point of view – Page 21 – J. Scott Coatsworth

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POINT OF VIEW: Leaving a Legacy

November 12, 2018 by scott

Hey all, The shocking sudden death of author Ethan Day this week, along with the passing of my own stepfather Tony a few weeks ago, has gotten me thinking about death, and mortality, and artistic legacy. Ethan’s own legacy will be measured at least in part by his many published books, and by his time stewarding the Gay Rom Lit con, along with his wonderful co-conspirators. But he will also be remembered for his sweet, happy demeanor, and the integrity with which he lived his life. For me ,this was most evident in the way he wound down his Wilde … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Switching Gears

October 22, 2018 by scott

Hey all, For the last three years, I’ve been deep in the weeds of writing not one but two sci fi trilogies – “The Oberon Cycle” (Skythane, Lander, Ithani) and “Liminal Sky” (The Stark Divide, The Rising Tide, and The Shoreless Sea). I love-love-love sci fi, but even as a reader, I would take breaks, often alternating between sci fi and fantasy to cleanse my reading palette. And so it is with my writing. Two months ago, about two-thirds through “The Shoreless Sea,” I took a break – well, not so much took a break as a double-time – writing … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Hope

October 1, 2018 by scott

Hey all, I’m feeling an unreasonable groundswell of hope this week. Totally unwarranted, based on the world we now find ourselves living in. An aberration, really, out of line with this grayer, meaner country. But maybe it’s not. Some of my hope is writing-based. I got a couple pieces of great news about my Liminal Sky series which I’ll share with you soon. I have my first legit bookstore reading this month (join me at 7 PM Thursday at Time Tested Books if you live near Sacramento). And my mother shared “The River City Chronicles” with her pastor. That one … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Spicing Your Story Up With Slang

September 17, 2018 by scott

Hey all, Today’s column will be short but sweet, as I am in the throes of preparing to go to the Dreamspinner retreat in Orlando Thursday (*waves at all my author friends*). So I thought I’d talk a little more about my new holiday story “Melt.” It’s set in Antarctica, and I found a cool site that includes some Antartcic slang. Whether you’re writing a future world or something in the next city over, including some local idioms and slang can add additional layers to your storytelling. Here are a few from CoolAntarctica.com: Antarctic 10 – A person of the opposite … Read more

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Point of View: This Has All Happened Before

September 3, 2018 by scott

Hey all, I was wandering down memory lane earlier this week when I remembered something that I wanted to share with y’all. One of the things Mark and I do is to build directories and communities – Queer Sci Fi, QueeRomance Ink, and a number of others that bring together various parts of the LGBTIQA community. For today’s column, I thought I’d take you back a couple decades, to the beginning of the world wide web, when America Online ruled the Earth. Yes, there was actually a time when the web didn’t exist. It was a strange era, when you … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: How Would a Civilization Evolve If…

August 27, 2018 by scott

Last week I shared insights from a great author panel at WorldCon76 in San Jose. This week I thought I’d share another. The full title of this one was “How Would a Civilization Evolve If…: How Human and Nonhuman Concepts of ‘Universe’ Is [sic] Shaped By Their Environment.” It was a fascinating chat between an astronomer, a biologist, and a — for lack of a better term – historian/philosopher. It reminded me of nothing so much as those classic sci fi tales where aliens arrive on earth and a team of varied scientific disciplines (and one guy out of left … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Writing Epic Fantasy

August 20, 2018 by scott

Hey all, Mark and I just spent a few says at WorldCon 76 in San Jose, and one of the best panels we attended was the one on how to write epic fantasy. It was a two author chat between Kate Elliott, a veteran author with thirty years of publications under her belt, and Rebecca Roanhorse, a hot new “own voices” author who infuses her Anasazi and black heritage into her work. I thought I’d share a few of the insights from the panel here. 🙂 Background Kate started out by saying that epics happen in every culture – they … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Writing Different

August 13, 2018 by scott

Hey all, As I continue to write, I like to find new ways to challenge myself as a writer. Yeah, I’m a glutton for punishment. 😛 Often this means working on my writing skills themselves. I love to watch really good films and TV shows and dissect how they put their stories together, and then apply that to my own work. It’s a great source of writing lessons and helps me keep advancing my skills. Sometimes it manifests in my characters themselves. In the last couple years, I have written a number of characters very different from myself that I’d … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Suck A Little Happy Juice

August 6, 2018 by scott

Hey all, It’s an amazing time in my writerly life. I’m starting to get some local press for “The River City Chronicles” (ok, so I begged and pleaded, but hey, whatever it takes, right?) – and I will do my first official bookstore reading and signing on October 4th at Time Tested Books in midtown Sacramento. (hint hint hint) You can sign up to go here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1180415018767294/ If you are in the Sacramento area, please sign up. I need to show the bookstore I have local support, so they will ask me back again. 🙂 At the same time, I … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: What’s Next?

July 30, 2018 by scott

Hey all, As I work to finish the final book in the Liminal Sky series, I’ve been giving some thought to the question in today’s title – what’s next for me as a writer? I’ve done far more than I ever thought possible in this whole writing and publishing thing: Sold more than 20 stories (shorts, novellas and novels). Written not one but two series, to critical acclaim (and am wrapping up the last book now) Had a few certified Amazon bestsellers (albeit in smaller categories) Published my own works In the four years since I published my first short … Read more