Posts tagged fantasy in 2022
Imagine That
Over the course of my life I've emigrated from one kind of imagination to another -- from just "making things up" to seeing what we have in front of us in a new way.
Labels, Labels, Labels
I don't particularly care if my SF is hard, soft, or mushy; I care whether or not I give a darn about who's in it and what happens.
Fantfacy [sic]
On the presence of inarticulate, inexpressive prose -- "Engfish" -- in SF&F.
The Fine Art Of The Center-Eligible Play And Other Cheats
On cheating in a work of fantasy or SF.
The Human Use Of Human Beings, And All That
What are people for in SF&F? To show us what's possible, and to show how that's possible right here, not just "out there somewhere."
Wave A Wand And We Got The Bomb
Most fantasy stories never confront the idea that magic would have the social impact of the atomic bomb.
Self-Criticism Session
What do you do when you find yourself writing the kind of book you might take issue with if someone else wrote it?
Here, Now, Nowhere
On using Zen Buddhist notions of time in writing SF&F.
A Clear(er) Head For The Future
What Zen taught me about writing SF&F, part 1.
Magpie Mind Power
With every story set in a strange new world, give yourself as many individual elements of wonderful strangeness to draw on.
In The Right Spirit
More notes on writing SF&F, as a Buddhist- and Zen-influenced author.
Knots Within Knots
The job of a storyteller should not be to make things complex, but to find common threads in complex things. Doubly so in SF&F.
