If you desire to create, please find a way to create. The world needs more creatives in it. The world progresses via creativity. Whether it’s the arts or sciences – creativity and all that it might produce expands human knowledge, grows our understanding within and without, and changes the world for the better. Sadly, there…
Tag: sci-fi
Why Are You Afraid to Write and not Writing?
If you think I’m writing to you – I am. Let’s address the 4 things you’re afraid of. Writing is something lots of people dream of doing. While the process comes easier to some of us than to others – that doesn’t mean it doesn’t scare you. I’ve known lots of would-be writers who are…
How Do I Get Myself Back Writing into the Flow, Yo?
Some days you flow better than others with your work. Now that I’ve completed my Void Incursion sci-fi series – apart from editing and then having the book professionally edited – I’m done with the writing I’ve been doing. I am not, of course, done. As I’ve written before, I have planned out 10 more…
How Do Nonfiction Works Directly Connect to Works of Fiction?
How my nonfiction and fiction connect define my overall brand. I began writing fiction some forty years ago. I was 9. That first work of sci-if – called Wildfire – was imaginative and literally colorful (hand-written and illustrated by me). But it might also have caused some psychologists to question my mindset (spoiler alert: The…
Do I Continue Working with the Familiar or Start the Unfamiliar?
I get to choose if I should work in a familiar or unfamiliar setting. For a long time, I really, really wanted to write a sci-fi epic. Nothing stuck in my mind to drive it. As a pantser (one who writes by the seat of their pants), I never had that flash of, “yes, this!”…
Step One: Write. Step Two: Edit. Step Three: Profit?
Sadly, step three (Profit) requires more steps – and some other intangibles. Since 2013, I have self-published 17 books in total on Amazon. Five of them are nonfiction and published under Murray “MJ” Blehart, while the other 12 are fiction under MJ Blehart. From the outside, it looks like there are 3 steps to the…
Why Does Inclusivity Matter to Sci-fi and Fantasy?
Because even as niche genres – inclusivity literally includes everyone. Lots of the “fanboys” love to whine and/or moan about all the ways how newer takes on older sci-fi and fantasy properties are ruining them. How many people are unhappy over gay, transgendered, and non-binary characters in Star Trek: Discovery? What about all the people…
Are All the Genres in Writing Transmutable and Combinable?
No genres are so set that they cannot be blended, altered, and mixed. Both of my recent sci-fi series are not entirely sci-fi. Mostly sci-fi, yes. But not completely. Forgotten Fodder crosses into police procedural, mystery, and conspiracy. Sure, it’s about clones and takes place in spaceships, space stations, and colonies within 30 light-years of…
The Takeaway – What Useful Things Did I Learn from My Con Experience?
After attending Farpoint Con 2022 – what did I learn? For the first time since 2016, I attended a con. Farpoint in Hunt Valley, Maryland, is a sci-fi con that’s got a rich history and has been ongoing for years. I attended as a guest. Thus, I sat on several panels, did a reading from…
New Experience – I Can’t CONtain my excitement!
Attending Farpoint con this weekend will be a very new experience. If you are reading this as it posts – I am in Hunt Valley, Maryland, attending the Farpoint con. This is a sci-fi and fantasy convention featuring various vendors, performers, celebrities, discussion panels, and authors participating on those panels. Also, authors reading, selling, and…