Monthly Archives: July 2022
A Question of Character
There’s much discussion among writer about how to craft characters and reader questions about how writers come up with their characters. Are they based on real people? I’m surprised at the number of writers who admit they are. I can’t imagine that. I mean, lately when I’m deep in the writing and I’m trying to […]
So, Back to Writing
I’m reading a very cool book, In Search of the Canary Tree, by Lauren E. Oakes. It’s early yet, and in it she’s just starting her Ph.D. research project analyzing yellow-cedar forests on an island in the Alexander Archipelago of southeast Alaska, near Sitka. What does this have to do with writing? I’m enthralled by […]
The Message That’s Missing from News of Climate Change
It seems incomprehensible to me that one senator can block legislation designed to literally save our way of life, but this is where we are. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) doesn’t like President Joe Biden’s climate bill, likely because the senator, made a millionaire by the coal industry, which he still makes money from (not to […]
Thoughts about the Emmys (This will be short)
Emmy nominations are out. Not exactly The Most Important Thing In The World right now (I just finished Tom Nichols’ piece in The Atlantic about how screwed we are on nuclear strategy), but I still have opinions. Not many since I haven’t seen 90, maybe 99 percent of the shows and people nominated. For Supporting […]
Is It Bad for a SF Writer To Be Unimpressed by the Webb Telescope?
The long-awaited first images from the James Webb* Space Telescope were revealed the other day. Would it be heresy for this writer of science fiction to be meh about them? After all, I just released a novel about, well, space exploration. But like much of what I like to read, it’s about more than that. […]
In a Word: Endurance
I’m pretty bad at coming up with titles for my stories, but I love discovering the meaning of titles in other works so should use that as a lesson. One of my favorite books is A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. The title is a little off-putting. Long, weird. It’s about the aftermath […]
Opening Endurance
My wife once asked me what I like about writing. Depending on the day, like today as I struggle with a scene, I’d say not much. To describe writing as frustrating completely understates the feelings you have when you a) can’t think of what to write about, b) can’t remember that great idea you had […]
Elaine Burnes 