The answer to your question is going to depend a lot on what kind of children’s book it is. Is it a picture book? A chapter book? A middle grade? A young adult? Is it fiction or non-fiction? Each of these will have slightly different advice to them, though the…
I’ve been fascinated by the Steampunk (and its younger cousin gearpunk/springpunk/whatever you want to call it) since my early days enjoying the anime movies my brother would dig up here and there. There are a lot of interesting things going on in the subgenre. Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan looks very well done, and…
When I was in high school, I spent some time doing service at a local library. For the most part, this meant re-shelving books or looking through the stacks to make certain everything was in order. I remember being asked to shelve a copy of Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey. I couldn’t…
I’ve always found it remarkable that the people who look down on fantasy fiction tend to be the people closely associated with writing programs. Many literature professors (as opposed to creative writing instructors) don’t have this bias, in my experience. They loved to read, study, and discuss. They spend less…
I once did an experiment with my writing. I intentionally wrote Warbreaker as a standalone epic fantasy, much as my first book Elantris was. Obviously, I’m not the only one to release standalones in this genre. There’s a grand tradition of it, and some of my personal favorite books are standalones. I’m curious…
As I see it, there are several different types of series, and each have their advantages and disadvantages. I’m not talking genres here—I’m talking about the actual format of the series. And, because I’m like that, I figure I’ll try to name each one (mostly just for the purpose of discussion…
Boy! I’m not sure I can offer any help here, because I LIKE that they’re fluid in this way. It’s good for the genres that there is a ton of variety–that you can find literary fiction like The Left Hand of Darkness alongside adventure fiction like Leviathan Wakes all in…
Beyond the basic answers of watching my BYU lectures online, or listening to my Writing Excuses podcast, the best resource, if you can afford it , is attending World Fantasy Convention and listening to the panels there. I’d also recommend good author websites like the Writer Beware blog. Once you…
Of course. It’s nice to think that you, as the author, know how best to write your character and story, but we have editors for a reason. Though you might initially disagree, it is generally worth your time to give serious thought to the issues your editor raises, because that’s…
Jan 8, 2007 Articles The desire to write this essay came when I received a clump of emails from readers who asked variations of the following questions: “Why are hardbacks so expensive?” “How much do you make off of a book?” and “If I could buy two or three of your…