Posts Tagged "Bradley P. Beaulieu"

• Catastrophes create new frontiers

  The Politics of Science Fiction: Eco-tastrophy.
  

  Bradley P. Beaulieu

  There’s something very primal about creating a catastrophe of any sort and writing about it, either on the upswing of some impending disaster, on the downswing, or even well afterward. It’s natural to wonder what things would be like if things went to hell in a handbasket. Years ago it was the Red Scare and the threat of nuclear winter. Nowadays things are trending more toward eco-disasters. But in many ways it boils down to the same thing: stripping away the structure of our society and see what would come of it. It’s not nearly so simple as creating a Lord of the Flies analog, because in most of the better disaster tales, the characters know what they’ve lost. Shades of the old world can still be seen, even while the world crumbles.

  I haven’t written much in this vein, but one of the appealing things for me about the disaster tale is that it’s reductive. It strips away so much from the characters that it removes a lot of the distractions of telling a story in modern day. It allows the author to focus in on the things we find most important. If traditional science fiction can be described as taking an idea and asking: what changes because of it?, then the disaster tale can be said to strip away almost everything and ask: what’s left? (more…)

  Read More...

• I Blame Tolkien

  Why Write Fantasy?

  I don’t really remember the exact moment I decided I wanted to start writing—I came to it late and played with the idea off an on during college and through the early part of my professional career as a software programmer—but I do remember the moment that fantasy first fascinated me. It was in third grade. My best friend had read The Hobbit, and had recommended I read it too. So i did. And I loved it. I adored it. It was my first exposure to fantasy, and I remember how transfixed I was, not merely by the story, but also the maps and the covers.

  The covers, if I’m recalling correctly, were these ones:

  

  The world, as anyone who’s read them will tell you, is so wide and deep it’s easy to fall into. I loved the fairy tale feel of The Hobbit and the deeper, more dangerous feel of The Lord of the Rings. I even liked (not loved, it took me three tries and nearly a decade to finish it) the feeling of myth that The Silmarillion gave.

  So when I started making up my mind that I actually wanted to write, I knew it would be fantasy. But the point of this week’s posts isn’t so much the origin of our writing and why we write it, but why we enjoy fantasy in particular. What it brings to the table.

  I enjoy writing science fiction, but I have to admit, I find it too similar to our modern day world at this point. There was certainly a time when science fiction was little different from fantasy; it was just that one looked backward and one looked forward. Today those paradigms have been broken over and over again, and science fiction has stayed ahead of the technology curve, but it’s getting harder and harder to do so.

  But for me, that’s only part of the problem. I enjoy looking back to another time. I enjoy the escapism of fantasy. But first and foremost, I find compelling because of the particular brand of agency it grants the characters (and so, to the reader). It gives a sense of power that we’ll never have in real life. And so, from this perspective, it’s fun to write about kings and queens; it’s fun to write about thieves and wizards; because in them we get to experience wondrous things, things we dreamed about as children. I think that’s why the buying market has trended away from science fiction and more toward fantasy. Readers are looking for the same things in fantasy that make me want to write it.

  So while I enjoy science fiction enough to dabble, I doubt that I’ll ever write a science fiction novel. Fantasy’s what I love, and that’s where I’ll stay.

  Read More...

• I need help, but only when the time is right

  Wolf Pack of One?
  

  Bradley P. Beaulieu

  I do indeed write largely alone. That hasn’t always been the case, though. It used to be, when I was first starting out, that I wanted lots of feedback. Lots. When I was active on the Online Writing Workshop, I would post each chapter of the novels I was working on practically as soon as I finished writing them. It was a quick way for me to gain feedback, and I learned pretty quickly how much negative feedback stung, and continued to sting. I started pulling back a bit. I would work harder on the chapters, both while I was writing (using the lessons I was starting to learn) and during editing.

  Slowly, the feedback became less negative, more positive. This gave me more confidence. I continued with that type of workshop—online trading of crits—but I started to feel like it was helping me less and less. This is no knock against those in the workshop. It’s just a natural progression. Eventually you’ll grow. You’ll move on. You’ll find new critting partners that bring something new to the table, and hopefully you’ll do the same for them.

  During this time (my early, pre-published apprenticeship), I would actively trade full novel crits as well. That’s always a great thing to do, both reading others’ works critically, and getting yours read. It helps you to see the larger arcs and the problems that can crop up in trying to present them dramatically.

  Over the next 4 years, I attended several intense writing workshops. Viable Paradise, Writers of the Future, Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp, and finally Clarion back in 2006. Once I’d finished with those, I wasn’t burnt out, but I needed some time away from such things. I no longer actively critiqued online. I didn’t have any local workshops. I really only critiqued with a few close friends. This was the point at which I knew I was getting close. I was selling short fiction pretty regularly. And I felt if I could just find a good enough idea for a novel, it would put me over the top. At least, that’s what I hoped. There’s still so much luck involved, getting the right project into the right person’s hands at the right time. (more…)

  Read More...

• Hello! And, this all feels strangely familiar…

  Introductions
  

  Bradley P. Beaulieu

  Hi all. My name is Bradley P. Beaulieu (Brad), and I was one of the charter members of the Night Bazaar before it was subsumed by Night Shade Books. I’m terribly pleased to have been asked back to chat more with all of you, in part because of what being invited back means.

  And what does it mean? Well, I’m glad you asked. It means that I have a book coming out with Night Shade. Again. My debut novel, The Winds of Khalakovo, came out last April, and its sequel, The Straits of Galahesh, came out… When was it again?

  Oh, yeah. Yesterday!

  I thought, to re-introduce myself, I’d share a bit about how and why I got into writing fantasy, and who some of my influences were. I’ve been reading fantasy practically since I learned how to read. I came across The Hobbit in third grade—I even remember the friend that turned me onto it: Jim Vogt, my best friend at the time—and I’ve never looked back. It was a wondrous experience, walking through Middle Earth with Bilbo and Gandalf and the dwarves. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like had I found another seminal work in a different genre. Would I now be a mystery writer had I read Sherlock Holmes or Sexton Blake when I was young? Would I write spy thrillers if I had somehow stumbled across James Bond? I like to think the answer is no. Fantasy feels like a part of me at this point, so strong was my reaction to The Hobbit and, later, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. I can’t imagine a world that feels more internally consistent, more whole, than those volumes.

  And I think this is what eventually drove me to be a writer. As I matured I started to read other things, things like Piers Anthony’s Split Infinity Series, Stephen R. Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Terry Brooks’ Shannara Series, Thieves’ World from Lynn Abbey, and Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné. While I enjoyed these and many other books to varying degrees, none of them quite had that sense of history, of scope, that Tolkien had created in his stories. So as I started to dabble in writing in college, while I didn’t realize this consciously at the time, I was trying to recreate that sense of wonder that I’d found while traveling toward the Lonely Mountain to steal into the lair of Smaug. (more…)

  Read More...

• Looking forward

  The Year in Review

  I know this post is supposed to be about the year in review, but I think it’s very much about looking forward as well.

  One thing this year has taught me is that “I can do it again,” meaning I know how to write a novel more than once. The Winds of Khalakovo came out this year, but I turned in Book 2, The Straits of Galahesh, a few months back, and I’m well on my way to completing the first draft of Book 3. So I’ve gained a sense of confidence that I can do this at a high level. And this is important. Ever since I’ve started writing novels and short stories, it’s always felt like I won’t be able to do it again. Like “this time” was a fluke, and the “next time” the story’s going to fall flat on its face. Never is this feeling more apparent to me than in the first third of writing a new book. I’d written three books before Winds was picked up by Night Shade, so I’m essentially writing my sixth book now. And damned if the same feelings don’t crop up again and again, even on Book 3. But now that I’ve gotten some good feedback from my editor and my beta readers on Straits, I’m more confident that it, and my writing, are doing fine.

  So in some ways, this is a transitional period for me. I have the first year of publication under my belt. I’ve learned a lot in the past year, not just in how to write, but how to promote, how to balance my time, and deal with the pressures of publication. In other words: I’ve learned how to be a professional writer. A young pro writer, mind you, but a pro nonetheless.

  The second thing I’ve learned is that I really, really like this business. It pays chump change a lot of the time, and there are a lot of things that are a pain to deal with, but the act of creating something from scratch and sharing it—which assumes, of course, that people are reading your stuff—is really gratifying. And it’s enjoyable to be around so many other creative people. It’s why I’ve gone to conventions and such in the past, but more doors have been opened for me this year, and I’ve come to enjoy those new interactions—with my publisher, reviewers, bloggers, and other authors. (more…)

  Read More...

• Member News: December 17, 2011

  Member News

  Martha Wells‘s novel The Cloud Roads is FREE on the Kindle right now!  Hurry on over and get your copy before the promotion ends!  And go read N.K. Jemisin’s post on the Book Smugglers for a rousing recommendation of both The Cloud Roads and sequel The Serpent Sea (out Jan 3, so not much longer to wait!).

  Thomas Roche was interviewed about ebooks, the future of reading, and The Panama Laugh at the blog Beyond Black Friday. His interview also appears as part of the Kindle subscription blog Me and My Kindle.

  Brad Beaulieu’s novel The Winds of Khalakovo got a great review from Pat of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, and made Pat’s top ten SFF novels of the year – congrats, Brad!

  Courtney Schafer participated in an SF Signal Mind Meld, discussing her favorite SFF books and TV shows of the year.

  Read More...

• Member News: December 10, 2011

  Member News

  Huge congratulations to Katy Stauber, who sold her second novel Spin the Sky to Night Shade, for publication in fall of 2012!  Spin the Sky is a science fiction reinterpretation of the Odyssey, set in near-Earth orbital colonies.

  Martha Wells has a guest post on the Book Smugglers blog for their Smugglivus Fest, sharing the books she loved in 2011 and the novels she’s looking forward to in 2012.  She also has signed copies of The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea entered in the Magick4Terri fundraiser auction.

  Brad Beaulieu had an interview with Justin Landon over at A Staffer’s Musings, where Justin grills Brad about Russian literature and themes and stuff (it’s a long but very interesting interview!).

  Brad, Courtney Schafer, and John Hornor Jacobs also contributed signed novels (and one ARC, in Brad’s case) to Patrick Rothfuss’s Worldbuilders charity fundraiser – see here for details.

  Only three weeks left of the Night Bazaar in its current incarnation!  During our final weeks we’ll be discussing our lessons learned as debut authors and looking back at the year we’ve just had from both professional and personal perspectives.  And tune in tomorrow for a guest post from Howard Andrew Jones, author of The Desert of Souls and editor of Black Gate magazine.

  Read More...

• Writing a lot, poorly, makes you a fast, poor writer

  Strengths and Weaknesses

  

  One of my Clarion instructors back in 2006 was Chip Delaney (Samuel R. Delaney). Chip came in during our first week, and I’m glad he did. He imparted plenty of good wisdom to the collection of noobs who’d gathered in sweltering East Lansing that summer, but one bit of advice comes to mind when I think about strengths and weaknesses. He said it isn’t sufficient to simply write. Writing with no forethought will only serve to reinforce bad habits. One must recognize his weaknesses and work actively to strengthen those weak writing muscles in order to make them stronger. Consider golf swings, or pitching motions, or gymnastical dismounts from the parallel bars. They’re (in varying degrees) easy to understand, and it seems as though, given enough time, you could learn to do what the pros do. But you can’t simply do it over and over again and hope pig-headed repetition is going to make you really, truly good at it.

  Now, sure, there are those savants that seem to be able to pick things up quickly and learn to do it very well. And there are those that work at it for a very long time and eventually become decent at it. To those arguments I would say this: the people that succeed because of innate talent are few and far between, and the others often succeed despite their poor form, not because of it. I can’t help but think of Tim Tebow from the Denver Broncos. He’s on a bit of a tear, but no one would claim that he’s a good quarterback. He’s succeeding with grittiness, his scrambling ability, and perhaps by catching his opponents a bit off-guard by the very fact that he isn’t a prototypical quarterback.

  I’m not claiming that repetition isn’t important. It is. You’ll certainly learn a number of things by stubbing your toe on them. Still, I would very much recommend taking Chip’s words to heart. In order to do that though—to really work on your writing—you have to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. This, to me, is the biggest reason to join peer-to-peer critique groups (whether virtual or in-person). It’s also a good reason to go to professional writing workshops. In either case, you’ll receive critiques of your own work, and this is good to a degree. It helps to identify your strengths and weaknesses. I would argue, though, that you’ll find out more about yourself as a writer by critiquing work that others have also critiqued. Assuming that the others critiquers know their stuff (and you’ll get a sense of this over time) you will find others commenting on something you completely missed. Be very aware of those things, my friends, because those are your blind spots. Now, don’t worry if it’s only one other person that brings up some issue of plotting or tone or dialogue. But if three people bring up basically the same issue and you missed it? Take note. (more…)

  Read More...

• Member News: December 3, 2011

  Member News

  Courtney Schafer has an interview over at the Chimeras blog, in which she talks about engineering vs. writing and gives a sneak peek of The Whitefire Crossing‘s sequel, The Tainted City.  Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist also has a free exclusive excerpt from The Whitefire Crossing, as part of Night Shade Books’ holiday countdown/advent calendar extravaganza.

  Brad Beaulieu‘s book The Winds of Khalakovo has had a busy week. It got two great reviews, one from A Fantasy Reader, and the other from A Staffer’s Musings. Brad’s also going to have an interview posted with Justin Landon at A Staffer’s Musings as a follow-up to that review, so keep an eye out for it.

  Also, Brad and Greg Wilson, over at Speculate, interviewed Maurice Broaddus. They spoke to Maurice about writing balancing life, writing, and editing, how faith intersects with speculative fiction, and pimping airships.

  Read More...

• We get by with a little help…

  Giving Thanks

  From our friends.

  When this subject came up, the initial urge was to thank everyone who’s ever had some sort of influence on my writing. I’ve done a lot of that already, though, here on this blog and posts on my own blog. I’ve done it in my acknowledgements. I’ve done it in person when I’ve seen them. And I made a point to email those that I felt deserved direct thanks once The Winds of Khalakovo was accepted for publication. I’m not going to cover that ground again. Not that those folks don’t deserve another round of thanks. It’s just that I want to focus on another aspect of coming up, as it were.

  I’d like to give thanks to my peers, those who helped me in smaller ways, or perhaps in mutually beneficial ways, along my path toward publication. Who am I talking about here? Well, it’s no one group. It’s a variety of groups and people and individuals that were coming up themselves. Some were ahead of where I was, and some were not quite as far, but they all helped, and I hope that I helped them as well.

  I’ll start with Critters. I never gravitated toward meet-and-greet type writing groups where people met in person and critiqued, largely because when I first got into writing, I was traveling for work and it just wasn’t very feasible for me to make meetings. Another issue was that with larger, online groups, you have a greater chance of finding those that work well with you, and vice versa. You hopefully find people that challenge your writing, and hopefully you challenge theirs. Critters was this way for me, at least at first. I did eventually find the system a bit rigid and slow for my liking, but I certainly advanced in my craft during my time there. (more…)

  Read More...