Tag: Robert Heinlein
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The Lone Man
I’d been reading John Locke, as I revisit the origins of my beloved country and remind myself where the freedoms I currently enjoy stem from. It’s a good thing to do periodically, as time erodes with it’s passage much that we took for granted. Locke, at length, proposes to trace the origination of the…
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How to Write message Fiction: Guest Post
Written by Doug Irvin How To Write Message Fiction (the Right way) One of the greatest hurdles those known as Social Justice Warriors fail to recognize, is the innate power of a well crafted tale. A good story can raise the spirits high to achieve great goals, it can cause soul-wracking grief when readers…
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Top 100 Military Science Fiction Books
I realized that although I have made many lists of books, I have never done a list for military science fiction, one of my favorite sub-genres to read. An online friend asked about recommendations, so I did what I usually do, and crowdsourced the list-making. Over 300 comments later… No, not all of them were…
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Gold-Plated Misogynist
That’s what she said. It was in a comment thread online, after a friend of mine had shared a Robert A Heinlein quote. I looked at it, shook my head, and wondered when the man who was accused of being too pro-women in the era he wrote in, had become a woman-hater. It’s not true…
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Opening Lines
I asked for first line suggestions on facebook yesterday after my post, and was overwhelmed with responses. I have a lot of friends who love to read. One of the things I had intended to do was to sort the recommendations by date, to see if opening lines have changed with writing styles over the…
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Seducing the Reader: Part 1
It seems obvious that in order to get a reader interested in your story, you must have a great line. Something that stands out, grabs their attention, but isn’t corny. The idea here is to intrigue your reader and bring them into the story without making them lean away and smile politely until they can…
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Finding Poetry
I’ll be honest with you. Most SF poetry sucks. At least, what I have read of it. I think part of the reason is that you can’t build a new world in a poem, without making it unwieldy. I could be wrong, it might just be me. But I did learn soemthing recently, and it’s…
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The End
When you are reading a novel, how important is the end to you? What’s a great ending you remember? What’s one that will make you toss the book and think ‘never reading that author again’? I’m getting to the very end of Pixie Noir, and I want to make it good for you, my readers!…
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Heinlein’s Rules of Writing
Timeless. My daily goals are not always met, but I’m trying, every day. Heinlein’s Rules: 1. You must write. 2. You must finish what you write. 3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order. 4. You must put the work on the market. 5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.