Monthly Archives: April 2010
How complete are your plots?
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 … Continue reading
Do you plot sequentially?
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 write your drafts?
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.
How many stories are you working on at any one time?
At any one time, how many stories are you working on? I work on one thing at a time. Other people like multiple jobs, but for me I concentrate very heavily and I get crazy when I’m taken off it.
What novel have you enjoyed writing the most?
What novel have you personally enjoyed the most writing? Once I apparently answered this question, ‘Northworld.’ I can’t imagine why I did that, because I was so stressed while writing Northworld that I was having back spasms that made it … Continue reading
What genre do you feel is your best to write in?
Which genre do you feel is your best to write in? Best is tricky. I don’t know really. I can do some things in the military that others who’ve had different lives can’t, but I personally think some of the … Continue reading
Who were your influences?
Who were your influences? One strand is pulp fiction–literally, stories from the ’30s and ’40s collected into anthologies in the ’50s when I started reading SF and fantasy. Robert E. Howard in particular, then when I got to college the … Continue reading
What’s your best book?
What’s your best book? Again, that’s a matter of definition. Personally I’d say Redliners, but that’s not a book for everybody. It’s a very tough story about war and redemption. With the Lightnings–a space opera–and the Isles Series, my Tolkienesque … Continue reading
What do you read for pleasure?
Who do you read for pleasure? In the field–I read a lot of stuff out of the f/sf field–I read Vance and Pratchett among living authors, and have a particular affection for Kuttner, Kornbluth, and Jack Williamson’s work from the … Continue reading
The Sharp End
Did you take the plot of THE SHARP END from Kurosawa’s Yojimbo or from Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars? No, I took the plot from Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett, his first novel (a fixup from novellas he’d written for … Continue reading
Proofreading the hardcover Servant of the Dragon?
Why is the hardcover edition of Servant of the Dragon so poorly proofread? This is a sore subject with me. I did three drafts of the novel (as usual). My friend Dan Breen read each section after I’d gone over … Continue reading
How did you come up with the magic in the Isles Series?
It surprises me to be asked this so frequently since I thought I’d covered it in the introductory notes to each volume. Classical peoples were heavily involved in magic (as opposed to religion). This seems to have been mostly Egyptian … Continue reading
RCN Series
WITH THE LIGHTNINGS (Baen/1998) LT LEARY, COMMANDING (Baen/2000) THE FAR SIDE OF THE STARS (Baen/2003) THE WAY TO GLORY (Baen/2005) SOME GOLDEN HARBOR (Baen/2006) WHEN THE TIDE RISES (Baen/2008) IN THE STORMY RED SKY (Baen/2009) WHAT DISTANT DEEPS (Baen/2010) THE … Continue reading
Hammer’s Slammers Series
The Hammer’s Slammers series of Military SF stories and novels focus on a mercenary armored regiment in the 30th century. I based the fiction on my experience in 1970 with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Viet-Nam and Cambodia. HAMMER’S … Continue reading
Books in the Isles Series
There are nine novels in the complete Isles series. Each of the first six Isles novels is intended to be a self-standing work that can be read alone. (This is true of all my books; and, for that matter, my … Continue reading
Newsletter #56
Dear People, I’m in the middle of the third chapter of MONSTERS OF THE SEAS, the second (of four) novels in my new fantasy series for Tor. It’s moving along at the usual comfortable rate… which as usual isn’t nearly … Continue reading