Dave Weber asked me for a novella for his first shared universe anthology set in the Honor Harrington universe (Worlds of Honor). I’d been thinking of doing a series of space operas based on Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin series, so I decided to use this novella as a chance to test the concept of two dissimilar friends as dual leads. continue reading…
I sold my first story when I was an undergraduate. I’d always liked to tell stories; in high school I started writing them down, and at age 19 I started submitting them.
I think it’s necessary for a successful writer to be a reader, but literature classes are if anything contraindicated for a writer. There are people who swear by writing classes/courses/groups, but my opinion is that at best they’ll teach you how to write a particular sort of story for which there isn’t a mass market. continue reading…
Vierziger is named in a manner of speaking after the Mifune character in Sanjuro where he takes an obvious alias from the chrysanthemum trees growing in the garden. My intent was to do something that had no obvious natural explanation in a work that was otherwise straight SF/adventure. In a degree I was playing off the myth of the Vegan Orbital Fort in Blish’s Earthman, Come Home.
The other part of what I was doing there was offering a chance at redemption to a very damaged person. I was finally able to address that directly in Redliners; I guess I was working up to it.
I’ll probably do more, but I don’t have current plans.
This time the short answer is, it doesn’t matter.
The cover does not illustrate my book, it advertises my book. A good cover sells the book to people who will like the book. A bad cover either doesn’t sell the book to the right people or (worse) does sell it to the wrong people. continue reading…
I’m frequently asked what control I have over cover art. The short answer is, all I want. There’s nothing about cover control written into my contracts, but I’m on terms of friendship with both my publishers. If I said, ‘I want Smith to paint the cover, and this is the scene I want him to illustrate,’ that’s what I’d get.
I never do that, and I think that writers who do are being foolish. (Unless there are other factors: I know of cases where writer and artist were in a relationship, in which case the writer got benefits which perhaps counterbalanced the cost to the book.)
I’m neither an artist nor an art director. Even if the artist and art director were bad at their jobs, they’d still be better at their jobs than I would be at their jobs.
My literary agent, Kay McCauley, at kaymcc25@aol.com should get the initial query. She will redirect it if and as required.
How complete do you make the plot of a story before you write it?
I do very heavy plots. I usually have at least 10% of the story/novel wordage in the plot. Here’s an example: the plot for The Far Side of the Stars, with the working title The Far Side of Heaven. Scenes were re-ordered numerically as I wrote the book.
Do you write sequentially, from beginning of the plot to the end?
I do plots beginning to end, and I do very long plots, but there’s not a right way.
How do you go about writing your drafts?
I work on a notebook computer outside, then edit the hardcopy and go through at least three drafts.