Another Slightly Scary Story

Interview with Josh Malerman, Author of Bird Box

2018-02-08T12:27:00.001-08:00

This is an interview with Josh Malerman, mostly covering his novel, Bird Box. The story, soon to be a movie starring Sandra Bullcok, follows Malorie as her turns upside down. Something is outside her door; if she looks (or allows her children to look), she will die. Ames: You have said you got the idea for Bird Box from the concept that

Richard Chizmar Interview - Co-Author of the Upcoming Novel, Widow's Point

2018-01-30T10:24:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all the authors, editors, and magazines that made this web series about writing possible. I was only able to put this giant ring of essays together, each detailing an author's biggest 'Ah-ha!' moment in writing, because of all of you. For those who haven't heard of this web series: What is the Biggest 'Ah-Ha!' Moments in Writing Web-Series

What We've Learned in 25 Years of Publishing Aurealis - Aurealis and Michael Pryor

2015-05-06T16:14:00.001-07:00

Aurealis is Australia’s premier magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Now in its twenty-fifth year, we began – naturally – as a print magazine and now we electronically deliver the best speculative fiction in the land. Over the years we’ve discovered, fostered and featured many, many writers and illustrators and acted as a showcase for the finest in the field. The article below is a

Career Counseling - Joe McKinney - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-05-06T15:32:00.000-07:00

Great Ah-ha! Moments in Writing: Career Counseling By Joe McKinney I’ll let you in on a little secret. When I got started, I had no idea I was a writer. None. I wrote a novel called Dead City, about a young patrolman trying to get home to his family on the first night of the zombie apocalypse, because at the time I was a young patrolman dealing with the stress and

Change in Direction - Norman Prentiss - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-05-06T14:53:00.002-07:00

Change in Direction A couple years ago, I was asked to submit a story to an anthology called Commutability: Stories about the Journey from Here to There. The editor, David Bell, was asking some horror authors to sub, but the anthology would include mainstream stories as well. Since the broad theme of the book was travel, I looked through my idea file for anything that might fit. I had one

On Editing - Nancy Kilpatrick - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-04-28T15:33:00.001-07:00

As every publisher will tell you, "Anthologies don't sell." They do, of course, but what is required to garner sales is "names", well-known and best-selling authors, with a following. Not only are such people necessary to sell to the public, but they are also crucial in terms of an editor selling the anthology idea to a publisher. When David Morrell

Strangle Your Inner Critic - John Everson - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-04-28T15:30:00.001-07:00

The biggest barrier to writing a novel is…yourself. I learned that when I wrote my first novel, Covenant. I started writing the book sometime in 1994-95, but I didn’t end up with a first draft until 2000. And even then, it was only a 75,000-word novel. Obviously, I wasn’t writing the book that whole time. For most of that five-year period, it sat in the figurative drawer, because after

Be a Brave New Voice - Frank Hutton - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing!

2015-04-28T15:22:00.001-07:00

I wrote my first narrative fiction in 1969 during the 8th grade, a short tale of star-crossed lovers reunited in a deserted school lunchroom as nuclear Armageddon descends. A year later the piece ran in my high school’s prestigious annual literary magazine. For a freshman to get published was quite the coup. How did I manage it? By tapping into my anxieties, I reflected the anxiety of

Two Big Moments - Lucy Snyder - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-04-28T15:16:00.003-07:00

My first really big "Ah-Ha!" moment happened at the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Workshop, which I attended when I was finishing up college. Before that workshop, I'd been writing short stories and had sold one, but I had no clear idea of why my other stories weren't selling. I'd taken a couple of creative writing courses in college, and the instruction there had focused

Great Ah-ha! Moments in Writing - Career Counseling - Joe McKinney - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-04-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

Listen... - Jack Dann - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-04-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Like a lot of writers, my first and biggest “Ah-Ha!” moment occurred on the day I opened the envelope that contained my first acceptance letter and contracts for my first professionally-sold, professionally-accepted, professionally paid-for and –published short story. I stood there alone in the living room of my parents’ home (where I was still living at the time – don’t ask, it

The Day My First Professional Sale Almost Got Me Arrested - Gary A. Braunbeck - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-04-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hey, This Writing Thing Doesn't Have To Kill Me After All - Brian Hodge - Biggest Aha! Moments in Writing

2015-04-28T14:30:00.001-07:00

Hey, This Writing Thing Doesn’t Have To Kill Me After All by Brian Hodge There was a time when I could conceive of a novel that I wouldn’t survive. I either wouldn’t be around to finish it, or around to see it published. I know, this sounds insufferably drama-queeny. “Oooo, look at the tortured artist, doing what he loves, and the jagoff still isn’t happy!” Be that as it may, the one

2015-04-28T14:24:00.001-07:00

LISTEN TO YOUR AGENT! by JOE BUFF At the very start of my professional writing career back in 1998, my brand new literary agent gave me some advice I was very, very reluctant to follow. He told me to abandon my aspirations to write military science fiction novels in favor of doing straight technothrillers. I had just spent a couple years, off and on, writing