http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/ Science Fiction and Fantasy Author en-us 2004-10-27T15:00:11-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000071.html A person asked on the Forward Motion site: When, say, writing a query to an agent, do they take an eBook publishing as a previous credential seriously, or is it looked down upon as say self publishing may be? (getting... On Writing wen 2004-10-27T15:00:11-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000070.html On the Forward Motion site, someone stated that having finished their first attempt at a novel, they now think their writing stinks. Should they, they ask, start over, writing it all fresh, or try to edit what is there?... On Writing wen 2004-10-26T19:01:24-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000069.html I want to invite everyone to visit the news forum hosted by Baen, fondly known as Baen’s Bar. http://bar.baen.com/ My section is called Tinker’s Dam. Come in, hang out, read, and post! I post snippets of my work in progress,... On Writing wen 2004-09-25T09:40:26-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000068.html I got a question posed to me: Hi Wen. You keep mentioning that you answer questions on writing, I thought I'd ask one here. How do you manage to write different "voices"? Reading your dialogs, I can usually tell what... wen 2004-09-21T17:05:56-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000067.html Last night I had one dozy of a dream. When I woke up, I thought this was a perfect example of a dream that makes me a writer.... Life wen 2004-08-12T11:36:17-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000066.html On the Forward Motion forum at www.fmwriters.com, a person asks: Is few chapters better? They go on to explain: My novel (now in final edit) currently has 83 chapters even though I'm only at about 100,000 words. Many chapters are... On Writing wen 2004-08-04T20:56:14-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000065.html Someone asked for help to name their heroine. This is how I answered them.... On Writing wen 2004-07-11T09:22:26-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000064.html Someone has asked how do you write a sequel when you have so much backstory from book one. This is my answer.... On Writing wen 2004-07-01T08:08:15-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000063.html Ahhh, the query letter. Source of much confusion and frustration. People get worked up over how hard this seems, but really, if you sell the book, this is just the beginning. Everyone you talk to, every place that want details... On Writing wen 2004-06-27T09:01:28-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000062.html When I start a novel, I know the threads I want in the novel. In T2, the threads are the "oni" dragon, the tengu, the lost colonist, and the elfin political system. Because each thread at the beginning of the... On Writing wen 2004-06-09T12:15:42-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000061.html Julie Czerneda wrote this at her newsgroup on sff.net in a thread titled "Dressing for a Pro Event like Book Expo." I thought this was really useful info, so I asked Julie if I could repost it here.... On Writing wen 2004-06-08T07:33:19-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000060.html I've been very busy as of late. At the beginning of May we decided to clean out the attic, garage, basement and walk in closets. When we moved in, Alien Taste had just come out and I was trying to... Life wen 2004-06-07T11:23:41-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000059.html A teenage writer asked this question on the now defunct Young Writers: Speculative Fiction Forum. This is something that's been weighing on my mind a bit lately. I recently turned 19, and while I realize that's far from ancient, I'm... On Writing wen 2004-06-07T11:13:11-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000058.html A member of Forward Motion asked: What makes a good character, one that is interesting to read. I took this to mean "want makes a strong, memorable" character.... On Writing wen 2004-06-07T11:07:31-05:00 http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000057.html On Forward Motion, a new member complained that her favorite author was always beating her to the punch -- publishing characters and plots that seem much like her own works in the progress. This is my answer to her complaint:... On Writing wen 2004-06-07T10:57:47-05:00