In any long-term endeavor, there are going to be times when you don’t feel like doing your work. Days when you just can’t face the keyboard, canvas, whatever. During these periods it’s very easy to hate what you’re doing or wonder if it’s worth doing at all.

An important thing to note is that once you’re [...]

Everybody argues about whether it’s plot or character that’s the source of good fiction. Of course, it’s a trick question: the real answer is that there is no real plot that doesn’t derive from character and no way to show character except by their reactions to plot. But I’m starting to think both of these [...]

“Evolving as a Writer” was the second panel in a row to debate the merits of doing the same thing versus doing something different. “Gluten-Free Fantasy” talked about breaking away from an entire sub-genre — call it “Suburbs of Middle-Earth” — and this panel discussed breaking away from whatever you have been doing in order [...]

“Why is it, with all the histories available to build a fantasy, all we ever get is medieval Europe with dragons?”

“Gluten-Free Fantasy” was a panel about a panel.1 In the course of the original panel, Scott Westerfeld — who asked the question above — mentioned that so many of the things considered standard in modern [...]