On Inspiration

As writers, the topic of inspiration is pivotal to our craft. If we were never inspired, we would never write. Or at least, our writing would be extremely dull. When we say that we have ‘writer’s block,’ we mean that we suffer from a lack of inspiration. Writing has become a chore, a drudge. We have to drag ourselves to the keyboard or notebook. Every word is like beating at a colossal wall. This happens to most every writer at some point (some might argue that the majority of their time is spent in this state). How, then, do we re-immerse ourselves? The answer is both simple and complex: we find inspiration. Simple because it can be found anywhere. Complex because, well, if it were really that easy, we would all have written a score of brilliant...

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Posted in: inspiration,northern california,writing

An Artsy Fartsy Guest Post

Hi there, as Mel is probably singing "It's a Small World After All" in Disney Land right now I am guest blogging today. My name is Nichole Lewis and I am an artist, writer, and leader of the Horror, Dark Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance sub-group of the Sylvanopolis Writers' Society. My post will focus on how art and writing affect each other, both in the creative process and in the finished product.Much of my art is fantasy based, and for me the first spark of a drawing is similar to the first spark of a story. I become obsessed with the art, I see the finished product in my minds eye, and until I begin the initial pencil drawing, I always have a nagging little voice in the back of my head saying "You should be working on this." This process is similar to that of most writers starting out...

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Understanding Terms

I discussed briefly in my last post that there are a million ways to get published now, as technology seems to make the process easier. But the more there are in numbers, the more scams. I'm going to assume for a second that Reader is just beginning to research publishing. This is not meant to be condescending, but to provide a platform from which to discuss the industry as a whole. In orders to do so all Readers should be expected to have the same knowledge and so if I present Reader with said information.... Reader gets the point, yes?All right, then. Self-Publishing: you got the whole thing done yourself. You wrote it, got it edited, went to the printer and so forth. You got the art, the design ... everything. You sent out the Press Releases, worked on getting it in the stores,...

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For Love of the Character

Perhaps it is a bit early in the relationship for me to be this brutally honest, but oh well. I'm going to be anyway.Writing, for all that I love it, is an absolute pain.World building, editing, the actual fact of writing; it all congeals into this mess that's part mud (the boggy kind that smells) and part quicksand, pulling you down into a slow, putrid death you can't escape. And that's not even mentioning the characters. Characters are, for me, simultaneously the best and worst part of writing. Neurotic and heroic and villainous and bi-polar, sweet, laid-back, uptight, strange, aloof, way way too forward, all clamoring about in your head, each with their own peculiar vocabulary. Have you ever noticed that? There are some words you can use with certain characters and not with others. Silly...

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In Defense of Bad Writing

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been writing. Badly. Throughout elementary school, Young Authors was always my favorite part of the year. My stories were uniformly terrible. It didn’t matter. In third grade, I wrote a touching adventure about a young boy who goes on vacation to Scotland, meets a rather peculiar homeless man, and takes the man home to live with him. In sixth grade, I turned to drama and wrote about a group of friends transported to a mysterious underground kingdom where evil fish tie them to stakes and try to sacrifice them. As fish do not have hands, the knots are loose and the protagonists are able to escape. Surprisingly, these never won awards. In seventh grade, fate crossed my path with that of Erica, my fellow blogger. This was around the time that she was...

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Posted in: getting started,writing

Introductions and Formalities

Hello and welcome! Melissa here. I'll usually be posting every Monday, but wanted to get a quick greeting in today.In this column, I hope to share my experiences with writing, the things that inspire me, frustrate me, and bring me joy. But for this week, I think I will stick to introducing myself. Unlike many of the other SWS members you will read here, writing is not my career goal. I am currently in grad school, earning my masters degree in psychology with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy. My day job is a clerical position in an engineering business. And in my spare time, I write stories. I would like to think that this strange combination of work, school, and play gives me a unique perspective. If you want to be a professional writer, all of the experts will tell you...

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Posted in: hello,writing

Technology and What it Means

Drea here for Thursday:D2009 is wrapping up and we're heading into a new decade. There's been a lot of changes in the past ten years, most of which have been propelled by rapidly shifting technology. Writing, Publishing and marketing are not immune to these. Rather, their relevance has become quite marked as e-book sales rise and consumers buy more products online.Amazon. The past few months have seen WalMart, Target and Sears cut prices on hardback books so dramatically that publishers have grown concerned over consumer price perception.Nathan Bransford's blogThe fact that Amazon sells books at a loss is not something most customers clicking "add to cart" are thinking as the page gives way to credit and account information. But how can people compete with Amazon selling books at...

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Posted in: California writers,e-books,publishing,technology,writing

Why we Write

So, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Erica Procopio and I am a member of Sylvanopolis Writers' Society (the previous post was by our esteemed leader, Drea Moore). I write fantasy and am currently working on a novel. In October I attended the World Fantasy Convention along with Drea Moore, Meslissa Kuhl, Roy Garcia and Erin Lachuli. It was a fantastic experience, and wonderful time was had by all and we even got to geek out over Patricia McKillip (one of my favorite authors). It was essentially a series of panels on various and sundry topics interspersed with interviews and readings by different authors. As I said it was an absolutely fantastic experience. And I got so much out of it (not least the tote bag full of books!) but I was very struck by something I heard an author...

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And So We Blog ...

Welcome all to the new SWS blog! We intended to host a variety of topics here that will further our mission. Current Bloggers will be Melissa Kuhl, Erica Procopio and myself (Drea Moore).SWS is open to all writers and writing groups. Currently our member groups focus mostly on Science Fiction and Fantasy. We have one poetry group -- and I will see if one of their members would like to represent their corner and add a bit of diversity to this space. Other potentials are posts by our "artists," as SWS seems to have an abundance of writer/artist members and even more artists hovering on the periphery and supporting our larger group.On Thursdays I will share opinions on the industry and the writer: Perceptions of SFF, e-books, self-publishing and what it means for the writer bewildered...

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Posted in: California writers,escapism,fantasy,genre fiction,literature,sacramento Northern California,Science fiction,sylvanopolis,writing