The following is a short excerpt from Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway that should be enough to either convince to buy the book right away because wow! The book tells the story of a group of teenagers that are trying to adapt to life after living in portal worlds (like the Narnia kids or Dorothy … Continue reading Just a Bit of Great Writing
Remember when people said Dungeons & Dragons were a gateway drug into satanism and juvenile delinquency? Well, they were half-right; D&D is a gateway drug. Only, it's a gateway drug into things all parents should wish for their kids. I present; four things Dungeons and Dragons can give a child. 1. A life-long love of books Oh … Continue reading 4 Reasons To Get Your Kids to Play Dungeons and Dragons
I’m thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year.
Here are 5 tips from Freedom to help me complete the task.
Writing 50,000 words in 30 days can seem like herculean feat only to be accomplished by the most prolific of scribes. However, it’s a feat that over 400,000 people attempt every November during National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo.
There is no denying that it is a lofty goal, but it’s not impossible. How can we be sure? Well, for one we have entire Freedom community that never ceases to inspire us with their creations – whether that be novels, films, scripts, dissertations, symphonies, start-ups, or
dinner. We believe in human’s singular ability to create against all odds.
So as we gear up for the month of November, here are a few tips we’ve gathered to ensure that your NaNoWriMo experience is a true success.
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You know how they say that the first sentence of a book is the most important? That writers really need to "hook" a reader in the first pages, really from the first word? Well, as it happens, I just got a few books in the mail, books that are getting great reviews and I really … Continue reading First Lines From 5 New Books
World Fantasy Award nominees Aickman’s Heirs and Skein and Bone are on sale over at Undertow Books. I tend to buy collections based on maybe one or two stories or authors. The quality of these books, by that standard, is just amazing. Aickman’s Heirs, edited by Simon Strantzas Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award. Finalist for the … Continue reading Uhh… yeah, you want these books.
I saw the following on Toni Morrison's Facebook page. She's explaining where she finds time to write. "Very, very early in the morning, before they got up. I'm not very good at night. I don't generate much. But I'm a very early riser, so I did that, and I did it on weekends. In the … Continue reading Toni Morrison on Finding Time to Write
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe is told in Lovecraft's world, though a world where the cosmic horror is not mysterious and threatening but familiar and, erm, threatening.
Do you ever read books simply for the prose? In an attempt to improve my writing I do this a fair bit and am now reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. It was there I came across the following description that, as it happens, is also the best written thing I've read all … Continue reading The Best Writing of the Week – Tender is the Night
I don't remember what the first story I read by Michael Swanwick is. But I do remember the feeling I got as I read it. It's the same feeling I got when I first read stories by Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link and Lucius Shepard. That amazing, wow-this-is-talent feeling. Michael Swanwick is one of many authors … Continue reading The Wonderful World of Michael Swanwick
Amazon has been around since 1994, and their first book bestseller list appeared in 1995. The book most popular that year on Amazon, and probably nowhere else, is quite perfect (but you'll have to wait to see what book it is). Looking at the best seller lists for the past 15 years gives us a … Continue reading Amazon’s Best-Selling Books for Each of the Last 15 Years, Rated
