I’ve been pretty quiet here lately — work and life and a nasty summer cold intruded. But I’m still scribbling away in that little black Moleskin of mine and in Scrivener and, mirabile dictu, progress is being made. Most of my worry these days is about prologueing. Survivors as I have it outlined will be […]
I’ve been spending some time and energy getting ready for Viable Paradise. I picked up a number of books by and recommended by the instructors. So far I’ve been very impressed: Steven Gould’s Jumper was fantastic, and Doyle and Macdonald’s Land of Mist and Snow is a fine piece of fiction, too. Scalzi’s recent short […]
I’ve been feeling energized lately about my writing! The outline for the novel is progressing by leaps and bounds, which is a nice feeling. But I have been neglecting my short fiction a bit, and I do need to change that. I admit, the prospect of becoming a better writer in a few months’ time […]
Yesterday I had two pieces still out on submission: A Stab in the Dark (to Strange Horizons) and Death in a Tin Can (my submission piece to Viable Paradise) At 1am, Strange Horizons said “No, thanks” At 1:45am, Viable Paradise said “Congratulations”! I now have no short fiction on submission anywhere. I need to remedy […]
I haven’t actually forgotten this site! Things have just been a little busy around here (who knew it would be that hard to put in an extra outlet for the A/C, even with someone else doing most of the work?) but I’ve been working hard on planning this novel. (Discussion of plot follows, but no […]
I’ve been working diligently (well, working) on the outline I talked about earlier. I’ve managed to work myself into a lousy space: Judging by the increase in outline length (doubled) I’ve probably doubled the length of the story. 40,000 words is kind of a lousy length. There are markets for fiction that length, to be […]
I mentioned earlier two plans related to the novel I’m starting: 1) I’m starting with an outline rather than just diving in, primarily because I’m worried about my lack of organizational skills. 2) I’m taking the plot of a 20,000-word novella I wrote last fall and using that as the basis of the novel: I’m […]
… From James D. Macdonald, “Do the work, then send it out ’til Hell won’t have it. Meanwhile, write another story.”
After finishing A Stab in the Dark, I decided to revisit the novella that kicked off my mystery-writing spree, Where Do They Bury the Survivors? If you missed it (easy to do, as it hasn’t been accepted anywhere for publication) it’s a locked-room murder mystery that takes place on a space station in interstellar space. […]
I finished up the most recent short story yesterday afternoon. I trimmed a few scenes, but made up for it by adding a whole other one (I’ll be curious if anyone coming back to this post can figure out which scene was added). It’s a good piece, one of the better mysteries-per-se that I’ve written. […]
John P. Murphy 