SF & F Troubleshooting: On Having a Day Job

This month’s guest author is Dale Bailey, a novelist, Clarion instructor, and English professor.  He is the author of House of Bones and The Fallen and innumerable short stories, and today he has a few words about why “quitting your day job” need not always be a professional writer’s goal. ——— When I was at……

Writing Prompt #17: Read Aloud

Reading aloud to supporters charges your batteries.

Spec Tech: Linguistic Quirkiness

I suppose I should start my first post as a member of the Spec Tech faculty with a brief introduction. I’m a PhD student in linguistics at the University of Oregon, and should be finishing my dissertation at some point — in the future, most likely.  I’m also a writer of various things, both speculatively……

Writing Prompt #16: Fake Conversations

Many books of writing advice suggest that authors visit public places – Starbucks, a park, outdoor cafes, etc., and write down people’s conversations.  The purpose of this activity is to familiarize writers with the indirect nature of speech.  People don’t talk in a straight line, and conversations don’t proceed back-and-forth like a tennis match. Famously,……

Spec Tech: Learning Magic

It is not always obvious in the world created by the literature of magic that the young magician needs training. Hogwarts, of course. Lev Grossman, true. But Earthsea and Middle-earth: those magicians needed seasoning, not schooling. I am here to tell you that training is important, at least if you live on dull earth where……