How to Get Published

by John Bowers

If you’re a writer, you were probably a reader first. Odds are you read all the time because you’re in love with the printed word. You’re so in love with it that reading it isn’t enough…you need to write it too.

So you’ve read hundreds of novels, maybe even thousands. But how many of them do you remember? How many can you name? How many can you cite, years after you read them, and tell me something about the plot? Probably not very many. And it’s the same with me.

We’ve all read books that entertained us for a few hours, but a week later we really couldn’t remember them. We moved on to the next novel, and the next, and each one briefly did its job-to entertain us-but then we forgot all about it. I’ve come across used books that look interesting and sometimes I’ll start to read one, only to discover after a few chapters that I’ve already read it-years ago! In an age of mass-market paperbacks only a very few rise to the level of “memorable”, but when we do find one we recognize pretty quickly that…this one is special. (more…)

by Al Kalar

I was re-reading a great “how to” book from Ben Bova called The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells*.  This book was a great help to me when I was getting started as a writer.

In the book, Mr. Bova gives us the following list of tips that can be applied to just about any good fiction: (more…)