On this episode, we have Paul Smith, friend of previous guests, CW Briar and Jon Brhel. He's author of Jason and the Draconauts!
Paul Smith lives in upstate New York with his wife and two sons, where he works with emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children. He earned a master’s degree in social sciences from Binghamton University in 1999. A lifelong love of science fiction, fantasy, and superhero stories influences Paul’s writing. His most recent work was a popular weekly online series that generated over 20,000 views. Jason and the Draconauts is his first novel.
In Episode 70:
- The pitfalls of pantsing
- The guys give Liberty a hard time for ditching her outline
- Liberty keeps bringing up Scrivener...
- Bluetooth keyboards!
- Why reading out loud is an important editing tool.
- Paul's techniques for battling writer's block and why he hates frustration.
- Paul's thoughts on conventions and selling books on them.
- Whether FB ads are worth the paper they're printed on...
- Including fandom quotes in our books!
- What do your books teach you in the course of the writing?
- Get words on paper
Links!
- Paul D Smith (on Goodreads)
- Jason and the Draconauts
- The Council of Ancients
- Ready Player One (audiobook link)
- Brandon Sanderson
- Redshirts by John Scalzi (on audiobook!)
- Scrivener (again!)
- The Hobbit
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code
- Angels & Demons
As always, you can find complete show notes at LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com.
On this episode, we have Paul Smith, friend of previous guests, CW Briar and Jon Brhel. He's author of Jason and the Draconauts!
Paul Smith lives in upstate New York with his wife and two sons, where he works with emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children. He earned a master’s degree in social sciences from Binghamton University in 1999. A lifelong love of science fiction, fantasy, and superhero stories influences Paul’s writing. His most recent work was a popular weekly online series that generated over 20,000 views. Jason and the Draconauts is his first novel.
In Episode 69:
- Writing for your kids
- Creating dragons! Who's going to argue with a dragon?
- D&D's influence in Paul's writing
- How to NOT plagiarise
- Aaron wants to read a story about Captain America riding a dragon
- Does the TARDIS have a loading bay?
- Black Ops Helicopters
- Sean Connery
- thoughts on conventions and selling books on them.
- Whether FB ads are worth the paper they're printed on...
- Including fandom quotes in our books!
- What do your books teach you in the course of the writing?
- Get words on paper
Links!
- Paul D Smith (on Goodreads)
- Jason and the Draconauts
- The Council of Ancients
- Ready Player One (audiobook link)
- Brandon Sanderson
- Redshirts by John Scalzi (on audiobook!)
- Scrivener (again!)
- The Hobbit
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code
- Angels & Demons
This week, we have Kristen Stieffel, author of the debut novel, Alara's Call.
Kristen Stieffel is a freelance writer and editor specializing in science fiction and fantasy. She’s the associate editor of Havok, a flash fiction magazine focused on the speculative genres. Kristen provides author mentoring and a full range of editorial services in multiple genres for both the general market and the Christian submarket. Kristen is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association and Christian Editor Connection and is a Word Weavers International mentor.
In Episode 68:
- Plotting! Pantsing! Who knows?! Start with the end in mind.
- He said WHAT?!
- Writing out of order.
- How do you K.O. a piece of paper?
- All hail the wonders of Scrivener!
- How MCs can change in the course of the book.
- Hurricane brain
- Write through the crap!
- Snacking! Tea!
- Bollywood!
- Classical Crossover music
- Kristen's longest trip for a writer's conference.
- Why do people complain about book prices?
- Gotta have the big parts in your novel first.
Kristen's Facebook Party (9/21/2017)
You can find all our episodes & show notes at LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com.
This week, we have Kristen Stieffel, author of the debut novel, Alara's Call.
Kristen Stieffel is a freelance writer and editor specializing in science fiction and fantasy. She’s the associate editor of Havok, a flash fiction magazine focused on the speculative genres. Kristen provides author mentoring and a full range of editorial services in multiple genres for both the general market and the Christian submarket. Kristen is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association and Christian Editor Connection and is a Word Weavers International mentor.
In Episode 67:
- Kristen's impetus for writing Alara's Call.
- How President Dwight Eisenhower factors in to Kristen's book.
- Kristen admits how long it took to write the book.
- How her setting was designed to fit the story.
- Mentor characters yelling at the main character's father!
- How long does it take to cremate a horse? (Aaron isn't telling PETA.)
- We get into an argument about Kristen's favorite spec fic quote.
- Aaron refrains from going full über-nerd! (We're all grateful.)
Kristen's Facebook Party (9/21/2017)
You can find all our show notes at LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com.
We sat down with the delightful Sarah White, author of Halayda, but Josh couldn't join us. So it was up to Liberty to rein in Aaron! Or does he have to rein her in? Hmmm...
Sarah Delena White writes epic fantasy, steampunk, and reworkings of mythology with complex characters, rich world-building, and a fine balance of poetry and snark. When she’s not writing or editing, she can be found making jewelry, singing Irish ballads, drinking tea, and working a variety of odd jobs. She occasionally remembers to eat and sleep, because those things are apparently important. She can be bribed with dark chocolate. Halayda is her debut novel.
In Episode 66:
- Normally, we have rabbit trails. But this week, we have rabbit AND chicken trails! (That sounds worse than it is...)
- Plotting v pantsing ... and having a point she's working toward
- Deleted/bonus scenes!
- Sarah's use of a certain social media platform in her research
- The necessity of the right brand of Earl Grey tea.
- Twitter Hashtag Games!
- Irish folklore & ARROW
For links to discussed topics, please be sure to visit our website: LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
We sat down with the delightful Sarah White, author of Halayda, but Josh couldn't join us. So it was up to Liberty to rein in Aaron! Or does he have to rein her in? Hmmm...
Sarah Delena White writes epic fantasy, steampunk, and reworkings of mythology with complex characters, rich world-building, and a fine balance of poetry and snark. When she’s not writing or editing, she can be found making jewelry, singing Irish ballads, drinking tea, and working a variety of odd jobs. She occasionally remembers to eat and sleep, because those things are apparently important. She can be bribed with dark chocolate. Halayda is her debut novel.
In Episode 65:
- Sarah keeps very busy!
- Halayda's unique blend of subgenres and unique beginnings
- Yes, this is a kissing book!
- Sarah's research into Scottish & Irish faeries
- More questionable search histories!
- Aaron's rabbit trail about the difference between the Russian space program and NASA
- Liberty's rabbit trail about Apollo 13
- Short word counts vs. long word counts!
For additional links and notes, be sure to visit: LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
This week, we talk with Deanna Fugett (not to be confused with Deanna Troi). We get right into it with a discussion about oddly named characters, and where some of these names come from (don't ask...)
Next, because this is a speculative fiction show, we talk at length about Little House on the Prairie (Of course...) Liberty wasn't around this week to steer us back on track... (because she spontaneously combusted... well, that's our story, anyway...)
We eventually got back on track (kind of...), and learned that Josh loves depressing endings (Aaron can't stand them...)
Who's Deanna's favorite super hero? Is it Green Arrow? Super Grover? You'll have to listen to find out.
Does Deanna prefer Scrivener? Word? Pen? Crayon?
We also take a quick break to provide a public service announcement of things computers don't like (such as hammers and crumbs...)
Lingo 101... We're thinking of making this a regular feature...
And last, but not least, being eaten alive (metaphorically...)
Some of Deanna's favorite authors:
- Liberty
- Aaron
- Josh (he's almost done...)
- Lynn Austin, who writes historical fiction/romance. She has a really good series set in the Civil War (U.S. History, not Marvel, sadly) that does a good job of showing the conflict and motivation from both sides. (Also, if you like history, check out "Across Five Aprils")
Deanna thinks critique groups are pretty darn important. We think so too!
Extrovert shadowing!
As always, get full show notes at LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com.