home; a picture of their little one taped in the cockpit.

I wonder if it is part of the draw of the escapism of reading. People want to live an adventure of a single hero, roaming the universe looking for something. I would like to read something with a more family centred plot. Do you see that more in YA or MG maybe? I haven't read a lot to know.
Click to expand...

One of the complaints of YA is that the parents are often dead or off side... (she says, guiltily), so I think it's still missing there. Chris Beckett's Eden books have good sf families in them, and are really, really, worth the read.
 
Excellent interview, ratsy. People that energetic and prolific astound me. Such a deep well of creativity makes me jealous.

Jo, many years ago I noticed (well, a friend noticed and I started thinking about it) how rare babies and very small children were in fantasy. I decided that a big reason is that in fantasy characters are so often on the move, on foot, or on horseback. Being responsible for a small child rather puts a cramp into any plans to go off adventuring. I decided to write about what would happen if the main character had no choice but to leave home and go out in to the big cold world with a small child in tow. It definitely did change the story dynamics.

Family relationships and responsibilities can definitely make plotting a story more complicated. But also, more interesting.
 
Teresa, if it's grimdark, then another issue with very young children would be the very high mortality rate in the medieval world (upon which much, perhaps most, of fantasy is based). If there were multiple young children, dealing with that would necessarily dominate the story.

It can be nice when a story bucks convention, though (as per The Last Of Us*, which had the unusual approach of practically dual protagonists in a surrogate father-daughter relationship).

*It's a videogame, rather than a book, but the point stands.
 
Not boring, sensible. Also, useful for those considering submitting stuff.
 
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