I’ve never been a huge David Bowie fan, but his song “The Hearts Filthy Lesson” marked a turning point in my life.
Blog
Today, Netflix announced they were making a new Voltron animated series. This new show will be aimed at kids, but I think they are missing an opportunity here to mine some rich material. About 10 years ago, there was a live-action film in the works that would have been set in a desolate future Earth. […]
There’s no disincentive to being rude, aggressive or selfish. In fact, at events like Black Friday it’s a benefit. So in a fictional world, I’d love to see these folks executed as a form of societal self-defence.
Advice on being a moderator, including how to prepare, keep the conversation flowing, handle questions and answers, and deal with rude behaviour that might come up.
Here’s my schedule for CAN-CON 2015 coming up in Ottawa, Oct. 30 – Nov. 1. Readings, panels and parties!
In my last blog post, I talked about how to write monsters. That post came about when I was writing a story with a terrific monster, but an unsatisfying ending. I realized I was treating the monster too much like a villain. Once I realized it was a monster, and it needed some monster “rules”, […]
Creating a good villain and a good monster in your story is not the same thing. I discovered this while writing a story with a terrific monster, but an unsatisfying ending. I realized I was treating the monster too much like a villain. Once I realized it was a monster, and it needed some monster “rules”, did things fall into place. [Note: […]
CAN-CON, Ottawa’s SF/F/H convention on October 30 – November 1, 2015, is offering free Blue Pencil Cafés. And I will be taking part. A Blue Pencil Café is a 15-minute one-on-one session with an established writer. You can talk about the business of writing, get your work critiqued, talk about inspiration or structure, or anything you want. To sign up, […]
I will be teaching a 2-hour writing workshop on how to keep readers on the edges of their seats before the official start of CAN-CON, Ottawa’s SF/F/H convention coming up October 30 – November 1, 2015. This workshop is one of four workshops being run before the convention officially starts, so you won’t miss any programming by […]
This past weekend I was in Kingston, Ontario for the first Limestone Genre Expo, a one-day mini-convention covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and romance. If you’re near Kingston (Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, upstate New York) and you missed the convention, you need to come next year. This is going to be an important convention in […]