Speculative Vision

Another couple websites that get into writing a synopsis: http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/dreaded_synopsis.htm http://www.sfwa.org/writing/OP71.htm http://www.writing-world.com/publish/synopsis.shtml When I was researching how to write a synopsis, one thing I found was that no one seems to agree...

I didn't see it mentioned while skimming through the rest of this thread, so I thought I'd add that there's a free map-making program you can download called AutoREALM ( http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/index.php ) I haven't entirely gotten the hang of it myself, though (my maps have ended up becomi...

From my own experience and talking to others, I've found that writing courses and critique groups seem to be a mixed bag. Some are great; others are downright useless. A lot can depend on where you are as a writer too, I've found. What works for someone at stage A of their writing life doesn't neces...

It's been ages since I've seen Buckaroo Banzai, but it's just classic. I really need to watch it again.

Thanks for the hellos!

I thought the film was well done, but for some reason, I felt distanced from it. I'm not sure if my expectations were too high since I loved the book when I read it waaaaay back when, or if it was something else. I just kept having the feeling that I would have appreciated the film a lot more if I w...

I'd say a little of both. For me, when trying to cut down on word count, adverbs and adjectives are usually the first to go since it's so easy to use more of them than you really need. And depending on how tight your prose is to begin with, there might be places where you can change a few words ("he...

This may sound like a strange suggestion at first, and it's probably not for everyone, but taking an acting class can be surprisingly helpful for dialogue if you approach it the right way. I read an article in a writing magazine where an author said she thought acting classes were a really useful to...

Thanks for all the welcomes!

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I used to lurk around the old site, but I don't think I ever posted there, so I'd say that qualifies me as a newbie. Anyway, I'm a grant writer for an opera company, as well as a fiction writer with lots of love for the speculative fiction genre. I've h...