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Point of View: Going From Writer to Author

seal scott author

I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. I wrote a sci fi story in fourth grade – ok, so it wasn’t much of a story, more of a Jetsons rip-off. But the creative urges were there in elementary school. In my late teens and early twenties, I wrote my first novel, which was then soundly rejected by a number of publishers and which I allowed to kill my nascent writing career at the time. Now I am actually published – with twelve stories that have appeared in journals, anthologies, and even as stand-alone novellas from respectable … Read more

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Point of View: Selling at a Con

Scott Angel Freddy yaoicon

Hey all, Just got back from YaoiCon in San Francisco – I went for one day on Saturday to hang with MCB Books’ Angel Martinez and Freddy MacKay. I thought I’d share some of what I learned from this and the other cons I have attended about how to get the most out of your book sales. and to be as organized as possible beforehand. Find Out if You Need a License: Some states require you to collect taxes and send them in for sales made at cons and trade shows. I don’t know if it was required for YaoiCon, … Read more

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Point of View: Squirrel!

Scott - Squirrel

I just spent a couple months slogging through a fourth (or was it seventeenth?) draft of one of my novels, and then jumped right into an extension of another work. After that, I have another novel to finish up. In short, I’m working or reworking a lot of things I have worked on time and time again before. My writer brain wants something NEW! So this week, I am sidetracking a little bit and working on a BRAND FREAKING NEW short story – something for a holiday anthology I’ve had my eye on for awhile. And you know what? It feels GOOD. … Read more

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Point of View: It’s Done.

Oberon

I just completed the next step in a journey that began something like twenty years ago, when I sat down to write my first queer sci fi story. The story “Oberon” opened with a graphic (for me) sex scene, and involved a strange world called Oberon – commonly known as Split because it is literally half a world. I didn’t finish it at the time – in fact, I sketched out just a few scenes, and then put it on the shelf with a bunch of my other unfinished works. But it was a milestone for me. I had recently … Read more

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Point of View: How I Edit

Scott Editing

Hey all, I am breathing down the neck of my first completed novel in twenty years. “Sciatháin” (which many of you may know as “Oberon”) has been through some serious twists and turns to get to this point. I started the story that eventually led to this novel in the mid-nineties. It was the first “gay” story I ever wrote (or at least began), with a sexual opening sequence that was, in a way, my coming out as a writer. I shelved it after a few scenes – well, I shelved pretty much my whole writing career – for a … Read more

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Point of View: Writing a Successful Serial

Scott

I’m about forty three chapters into “The River City Chronicles“, and am also part of the group serial tale “Marionettes in the Mist” over at Mischief Corner Books. I was just having a conversation with another QSF writer yesterday – someone who is about to embark on a serial project of his own. And it got me thinking – what have I learned in the process of doing two serial fiction projects? So here, in no particular order, is my accumulated wisdom on the subject. 😉 1) Keep Good Notes: This is by far the most important rule of writing … Read more

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Point of View: Taking Stock

Scott

Hey all, A couple weeks ago, I kinda hit rock bottom as a writer. Having just had three new stories release, I should have been on top of the world. But I had no time to write, and a number of things I thought would go really well in my writing plan had fizzled. I had dreams when I got back into writing. Big dreams. Each story/novella/novel I released would be bigger than the last. People would read my stories and be amazed, touched, moved to tears. And I would start to make a living at this whole writing thing, at … Read more

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Point of View: I Am Wallowing

Wallow

As an author, sometimes you have a really good week. You have a new book come out, you get great reviews, and you actually have both the time to write and the inspiration to do so. Sometimes, things just suck, and you wallow. This last week was supposed to be a banner week for me. I have a new release, part of an anthology, and it’s getting really good reviews. And yet, I find myself in the middle of an existential writer crisis. It’s not any one big thing, and not even a couple medium-sized things. Instead it’s a bunch … Read more

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Point of View: Testing the Waters

Huffington Post

Two years and some months ago, I re-commited myself to writing. I’ve now published a few things, and have set up several blog tours for my books and the anthologies I have been in. I’ve hit all the normal places – the romance blogs, the LGBT reviewers, etc. But I’ve decided that it’s time to do more. I want to move beyond the romance blogs. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to leave them behind. They are a huge part of our community, and it’s important that we support each other. They should be a part of any marketing strategy. But … Read more

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Point of View: Reaching the Ending

Writer's Brain - Scott

I have writer’s brain. I have just gone full-tilt for about a month to write a new novella for a forthcoming anthology. The story is titled “The Great North”, and it’s a post-apocalyptic tale based on a Welsh legend. Some of you may remember how it started out from one of my earlier columns – the story really wanted to be “The Autumn Lands” all over again, complete with blond stranger arriving in town on a wagon train. But the story and I had a big fight, and I won, and I steered it bodily onto a new course. Note … Read more