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FOR WRITERS

Followers, Friends, & Phantoms

November 22, 2011
Tags: facebook, TWITTER, social networking
One compensation of being disabled by an illness is more time to think about stuff about which one normally ignores. For this illness, the thoughts have been drifting toward the changing definitions of important words brought about by advances in technology. As the definitions change, so do the concepts the definitions attempt to represent.

For example, the word "Friend." Dictionary definitions for this word have always been lame. I like the "Someone who knows the worst about you and loves you anyway; someone upon whom, for that love, you can depend on and trust; someone who wishes only the best for you." By this definition, twenty years ago I had perhaps three friends. Then came Facebook and GovSpinSpeak.  Read More 
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Short & Sweet

September 9, 2011
Tags: Brevity, TWITTER, aTwitMystery
Follow @BarryLongyear
I am deeply into my second aTwitMystery story, this one titled "A Hitman's Lot." It brings an old writing task to mind.

The term "tightening up" a story or scene is easy to understand. It is getting from point A to point B with fewer words. It is an editorial comment still aimed in my direction on occasion. If you find yourself in similar straits in your rejection mail, try writing your story as a series of tweets on Twitter. You simply can't do those page-long blocks of description in 140 character squirts (including spaces). I'm having a lot of fun with aTwitMystery, but it is scary. It's writing with the readers looking over your shoulder, and commenting, going into publication with each tweet. I originally did this to bring folks to my website, and it is doing that. However, the twit story genre is the writing equivalent of doing improv.
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For those who wish to write the best stories of which they are capable.
The Write Stuff
Everything I know about writing worth passing on. In this work, step-by-step, I show what I did. From that it is intended that writers form their own paths toward producing their art.
Science-Fiction Writer's Workshop-I
For Beginners
A year after I published my first short story, Editor George Scithers said to me that I was so close to moving from just fooling around to producing professional-grade stories, why not write about that. This is the result, the How-To book I wish I'd had when I first started writing.
All of Barry's books are available on Amazon and this is your link to all of Amazon's other great values.

What About This Blog?

For writers & readers. For writers, this is stuff I've learned, am in the process of discovering, and stuff that is imparted to me by other writers. For readers, I believe the more one knows about what goes into the writing of a story, and into the life of being a writer, the more one appreciates an author's writings.

This is a two-way blog. Your comments on the blogs are welcome, as are your questions. Comments on blogs can be made directly on each blog entry. For questions and comments not related to specific blogs, use the eMail link below.

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Barry B Longyear

Barry B. Longyear is the first writer to win the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer all in the same year. In addition to his acclaimed Enemy Mine Series, his works include the Circus World and Infinity Hold series, Sea of Glass, other SF & fantasy novels, recovery and writing instruction works, and numerous short stories.

How to write the best stories of which you are capable
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