October « 2009 « Storytellers Unplugged

Long-Term Relationships With Your Characters

By David Niall Wilson, on October 31st, 2009

One of the things authors decide when they sit down to write is how long and drawn out their relationship will be with particular characters. There are short stories, novellas, novels, and then – at the far end of the spectrum, you find trilogies and the continuing series. Each of these involves a level of [...]

Etched Deep - Halloweed Story & Podcast

By David Niall Wilson, on October 31st, 2009

I’ve put the podcast of this story up over at my website:

You can listen to me reading it here…comments welcome!

For Storytellers, as I do every Halloween, I’m offering the text here as a free story. This was written and published long ago, but for a long time I’d lost it. I ended up rewriting it [...]

LITTLE MIRACLES

By Alma Alexander, on October 30th, 2009

While it is absolutely true that a writer, any writer, is the worst possible judge of his or her own work – especially after the third rewrite, when you’re no longer sure about anything at all and you start doubting every word on that [...]

I Am Not Afraid, Dammit

By Mur Lafferty, on October 29th, 2009

Publishing is changing. And I am not afraid.

I’ll be the first to admit I can be myopic at times. I am often unable to see the ripple effects of something until the effect is fully cemented in place. So my lack of fear could simply be the cheerful blatherings of a fool. But I don’t [...]

Misty Mother Fog of A Dead Poet's Dream

By wayneallensallee, on October 27th, 2009

I wrote that phrase back in college and I still think of it whenever the fog hits Chicago. More often than not these days. If the photo shows up above, it’s the Trump Tower that dissolves into the greyness. That was last Thursday. But if I hadn’t been crossing the street and seen the building, [...]

A Herd of Writers? Of Course I’ve Heard of Writers

By Richard Dansky, on October 26th, 2009

So no shit, there I was, sitting at a table listening to Marc Laidlaw and Eric Wolpaw from Valve – you know, the guys who wrote stuff like Half-Life and Portal – and they’re on stage and talking about process, and I-

No, no. That’s not it. Try again.

So no shit, there I was, and I’m [...]

You Gotta Have Heart

By janetberliner, on October 26th, 2009

Truth is, I’ve had a rough time this year. This decade. A lot of pain for little gain. Too many pills and too much introspection. Too many times when I’ve stopped trying—almost; too much thought given to what it means to succeed as an artist in a tough and competitive world and what [...]

First, you need an idea

By alexandrasokoloff, on October 24th, 2009

by Alexandra Sokoloff

When people ask authors, “Where do you get your ideas?”, authors tend to clam up or worse, get sarcastic – because the only real answer to that is, “Where DON’T I get ideas?” or even more to the point, “How do I turn these ideas OFF?”

The thing is, “Where do you get your [...]

This is a story of true love and perserverance

By Elizabeth Bear, on October 23rd, 2009

Back in 2002, I finished a book.

It was the third book in a series which I had started working on in 1994 or so, except in some ways, it was the first. That is to say, it was a prequel to All the Windwracked Stars and The Sea thy Mistress, which took place oh, about [...]

It's an Old Old Story

By stevensavile, on October 22nd, 2009

There are days, and then there are days, and the last forty-eight
hours would count double in both senses. I’m going to tell you a
story, it’s what I do after all. It’s an old old story (quarter of a
century in this instance, to be precise, but funnily enough the
details are all crystal clear despite the fact [...]

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