Recent posts tagged ideas
2023
Missing Pieces
I still haven't finished the Shunga-Satori Behind The Scenes posts, and some of that is due to me having misplaced some notes I thought I had.
Behind The Scenes With 'Shunga-Satori', Pt. 3: The Influences
A rundown of some of the other stories and films that influenced "Shunga-Satori"'s growth and direction.
Behind The Scenes With 'Shunga-Satori', Pt. 2: The Idea
How my new novel "Shunga-Satori" took form as "the underworld surrealism of a dark fairy tale."
Behind The Scenes With 'Shunga-Satori', Pt. 1: The Origins
How my new novel "Shunga-Satori" started as the story of a dreamspace.
2022
On The Transformation Of Inspiration
Most projects don't end up anywhere near where they start out, and for good reasons.
Ask Yourself This
Whenever I've said to myself "I'd like to write a book like X", I always had to ask myself, why? And to what end?
Don't Hide It, Provide It
The idea that you have to guard your story ideas, lest someone steal them, is a pernicious myth.
2021
Behind The Scenes With 'Unmortal', Pt. 2: The Idea
How the core idea for my new fantasy novel "Unmortal" spun out into an alternate history of civilization.
Behind The Scenes With 'Unmortal', Pt. 1: The Origins
How my new novel "Unmortal" started as "a fantasy story that realized it was cyberpunk and woke up screaming".
2020
Not Enough There There
With many of the stories I've taken up only to abandon, what was most interesting to me about them seemed impossible to communicate to others.
Behind The Scenes With 'Welcome To The Fold', Pt. 2: The Idea
On the dual-world setting and double-life people in 'Welcome To The Fold'.
Behind The Scenes With 'Welcome To The Fold', Pt. 1: The Origins
How my new novel 'Welcome To The Fold' started as an attempt to address roleplaying games in fiction.
Behind The Scenes With 'Fall Of The Hammer', Pt. 2: The Idea
The alterna-past setting and backstory for my new novel, 'Fall Of The Hammer'.
Behind The Scenes With 'Fall Of The Hammer', Pt. 1: The Origins
How my new novel 'Fall Of The Hammer' started from a project I'd abandoned over twenty-five years ago.
2019
Nobody Cares Enough About Your Idea To Steal It, Part Nine Thousand And Seven
"Don't worry about someone stealing your good ideas. Worry about someone stealing your bad ones!"
Nobody Cares Enough About Your Idea To Steal It, Part Nine Thousand And Six
Ideas aren't what matter, anyway. Execution is. And beyond that, the habit of executing. But why do we get hung up about great ideas?
2018
My Best Fiend [sic]
I ask of a friend not that we be in absolute harmony, but only that our discord be its own delight.
The Grand Mutation
For fun I sat down and mentally traced the progress of my earlier SF-space-opera thingy Flight Of The Vajra.
Nowhere Are We Commanded To Be Doormats
Kevin Drum dropped an aphorism worth repeating: "When you write, pretend you’re writing for people you respect."
It's X Meets Y, But With Z!
"There is no reading experience in an idea, only in its execution."
The Paradox Of Limits
Maybe we need to speak of focus rather than limits.
All The Things I Never Said
Most of my unpublished blogging simply isn't fit for public consumption. Here's what most of it is.
2017
The Deep End Of The Pool
How to work with all those ideas swimming around in your head.
Unfinished Business Dept.
Stories abandoned and as yet unwritten have much in common.
2016
Conversations (And Proversations) Dept.
With any story, it takes time to "get the conversation" about the story.
