Dragon*Con Roundup

Dragon*Con in Atlanta was epically awesome for me!  I met so many cool people, speculative fiction writers and fans of everything geeky.  It’s really nice to be an environment where everyone shares your love for science fiction, fantasy, comic books, games, and everything in between.  As a grown up, I think sometimes I forget about that.

I sat in a bunch of interesting panels and workshops this weekend.  I won’t bore you with all the details, but here are some sage bits of writing advice that you can take or leave.  (As I mentioned before, not every bit of writing advice you read is right for everyone all the time.  Take the below with a grain – or bucket – of salt.)

Alison Sky Richards

“Keep yourself professional in all interations.  Keep your content [on your blog, Facebook, and Twitter] positive, engaging, and relevant.”

Kevin J Anderson

“This is an exciting time [in publishing].  It is a scary time.  The ambitious people will be able to do it.”

Jim Minz

“Editors look for a reason to turn down books as fast as possible.  Don’t give me a reason to reject you.”

Jody Lynn Nye

“The publishing world keeps changing, so you need to keep changing with it.”

Lou Anders

“No one is owed a writing career.”

Larry Dixon

“Finish your novel, even if it sucks, even you don’t have passion for it… You cannot edit what isn’t there.  Write the bad out to get to the good [words].”

Mercedes Lackey

“As an unpublished author, you don’t want any agent that would have you.”

Michael A Stackpole

“Whatever you do, you must be excited about it… Don’t ever phone it in.  You want your name to have value tied to it.”

Rebecca Moestra

“Young adult should not be Adults vs. Kids.  Young adult protagonists should be welcomed into the company of adults over the course of the story.”

Timothy Zahn

“When developing near-future societies [for your stories], think about where our society is going.  Think about what professions will or will not exist.  Think about what technology will or will not exist.  What will be done with that technology, both good and bad.”