-
Snapshots! Part Eleven...
Helen Stubbs
As for big issues, a fiction writer’s first priority must be to entertain their reader (or you won’t have readers). There are many examples of great Spec Fic that don’t explore big issues, however, when I begin to wonder about the universe it leads me to big questions. I love fiction where humankind gets a cosmic spanking for its ( Read more... ) -
Snapshots! Part Ten
A A Bell
The market has become a financial fist that’s closing around Aussie publishers and booksellers. Libraries too, to some extent. It’s squeezing the life out of them, and all genres are suffering for fledgling writers and best-sellers alike. Meanwhile, internet sales are booming with dreck that could be so much better, if properly developed. ( Read more... ) -
Snapshots! Part Nine
Will Elliott
All I really want to do is write stories people will enjoy reading. As it happens most artists I admire aren’t easily pinned down in one genre or classification, and it’s true I never wanted to fall into producing formulaic books. I’d say the fantasy trilogy didn’t completely succeed, as difficult as that is to admit, so I don’t know ( Read more... ) -
Snapshot! Part Eight
Kim Falconer
The biggest change that comes immediately to mind is the recent passing of beloved author Sara Douglass. She was our spec fic pioneer and with her death I think every SFF writer in the country has paused to think of how far we have come and how much the efforts of single individuals can change the entire collective. We need to remember ( Read more... ) -
Snapshots! Part Seven
Rhonda Roberts
Firstly, I wanted to write about a murder on a film set and 1939 is the most glamorous year in the Golden Years of Hollywood. And, of course, I had to choose Gone With The Wind. For sheer breadth of drama, scandal and controversy, it’s a writer’s dream. After doing my research I had no idea why there weren’t several murders on the ( Read more... ) -
Snapshots! Part Six
Lee Battersby
It’s definitely changed my approach to writing in one very simple but central way: I’m a novelist now. That probably sounds a bit flippant, but the whole texture of my life has changed recently, including a day job promotion to a co-ordinator position that really eats my days. I have very little time left over for writing, so what ( Read more... ) -
Snapshots! Part Five
Pete Kempshall
Right now I’m reading Lisa Hannett’s Bluegrass Symphony - that’s a very impressive book. There’s any number of writers who can do a story that affects you deeply, considerably fewer who can do gorgeous prose, but it’s very rare to find both in the same place. And I’ve just re-read The Last Days of Kali Yuga by Paul Haines - as have ( Read more... ) -
Snapshots! Part Four
Day two and we're off again!!
Simon Haynes
In a nutshell, I believe that traditional publishing is no longer the best option for an ongoing series. By the time later books are released, the first have vanished from bookstore shelves, and it’s rare for any reader to start a series on book four, five or six. Sure, there are incredibly rare ( Read more... ) -
Snapshot! Part 3
Scott Westerfeld
Lots of people think that adding pictures to a book makes it younger, but in reality it just means reaching a different set of readers: those with a more visual bent, many of whom come out of manga and graphic novel traditions. So yes, there is a lot more fan art and cosplay for Leviathanthan any of my other books. It really does ( Read more... ) -
Snapshots! Part Two
Damien Broderick
I do jump around a lot. That's not a winning strategy for a commercial writer: you're supposed to establish a particular way of writing and stick with it, so the customers know what to expect each time.
---
I gain the impression that fantasy and horror have largely saturated Australian fantastika markets, at least among well- ( Read more... )