F()CUS EDITORIAL Martin McGrath on encountering Rama and the Editor MartincusMcGrath influence of Arthur C Clarke. 48~Orive,ParkStreet.St Albans, Au lHL ESCAPE VELOCITY fO

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW1 NO THANKS! ,B "'-t~hlpfeft It's the one piece of advice every aspiring writer receives, Uk h6 pa or (Unw~-(IB pal. ~Write what you know." But, asks Dev Agarwal, what if Ufe membership Ten times annlUl rate (hEio) we didn't. OuuIdeUk l)l JoinVfam,1y membellh,p Add h to the abaft prices POETRY S, 7, 1] & '7 I'm not a poet, Edward Comma said. But I've got some Otequn (Sttrllng only) should be made payable to wBSFA Ltd" and sent poems... to ~ttr Wilk,mon at the addreu above or pay via PiOypat on the 8SFA webs'teiOlw.¥W.bsfa.co.uk. wbscrlben from outside the UK ;Jre InVited to pay via the website 8ritishSClenc.FlctionAuoclatlonLtd. RegIStered In England aod Wales. Company No. 921Soo Registered addreu: 61 Nycrott Road. Wanon, Tamworth, StilHordshire. 8]'9oJJ

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Orbiter Writing Groups Terry Jackman lerryj6dmanOtlscali.net

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All cartoons In lhis issue rourtcsy of www.flI:aringzero.nd Rediscovering Rama

Martin McGrath offers an entirely inadequate tribute to the influence of Sir Arthur C Clarke on his own desire to be a writer.

This mailing is me first to go out to would be an overstatement bot there members since the sad news reached was certainly a period while I was at the BSfA of the death ofour President university and just after - before the Arthur C Clarke. Clarke's science coming of the Internet proper (before fiction made a big impact on me as both Amazon and Google) and before genre fan - although, for many years. 1 I discovered "fandom"· - that every didn't know he was responsible. visit to a bookshop was accompanied I must have picked up Rendezvous by quick scan of the bookshelves for With Rama sometime in the Ine anything that looked familiar. seventies (probably between doing my In the end, when I'd more or less Eleven Plus and going to secondary given up, it was reading an article in a school) at a time when I was strip­ computer magazine about a planned mining the section adventure game from Sierra about of Dungannon District Ubrary at astronauts visiting a giant spaceship the rate of three books a day - and passing through our sobr system that nuy the great god of books bless the put the book back in my hand. sweet libnrians who assumed that By then. of course, I knew who everything with spaceships must be Clarke was. I'd threaded together the for children. short fiction ("Overhead, without Anyvn.y I know I read Rama at Ie

AUTUMN 2007 f@CUS 3 Taking readers to 11.2 kil per second and beyond Geoff NeIder is the co-editor of Escape Velocity, a recently launched science fiction magazine that's experimenting with Print On Demand and new formats. Here he talks about setting up the magazine and the struggle to find stories.

We found a niche in speculative fiction and a print copy. It's not much and we and this is what happened. Escape now have around 30 submissions per Verocity is a fledgling science fiction & week, fact magazine published by Adventure Books of Seattle, a small press that WHY REJECT? publishes books in keeping with the Many submissions are unsuitable company name but with a focus on in spite of asking writers to read the science fiction. Our international staff guidelines, Along come stories about includes owner and editOf Robert dragons. ghosts, pixies. historical Blevins. co-editOf me, a bookkeeper, romances and crime stories with no a technical adviser and a COlIer art sci·fi element. Then instead of the designer. 5,000 word maximum limit we receive . or a chapter from a novel-in­ RATIONALE progress that doesn't stand alone as a The rationale for Escape velocity '''''Y. came from different directions. Robert Sometimes I suggest another wanted: ·Stories. articles. interviews, market - apologies to Peter Crowther for special image sections. letters to the suggesting his PS PubliShing at least editor, a puzzle page; glossy COYefS. twice. but they were good novellas! perfect bound. Other magazines It doesn't bother me if people submit offered a mill; of fantasy. soft sci-fi and stories in weird formats, because it occasional hard sci-fi tossed into the is because the submission editors are only takes seconds to reformat; a small mill.. I wanted to do a magazine for swamped by thousands of admirable price for a gem, I'm British, and Robert hard-sci·fi readers that stuck to the stories that are 'not for us'. is American, so national spelling lind program." So where were the submissions to idioms are welcome. We forgive minor My reason was more selfish, It was Escape Ve/oclly? spelling and grammatical errors, and born from a frustration of my limited We had issued a call for stories. encourage experimental writing as success in seeing my short fiction poems and articles al many writers' long as it works. On the other hand in print. Ironically. as found by other forums. We made a nuisance of we don't want to spend hours working magazine editors, we still cannot ourselves emailing writer friends. with the author if there is too much publish our own stories for vanity press stuffing flyers into goody bags at Tell, info-dumping. or too many two­ accusations, A more noble reason was conventions, and I scattered leaflets in dimensional characters (in the literary to provide a vehicle for other brilliant real-life writers' groups, and libraries. sense - mathematically. now that might writers who found it difficult placing We had only a trickle of stories possibly be interesting.) ttleirstories. because payment was only a copy of An overdone trope is another We both felt there was a niche for a the magazine. Were we an unknown reason fOf rejection unless we find hard science fiction and fact magazine. Quantity: escape velocity but to where? ourselves nodding at some clever We are not against ottler forms of Some writers wouldn't want to travel twist. characterization. brilliant Show speculative fiction. we just don't publish with us and burn up after five minutes. or something indefinable obliges us to them in EY. Outside EY I have had Another reason is that we don't print accept it. stories and novels published that are fantasy: most SF magazines are a mix. Overdooe plots: thrillers. humour and fantasy. as well as Many newbie writers fear rejection and Alien abduction. sciencefietion. won't release their stories. Planetary colonization. We respond to stories we reject with Post apocalyptic. SUBMISSION PROBLEMS a short critiQue. We fondly remember Terraforming Mars. It made a change to use market listings those sub-editors who scribble words Alien invasion with guns and as publishers instead of writers but of encouragement. The 'this time' Starship Trooper type stories. there came a shock. After submitting added to 'not for us' spoke volumes. Alien invasions thwarted by a stories to well-known magazines So we play the long game; responding common colds, writers are familiar with having to sit to writers with more than a form reject. Mini space operas. on the doormat waiting months for Word will get around and we'll attract It was all a dream/game/virtual the rejection slips. This. we are told, more submissions. We now pay $10 reality.

4 F@CUS AUTUMN 1007 lometres IS GOd LaUGhinG?

I liked these topics the first time I read coincidences I expected to receive them, but a story would have to be input to our letters to the editor page. something very special to be accepted Nothing. After the first two issues using one of these ideas today. I had to send out extra appeals in forums, including one we set up for He must be a comedian NON-FICTION the magazine only to receive a handful On a galactic stage We include science articles especially of letters. Chatting to other magazine those that relate to themes of publishers this appears to be a general interest to science fiction. Luckily.! problem. Hint: if you want to see your To create a living thing know someone working at the Space name in a magazine, write a fetter ­ Telescope Science Institute, Maryland they're like gold dust. Capable of grasping so she was able to give insights into what it is like working with Hubble EXPERIMENT Telescope engineers and astronauts. For the first few issues we are printing That we are wrapped in spirals It gave me pleasure to follow Jon via the POD publisher/distributor Lulu, Of stars and DNA Courtenay Grimwood for a day at the com, The downside is they are more Annual Writers' Conference in his home expensive for readers than if we printed town of Winchester, and John Jarmld conventionally, but we'd risk needing to To understand the origins was good enough to be frank with house hundreds of unsold copies, The Without giving the time interview questions in another issue. upside is that it is easy to play around Interviewing Dan Simmons was quite a with format, and give ebook options. ball for Robert at Norwescon. Having an To see how the story ends. excuse to talk to writers, publishers and Subml••lon. are open all year agents is a great perk. round, for more detail., vl.lt: After I'd written a piece on www.e.capevelocltymagazlne.com SOMETHING BIZARRE IS HAPPENINIi TO GLASTONBURY TOR! Exit, Pursued by. Bee is driven by a heroine-.stronaut, involves • P.leeolithic mongrel caned Kur, Slastonbury festiv.1 chaos, steamy sex in spece, a mean-momma journ.list .nd a general who'd iiI .nything by nuking it. They are ali involved in the attempt to overcome time-quake c.l.mities created when alien artif.cts depert from Earth, oblivious to the chaos they le..e behind.

Aveilable via www.geoffnelder.comwhereyouc.nlind other Seoff Neider novels end stories

Award-winning author, Seoff Neider's Exit, Pursued by • Bee is published by Double Dragon Publishing Inc. Planning a Novel? Writing a novel should be enjoyable, relaxing, and stress-free, reckons Michael Amos. Ifyou plan sufficiently at the outset, you will find the whole process a rewarding exercise in organised daydreaming. Ifyou do not, you will be plunged into writer's hell. This article ouUines the method I use subsequent steps, you may come back relevant back story. to write my novels. And yes. I really do and revise this theme. If you do so, you Often when I'm writing the bio up, go through all the steps below, in the need to check what you have written things occur to me about the character order shown. The examples I have used during the following steps to make sure that I hadn't thought about before. and come from my work-In-progress at the it does not conflict with your revision. this can feed Into the maln plot and time of writing. The Everlasting Beyond subplots of the novel. of Eternal Happiness. As an aside, one of the things W~fter:~~Ugh synopsis my editor insists on is no dialogue The steps are: The rough synopsis should be just that, tags, "He saids" and ·she saids· are 1 Define your novel's theme rough! This is not meant to be the completely out. As a result, whenever 2 Write a rough synopsis document you will later use to pitch you need to identify a speaker, you have 3 Write your reference documents to agents and publishers (although an action associated with the dialogue. 4 Map out your novel's structure using it wlU probably form the basis of that So. for example. my editor will not let filing cards document). The purpose is to provide me write: 5 Start writing you with a frameworx for some serious Simms said "Mandy. I. /, I never; I daydreaming in step four. never thought... " What this article does not cover the You should sketch out all the main Instead, I have to write: craft of writing: characteriSation, plOt elements of the stot}'. Just brain- dump "Mandy. I, I. / newlr. / newlr development and so on. Much has everything at this stage but wheedle out though!...' Uttle pools ofspit already been written on these subjects the ideas that conflict with your theme accumUlated at the comers of by far more accompliShed soulS than (or change your theme). Simms·mouth. """,n. You should end up with between two These little dialogue actions can be andtensidesofAA. used to say something about your character, and you can make use of the ~~eln~~~u,novel's theme Step three: ticks and habits you have recorded in The theme of your novel Is important Set up a reference your character profile. and needs to be written down at the document outset. Nobody else but you will ever The reference document serves two Location and setting profiles see this. so it can take the form of a purposes: Any important settings, clubs or paragraph or two of rough notes. In To guard against inconsistencies organizations that appear in your novel order to keep your novel focused, . you don't want to accidentally Should be profiled. Again, this is to everything you write subsequently change your hero's eye colour ensure consistency - you don't want needs to be written with the theme in from brown to blue half way your characters visiting a shop on a mind. through the novel. Sunday when you've previously said it's For example. the theme for closed at weekends To act as a notepad to record any The EverlasUng Beyond of Eternal ideas you are not ready to place Happiness reads as follows: Tlmellne yet If you think of something "A comedy about sex, death, God Draw a timeline of when things happen. funny or wise for a Character to and chocolate. The clash between When you first write this. it will be say, but haven't reached a point the blind-belief system of religion and sketchy. Once you complete section four in the book where they can say it, the logical proofs of science. The hero (below). you Should be able to revise you can record it in this reference is conflicted between his religious this and get all your dates correct document upbringing. his sex~rive and his career I did not do this step for my first two As with the Pfevious two steps, only in research, and is motivated by his novels and I had real trouble with the you are going to see this document. Iorleliness.· consistency of timing between events. so do not labour endlessly over it The You'll notice the aboYe paragraph point is that it provides you with a mentions nothing about the setting. Step four: reference to avoid inconsistencies in The story could take place during the Mapping out the novel your novel. The reference document nineteenth century in a Polish zoo. It The next step is to plan the whole novel should contain the following sections: doesn't matter - what the story Is about out on 5 inch by 3 inch filing cards. I is independent of where it is set. As originally read about this technique in it happens, The Everlasting Beyond of Character profiles, the book Teach Yourseff Screen Writing Eternal Happiness is a near future story All the major and minor characters by Raymond G Frensham, and I believe set in a computer. should be sketched out in this it is a common technique used for film As the novel develops in the document. Include physical details and and television scripts, The method

6 F0CUS AUTUMN 1007 ESCAPE VELoCil:.~

A rocket to the moon Exhausts most of its fuel In the first few minutes Of its attempt to escape Earth

What chance do I have Trying to escape from you When I don' have the energy To explain how I really feel?

works very well for novels too. progress has been made - Mandy is the COLours Using your rough synopsisasa guide. only blameless citizen left." All the rest daydream your way through the whole of the scribbles have been added later. plot, writing a filing card for each scene. Once you have gone through this Write them quickly - don't labour over process once, you will have a great Or Love them so as to disrupt the flow of your stack of cards - between 70 and 100 musing. for a 70,000 word novel. What you can Each card should have the following: do now is lay the whole lot out on the A title at the top floor and see the structure of your novel Red men come from Mars (see the photo on the next page). The characters involved If you have used red and blue cards And blue women from Venus A brief description of what as I suggest above, you can see where Will they mix together happens. This will be very sketchy the dramatic moments of action and on the first flow through so leave tension arise at a glance, and 50 check And creates something purple? lots of space to add details later. the pacing of your novel. If you look at An estimate of how many words the photo, you can immediately pick out each scene will be (to the nearest a three act structure! (Or at least you 250 words). If you add these all could, if we could reproduce colour pics up, you have an estimate of how - squinty eyee long your completed nove! will be. You can now go through the whole An indication of the quantity of daydreaming process again and action/drama in the scene. 1do again, refining the description on the this by using red filing cards for cards, adding, changing, deleting and dramatic/action scenes and blue rearranging the scenes as necessary, ones for the rest. As you do this, constantly refer back to An example of a card from The the theme and reference documents EverlaSting Beyond of Eternal you set up. Happiness is below. You'll see it is You may well find the plot changes a very rough, scribbly note. (see the away from the rough synopsis you picture above). drew up in section two. This does not The title is "Mandy reporting to matter, you can go back and change Homeland", underlined at the top. The the synopsis. 500 at the top right is an estimate of Similarly you wi!l find your characters how long this scene will be in words. develop and you can go back and The card originally only had the line change the character profiles. Quite "Homeland wants to know what often, my characters end up doing

AUTUMN 1007 f@CUS 7 something tIley were not supposed to do, like having an unexpected argument. If)lOu can't get them to behave themselves, you have to go back to the Stack of cards and make a few adjustments. I find I have a wooderful feeling of COfltrol over the story at this stilge. To be able to see the whole thing and physically move the sections around is very liberating. Step five: Start writing Once you have finished running through your card structure, you can begin the process of writing. Switch on your PC, put the stack of cards next to the keyboard, turn over the first card and start writing. using your notes on the card to guide you through the first scene. You do not need to worry about the overall structure of the scene because you've already written it down. You don't need to worry about where the story is going, you've worked that out already. In fact, you don't have to worry about anything, Just relax and write.

8 f@CUS AUTUMN 1007 MASTERCLASS No.3: BRINGING HOME THE BACON

This is the third in Christopher The order tn whIch these little Priesrs ongoing series on the art articLes appear is more or less and business of writing. This time random. based on what he feet the locus is on business. like doing at anyone time Those desperately awaiting Mr Priesfs insights into the Importance of Maps in Fantasy Novels will have to walt a little longer for that discussion.

When they get together, what do writers talk about? Apart that is from sex., copy-editors, members of the opposite sex, computers, sex, bloody reviewers, sex... It is the folding stuff, the moolah, the lucre. the dash, the gelt. the spondulix. the rhino, the loot. the dough, the ...

MONEY

Dr Johnson said: 'No man but a This went on for years, creating a habit literature, no one does anything for blockhead ever wrote, except for money.' of gratis writing that remains unbroken. nothing, or if they do they make a song I have often remembered this, because I have never actually counted up (nor and dance abOut it. Our tradition of it reminds me that I have been a would I know how to do so) but I have pro bono writing is different. It is a real blockhead for most of my career. In fact, long suspected that I have probably strength and we should cherish it. I have been a blockhead all my career. written at least as many words free of However, we do also have to write for The first pieces I ever wrote were written charge as I have written for reward. money. without hope or expectation of money - Probably more, if you include letters. I imagine that will be true of the last. emails. or even drafts of things that If you're serious aOOut writing, at some My first efforts were little space­ somehow were never finished. point you have to come to terms with fillers for the BSFA. based on terrible This article you're reading now is the fact that money is implicitly involved. puns. written and published under a unpaid work. So is everything else in Perhaps in some other socio-economic pseudonym for fear of being mocked. this issue of Focus: so is everything else society money might ideally be taken The editor in those days was Archie in Vector, Matrix, all the fanzines you out of the equation, but in our real Mercer, long since departed this ever see. just about all internet sites, all world writing and publishing are paid life, whO had a tolerant and in fact blogs ... and so on. occupations. supportive approach to young writers, So of course I'm not the only In positioning yourself in this Later I discovered Archie loved puns - 1 one. Almost every professional writer 'market'. you have to decide what you suppose this was an early lesson in you've ever heard of in the sf/fantasy want from it. For reasons I hope will prOducing what an editor was looking worlds regularly and routinely writes be clear Shortly. I advocate a sensible, for, if accidental. After that I made a free material, usually without thought middling approach, but first let's think few tentative attempts at writing letters of payment. This is almost unique about . to fanzines, book reviews for fanzines, In the world of literature. but it has One extreme is to go into writing then even more hesitantly an article or certainly been going on as long as I've purely with the intention of making two for fanzines, Most of my first stories been around and seems likely to go as much money as possible. That is were published, unpaid for. in fanzines. on forever. Out there in mainstream certainly achievable - some writers

AUIUMN 1007 f(;)CUS 9 make a lot of money. They do it by hopelessly idealistic, spendthrift implied assertions. Money doesn't taking a shrewd look at what the nor mean ... but with bits of both come into it at this stage: it's about mal1

10 FCUS AUTUMN 1007 (and out of the publisher's share at least some interest in the books, yet when it's your turn. all the costs of editing. designing. financial side of your wor1l;, you will when you manage to sell your first producing. printing. promoting and sooner or later find yourself at a novel, you quickly discover that you selling the book have to be found). disadvantage. aren't going to have the news of The writer gets a royalty, perhaps Selling a story or an article to a the advance published in the Daily 10% if the books aren't heavily magazine. a one-off sale in which Mail. discounted. (Most are these days other writers are also involved, is Some writers say: 'I leave all ... those 3-for-2 promotions in that to my agent: which might bookstores are made possible only " If you believe be good advice if you can find an by drastically reducing the writer's agent. These days, getting an agent income. Remember that next time what you read is sometimes harder than finding you see what looks like a bargain.) a publisher. Even if you have an It's not much of a cake to slice up in the press, agent. though, shouldn't you at and share. huge, ridiculous least have some understanding of Publishers are sometimes whafs going on so you can evaluate characterized by disgruntled advances are what you're being offered? authors as fat-cat capitalists Every book, and every deal for a (they have offices in expensive regularly paid for book, is different. That's the way it parts of , they make lavish has to be. So neither I nor anyone purchases of worthless biographies books, yet when else can lay down hard and fast of celebrities ... don't they?), but it's your turn, rules about what to expect. But in reality most of the people who I can offer a generalization that work in publishing are badly paid. when you manage might help. As a rule of thumb, most of the Three things are likely to workers you're likely to come into to sell your first happen, in money terms, when a contact with - editors, publicists, book is published. (1.) It might flop: rights managers - are Iowan the novel, you quickly get bad reviews, poor circulation, salary scale compared with people terrible sales. (2.) It might do OK: doing similar jobs in advertising or discover that you receive a good press, be displayed television (or junk bonds, and so aren't going to by booksellers, stay in print, sell on). steadily, get a paperback edition But hang on - publishing staff have the news that does well, and so forth. (3.) It get holiday pay, sick pay, pension might become a best-seller, stay in schemes, bonuses, expense fo the advance print for years, have a movie based accounts, long holidays. It's not on it, sell in translation around the entirely the same as being a published in the world. freelance writer. The ideal situation, in my And publishers do act as Daily Mail. " experience, is to try to make a deal businesses. They want to sell as with a publisher that adequately many books as possible. They want one thing. There is little any one reflects. or prepares for, all of these to make a profit. They want to make writer can do to improve or amend eventualities. a bigger profit every year. They have the deal, at least not at the outset A book that does badly is likely to pay their staff, pay the printer, ofa career. to hurt the publisher more than pay the overheads on the office, If you sell a book of your own, the writer, who although denied pay the writers, so they are always though. yoU're in a slightly better the prospect of long-term royalty or interested in money. Publishing position. But how much should you subsidiary income. does at least is a capitalizing business - every expect to be paid? have the original advance, which book they buy is paid for before it This is a major area of needs never to be returned, But is published. so publishers have uncertainty for many writers. What publishers cover their tracks by to work with investment capital is a good advance? What is the publiShing more than one title at to hand, and try to earn it back right one? What is too little? Is a time, which helps even out that through sales. They make money, there anything that could be called kind of loss. However. if a writer has they are motivated by it they too much? Should the money be in a string of flops, this is the reason employ accountants and financial hundreds, thousands, hundreds of the publisher might be cool about advisers to help them maximize thousands? Ifyou believe what you the next one. their profits, read in the press, huge, ridiculous If a book does as well as hoped If you as a writer don't take advances are regularly paid for for, then it is only reasonable for

AUTUMN 1007 F<1lCUS 11 the author to expect to share some earned out within a reasonable The best that can be said of of those rewards. This means that time, the publisher will remember, a large advance. should you be any contract should contain terms It's always better to negotiate good fortunate enough to be offered one, that anticipate moderate success: a terms, mutually acceptable to both is that it increases the amount of rising rate of royalties. or beneficial sides, because unlike an advance, money the publisher is investing terms for sale of subsidiary rights. contract terms can be built on in your title. You then might And if the book takes off reasonably hope the publisher spectacularly: again, the contract ((It's always will put much more effort into should be drawn up to reflect this promoting and distributing your possibility, If a book starts selling better to book, in an effort to get the money well, the publisher moves into back. It doesn't always work that the territory of easy profits: most negotiate good way. though. Publishing is not an overheads have been amortized eltact science. by the first publication. editorial. terms, mutually design and production costs are acceptable You do need an agent You can zero, reprints can be negotiated for survive without one for a while, but discounts because of bulk orders. to both sides, everything I've covered here would and so on, It seems only fair that be handled by an agent. (I maintain if the publisher cashes in on a because unlike an that you need to know what's going successful book. an author should on.) DiffiCUlty finding an agent will benefit as well. advance, contract ease, once you have a sale or two Obtaining a large advance, under your belt. by hook or by crook. is not the terms can be built Finally: there's more to life than way to achieve the best results, on from one book money. There's more to writing incidentally. A big advance obviously than money. It's necessary to know puts money in the writer's pocket to the next... " how to deal with it, but it's more (that's good), but it will attract a necessary to be a good writer, heavy tax bill (that's not good) and from one book to the next, steadily Never write beneath your best, and furthermore create a debt to the improving as the writer's reputation the money will probably sort itself publisher. If the advance is not and sales improve. out. BSFA to administer HARSh LiGht James White Award The BSFA has agreed with JamesWhite Award administrators to take over the running of the short story competition from next year. As we approach the speed of light James White was one of Ireland's most successful science fiction aumors, best known for his Sector General series of stories ilInd an important figure in The universe is reduced to two fiery UK fandem for many years. Born in Belfast in 1928, James White passed away points suddenly in August 1999.The James White Award was established in 2000 in The one in front is red his memory. The James WhiteAward is open to all non-professional authors and is judged The one behind shades blue by ill panel of professional writers and editors. And they are both deadly to look at. James Bacon. the current awards administrator, said: 'We were unable to make an award in 2007 and eYeryofle involved felt that the Jilomes White Award needed a boost. I'm delighted that the BSFA tu.ve stepped in to nise the profile of the competition and to ensure it continues and I know JamesWhite's family are fully behind this new structure." Martin McGrath will administer the award for the BSFA."I am honoured to on deaLinG ake on this role and I hope that the BSFA can build on what has already been achieved to cement the position of this competition and to ensure a proper tribute to a writer I greatly admire." With Andy Cox, editor and publisher of UK SF magazine Interzone - who have sponsored the awards and published all the previous winners - has pledged to continue his magazine's support for the award. It is envisaged that the 2009 competition will open in January, with the CritiCS award presenation taking place with the other BSFA Awards at , 2010. Further deails, as they are available, will be published on the BSFA website and in Foros. In the Writers' Guild celebrates social realism. But that is changing genre success - it seems to be mostly an older generation who feel that Wily." FUtUre Recently the Writers' Guild of An article on the entertaining and Great Britain held a symposium informative discussion can be found Edward Comma on science fiction writing in the on the Writers' Guild website (www. UK. It featuring Phil Ford (Capta;n writersguild.org.uk - click under Scarlet, The Sarah Jane Adventu~s, That's not a poem, he said "feature articles"). Torchwood),Ashley Pharoah (Ufe on Laughing at the work Mars,Ashes to Ashes), Philip Palmer I'd poured my heart into. (Debatable Space) and Adrian Hodges Kudos provides writing (PrimmJl).The meeting looked competition details at the current success of science So the simple, beautiful act of Ifs got spaceships, he said fiction and f.lntilS)' in the UK and the creation is no tonger enough for And none of it rhymes writer's experiences of writing genre you! Has your pallet }aded~ Do you material. need something a I!cde more spicy to or scans There's a consensus amongst get those creative juices f1owing~ the writers that sci·fi's time as an How about a competiton~ So I chopped his head off with a laser "ouuider" in British television is How about a magaZine full of Fed his body to the reactor of my coming to an end, exemplified by this competions for writers! comment by Ashley Pharoah:"We That's Kudos (formerly warp drive pitched Ufe On Mars for seven years Competitions Bulletin) a regular round· And wired his brain to the electronics before it got made.We got very, very up listing writing competitions from ofa garbage scow on the Phobos­ close along the way but there was a all over the world in every genre and reluctance to take what was seen as style. Each issue is available for £2.50 Deimos run. a big risk. It wasn't just execs who or you can subscribe. found it hard to get, though. Some Visit hnpllkudoswriting. So this may not be poetry, I confess writers have been quite hostile as wordpress.coml or ema.il But who's laughing now well.There seems to be some kind carolet»,[email protected] for of snobbery about anything that isn't more information At this poetic justice

AUTUMN 1007 f@CUS 13 Writers & readers: caught in a web? Interzone editor Jetse de Vries looks at the ups and downs of electronic communication between fans and authors.

This article is reactive. We'll see if commentator, or even an SF fan, aspect of Martin's series is the anyone finds it reactionary by the needs to consider the benefit standard of writing and the quality end. of a website or blog. I've been of his storytelling. Song is arguably The last edition of Focus drew thinking about how this can distort now so complex that only a very together a range of material for the writing experience and the lengthy review could do it justice. writers, from poetry and book relationship between writers and Reducing it to its tropes of civil reviews, to how to generate ideas readers. A key aspect of the change war, succession, frozen northern and advice on websites, agents and appears to be speed. frontiers and wights and dragons is the Slushpile. Christopher Priest Keeping up with the Information to imagine cliches and tired ideas. cautioned us about the fickleness Age has driven BSFA to move Matrix In Martin's hands, these ideas are of memory and the importance to a web format. But what might fresh and new. A distinguishing of how you record what you be termed the insatiable demand feature of Song is that it is high remember. Using this as a starting for information from readers has fantasy that embraces tough point. I'm giving Paul Raven's only increased through the web contemporary issues of violence, web advice the acknowledgement rather than been met. The more poverty and abuse. This is fantasy it deserves before discussing access to information, the more grounded in modern sensibilities. websites myself. demands appears to grow. This has Nina Allan wrote previously There's recently been a debate numerous advantages, especially about how childhood experience on the ITA press message boards. for writers (such as generating evoke particular resonances in This included the decision to turn ideas, sharing resources and the writers we discover, especially Matrix into an online webzine and undertaking research). Having a when we first start reading.l first cease its tong running print format. website draws people to you - both began reading Martin's science Some contributors suggested that readers and fellow writers. Writing fiction when I was a teenager. I Focus was a better candidate for would ultimately be an act of was reluctant to read A Game of web only format. This was prompted vanity without fans but there is an Thrones as I disliked fantasy. But by the legitimate question of interesting dimension developing it was the first George RR Martin whether readers who don't write between the axis of the internet, novel I'd seen for many years.A have anything to gain from articles writers and fans. Fansites. Amazon particular pleasure now is to read an unfOlding series that requires Jetsedt written by writers about writing. and message boards all act as a Vries is: The arguments about moving permanent, real-time convention me to wait for each book as it's alAtKbnl­ Matrix onto the web are due to its where people can come together. written. This reminds me of being a ealspetial· importance. rather than lack of it. While there is a now old adage that child and discovering a new writer. Istfora A webzine can be updated faster technology is neither good nor bad, This process of waiting has \lfOpu(sion to provide more relevant news on there are always negative aspects proved to be a point of tension for company; science fiction and science (movies, to any invention. some readers. I am wondering how blOneof websites, new fiction, etc) and Which is a roundabout way of much of that tension is distorted by "tenone's information specifically for fans me discussing a particular writer, the new technologies. tditOfS; (signings, readings, and cons). George RR Martin. I don't read very Writing for many people (myself clAn SF However, this led me to think about much fantasy but I do read George included) is solitary and slow. I short story whether my contribution to Focus is R R Martin's series, A Song of Ice prefer to do most of it without writer with relevant to most BSFA subscribers andRre. external pressures to deliver. If we stories (rather than just those of us that This series began in assume that modern SFjF writers upcoming 1996 in Hub, want to read about writing). - when the world and the web should have websites to build their Postscripts, Paul Raven previously stressed were very different places. The audience, we should also anticipate andClarll:es­ the need for SF professionals series still isn't finished and has the pitfalls as well. world Naga· to adopt websites. The web is mushroomed into a huge industry. I have been surprised to linej the bedrock of cultural change Martin has his own website and is see that fans not only complain dlAllollhe across almost all sectors of life active in providing a blog, sample amongst themselves about the above; (and requires no elaboration from chapters and discussing his work in delay between Martin's books, but el None of me here). Anyone who is serious progress. have complained to him on his the above. about a career - as a writer or For me, the most important website.

14 F@CUS AUTUMN 1007 A website differs from preceding this doesn't outweigh the benefits wish to try A Song ofIce and Fire technology through inviting real-time that Paul Raven comprehensively - and I'd say especially if you don't discussion and exchanges. As most expressed last issue. However, normally read fantasy. People writers release sample information, this reaction to an author taking blogging and visiting message links reviews and display sites to his time crafting his story wouldn't boards may want to put their view purchase their fiction, the way to have reached its instant audience forward about how readers and distinguish your site is to blog. without the new technology. The writers should interact. Referring back to the debate internet offers opportunities for If writers are willing to share at the TIA boards (about whether writers but also puts them under a their inmost thoughts on the Focus is relevant), having a website new microscope - in this particular process, we can all do our part to that only talks about writing projects instance, Martin continued to be respect that insight. Sharing your or the business of writing can be harassed even when violently ill opinions about writing, I'd suggest, stunting. Martin therefore talks from food poisoning. does not detract from writing itself. about his other interests, including In my opinion, there's an issue Writing is ideally a careful and politics, American football and his about recognising the relationship reflective process that requires support of fandom. between the author and the art he's pauses and consideration. Blogging These activities have raised the pursuing - a discussion I've enjoyed about writing serves the purpose of ire of some readers. Discussion having with both Martin McGrath helping refine the writing you do. threads on Martin's blog give them and Nina Allan over the years, If the This leads me to two final thoughts. a new, immediate way to express author is honest and committed On a personal level, if Focus is their opinions (no matter how to his work, then the reader is a missing a wider appeal to BSFA intemperate). Surprisingly, at least significant part of the process - but readers, then as one contributor I one reader awaiting the next novel being true to your fiction means that can consider what I'm contributing. has told the author to stop watching the reader is not the overwhelming Secondly, and more widely, the sports, stop travelling to cons. and component. The only way Mr Martin internet is a two-way process and all to stop blogging. Instead, George can satisfy that particular critic is of us interested in the genre have RR Martin should hurry up and to write faster (and therefore less access to a shared community. Are deliver the next book. carefUlly). we going to encourage our writers to Fandom has a long established For my part, I'll echo a sentiment do the best job they can, by showing history of support, fraternity and other fans made some time ago to our respect for their art, or are we good manners. I hope that a George RR Martin. Take your time; going to remain silent while they are byproduct of the Information Age is when you're ready, we will be here rebuked at their own sites? As the not the erosion of this reputation. to read the next book. As visitors to web is a democracy we shouldn't The instance I describe is only websites and bloggers ourselves, censor lone voices of dissent. But one particular author and a small there is perhaps more we can do. we don't have remain silent jf we number of fans. And of course, Other people reading Focus may disagree either.

AUTUMN 1007 F@CUS 15 Beyond Lies The Blog

Paul Raven, well-known blogger and publisher of online magazine FtI/tlrismie, returns with more advice on using the web to promote your work.

So, you took the plunge. You·...e soapbox. and many of them get of your personality or beliefs that got yourself one of those website used as SUCh. And why not? you may wish to downplay or blogamathingies, and you've figured But a word of warning· the avoid displaying at all for fear of out how to publish an update very personal and direct nature of alienating or angering the very without it consuming three hours blogging makes it a double-edged people you wish to reach out to. out of your writing time. And now, sword as a promotional medium, The obvious example is politics, Step Three - Profit, right? Culture vultures today want - nay, and it's also a great demonstration Well, no. A website or blog demand - a level of intimacy with that the same rules don't apply isn't a silver bullet for conquering creatives which is Quite at odds to everyone, For example, Cory obscurity, even in a scene as with the old-school garret-dwelling Doctorow's politics are worn on his compact and close-knit as genre cliche of the working writer ... which sleeve at all times, and it does him fiction. You can write your deepest may be why many older writers, little harm: but Doctorow is more insights and outpourings, and post for whom part of the appeal of a widely known as a blogger than as pictures of your cat every single writing career was the solitude, a novelist. afternoon. but you might as well be refuse to blog at all. Well, that John scalzi talks politics on his Shouting into the village well unless and the fact that blogging is a Whatever blog. too, but he was also people know you're there. displacement activity seemingly a blogger first and novelist second, Of course. if you're already a tailor-made for writers with a yen for at least as far as actual regular published successful author, this procrastination. income and profile is concerned .. won't be an big issue for you. Your Allowing your readers that plus scalzi has a degree in rhetoric, legions of fans will have doubtless intimacy - letting them discover the and he knows how to use it. been Googring your name for ages. person behind the prose· can form On the other hand, I can think of eagerly awaiting your words of a strong bond between you and more than one novelist whose blog wisdom on the scrivener's lifestyle, them. And it'll need to be genuine. I've had to stop reading because the ultimate solution to book by the way; if you don't know how their personal opinions were shelving (file by sUb-genre, or strict easily people can spot insincerity in threatening to spOil my enjoyment authOr-alphabetical with Dewey for a blogger's writing, you may well be of their fiction permanently. Your non-fiction?) and the problem with chasing after the wrong career, But life can speak for your art - and politicians today. An author blog­ bear in mind that the web is like a vice versa - but once those two indeed, any blog - makes a great dinner party. there may be aspects Quanta are entangled the signal

16 F@CUS AUTUMN 1007 from one will always be perceived you'll be astonished at how easily in the other, even if that was not it becomes second nature. To be your intent. In other words: measure honest. the hard bit is having the twice, cut once. discipline to not get sucked in to on LOOHinG doing nothing else! It's also getting easier to follow the discussions, with easy-and-free­ So, once you've settled on to-use technologies like RS5 feeds more publishing cat pictures and offering to pipe updates straight anecdotes from your microbrewing to your screen, keeping you up CLoseL~ hobby in between announcements to date with the latest launches, at of (hopefully) stories sold and lunches, and he-said-she-said. In novels published, you sit back many respects the web is the ideal and watch your blog statistics for medium for sf fandom, because the niGht the flood of readers ... and unless the web doesn't obey traditional you're already a big name, that's top-down hierarchies either. So get unlikely to happen. There's an out there and ease yourself into the aphorism that says "blogging is a conversation - if you think of the SH~ conversation"; nowhere is this more internet as a virtual convention bar true than in genre fiction. that never closes, you won't go far If you've not been hanging out on wrong. the web with the keyboard cowboys And just like a con bar, don't of speculative fiction, you've approach it purely as a networking missed out on roaring debates exercise or self-promotion vehicle. I point my telescope to a patch of sky over copyright and intellectual Treat it as a way to have fun In the darkness between the stars property, hissy cat-fights and robust and meet interesting people- And discover galaxies without number discourse over the perceived health the strongest networks are the of the short fiction markets, and ones that emerge naturally as a Spirals, ellipticals and irregulars. a thousand other discussions consequence of who we are. But of matters pertinent to your art. will you sell more stories and books I settle on a sliver amidst that light The blogosphere is much like a as a result? There's no guarantees Apoint like the prick of a pin. convention ... except it's running all of that. but consider this - which are And again billions of stars pour forth year long, and you get to avoid the you more likely to buy. a book by a pricey junk food and the inevitable stranger or a book by someone you Again a million galaxies spin. exchange of respiratory viruses, feel you know as a friend? Although I'd be the first to say Focus once more and the pattern repeats that the internet is not a place And repeats each time the same hospitable to hard and fast rules, I'd suggest that a newcomer to There is no night, the sky's not black the online genre fiction scene will It's filled with ancient flame find it not only best but easiest to ease into the routine of blogging by engaging in this cloud of conversation. If YOU're a writer, it should be easy enough for you to find things to say about the industry you work in, which will allow your genuine personality to shine through without having to force or feign your enthusiasm - just as many of your fellow writers and fans already do, Leave comments on the blogs of others; respond to articles with posts of your own; link and share and debate and discuss. It may seem a lot to take in at first. but

AUTUMN 2007 F0CUS 17 Write About What You Don't Know Every neophyte writer is told the same thing: "Write what you know." But what ifthat advice is wrong. Dev Agarwal suggests the sf writer might benefit from breaking the chains of the everyday. One of the most common pieces of lifeform), the alienness of the world your mind; get to know your enemy writing advice is 'Write about what we live in. and the mystery of the and find that they might not be that you know', Obviously, this is sound Universe at large. A SF writer has evil, after all. advice when writing non·fiction. but a thirst for the unknown, and that The greatest risk - and the main when YOU're trying to write fiction. shows in their writing, reason why a lot of writers are and particularly science fiction (or That unknown. that unexplored reluctant to do it - with 'writing· fantasy, or horror for that matter) area doesn't need to be exclusively about-what-you-don't-know' is then you might consider thinking technological or scientific. Of getting It wrong. Yes, you can get it about the reverse. Without restraint. course, extrapolating or wildly wrong: but great risks often bring but with a certain moderation. guessing future scientific, great rewards. As an aspiring, DevAgarwat has published Typically, the right balance economic, technological. biological. forward-thinking SF writer you owe shortfKtion Is somewhere in the gray area environmental, or sociological it to yourself to try: as an editor ina number between the extremes. and developments (or a combination who has gone through thousands of magazines. depends on what the writer is thereof) is a staple of science of unsollicited submissions I will ~Toys~,a trying to achieve. On the one fiction. but it isn't the only way to take a spectacular failure over a storyfeatur­ hand. writing only about what you approach the unknown. There are highly competent. very safe story ingRebeccl, know runs the riSk of becoming alien things much closer to home: that doesn't take me anywhere new one of the too self-absorbed. As mentioned, people with a different sex. skin anytime. mlin point 01 view-chlrlc, this works very welt for non·fiction, colour, sexual orientation. religion, tersof Dev's especially if someone can enrich set of interests and what-have-you novel,willbe a field of expertise with fresh can be total strangers to each other, forthcoming personal knowledge. It can work Even more nearby there is the CONE. ~. MIl. ~ from Aeon in fiction, as well, with the caveat mystery of the human brain: we still magazine. that this will not push a writer into don't know exactly how it functions, INt-.A~1 new territory. Especially for genre and there are still monsters fiction this is - in most cases ­ lurking in the subconscious. (This tu. AD/fIfr 1JI£. STfJJ not a fruitful approach. On the summation is not exhaustive: I'm BUT lIM,SO 1ft. lJIEl other hand. writing only about merely to get the idea across.) what you don't know might easily So dare to explore: write about devolve into an undecipherable the estranging societal changes mess (which. according to some ahead, and try to do that in a critics. is exactly what some of the manner that is both broad and early 20'" century experimentalist deep. QUite often SF explores only literature produced). My argument one single point of change, and is that a truly audacious SF writer leaves the rest of society more tries to push the 'write-about­ or less as it is today. That is not what-you-don't-know' envelope as only rather unambitious, but quite far as possible without becOming implausible as well: in the future unintelligible. society will change at more than Since this appears in the BSFA's just one level. But also dare to write magaZine for writers, I'll limit myself for the point of view that is radically to SF, SF is - in my viewpoint - the different from yours: let your main literature of change. In order to character be someone with a understand, and ideally anticipate different sex, race, persuasion. or Change. one must consider the mindset than your own. Then drop a unknown. In that, an SF writer is bucket into your subconscious and always looking for the strange, the be astonished with what it hauls up. alien (not necessarily a non-Terran Explore the stranger and expand

18 F@CUS AUTUMN 2007 And you can try to minimise that risk: that's where your critique group and/or friends come in. Are you a male writing about a female character? Ask the women in your writing group how much 4 Jupiter you got it wrong. Are you a white person writing about a coloured character? Ask the coloured persons of your acquaintance if you didn't err too much. Writing about a homosexual character as a heterosexual? Ask the homosexuals you know to tell you where you screwed up. Apply as appropriate, and don't be shy to ask Now in our 5th year of publication, Jupiter advice. But do try out alien points of view. and stretch your mind: publishes fantastic original Science Fiction this will help you develop as a writer and as a person. Then. as you improve as a writer. you might consider using more stories and poetry to a quarterly schedule. than one single 'point-of-alienness': for example, you could set Over the last 5 years we've published a large your story in a strange. exotic country, with a celebrity-obsessed, number of authors including: gossip-driven. martial arts female TV programmer as one main character. with a bisexual, borderline multi-personality disorder, charming-yet-uncertain conman as another main character, and Lavie Tidhar, Nicholas Waller, an Irish jesuit priest-cum-SWOrdsman-cum-philosopher-cum.­ Martin McGrath. Nicola Caines, visionary as yet another main character. and use these three Monte Davis, David Price, Allen Ashley. timelines to explore the inherent strangeness of a multiverse that might be a huge simulation. You might call that novel . Andrew Hook, Guy T Martland, Neil Ayres, Or you might have a main character whose had half of his brain Guy Hasson, Lawrence Dagstine. replaced with a computer join a posthuman crew on an interstellar Peter Tennant, Carmelo Rafala, mission with an exobiologist so integrated with his tools that they cause synaestesia, a communicating officer who has deliberate and many. many others. mUlti-personality disorder, a military commander who's almost indistinguishable from her mechanical fighting drones, and an Jupiter Issue 20 is out now, featuring fantastic evolutionary vampire as captain. and let that crew confront an fiction from: alien force so enigmatic they make that crew seem like normal janes and joes. You might call that novel BJindsight. Just two Gareth 0 Jones examples from the top of my head where delving both deeply and Ralph Greco Jr. broadly into the unknown leads to spectacular results. To boldly Jens Rushing go, indeed. Gustavo Bondoni George Newberry SimWaters NeilJ Benyon

AUTUMN 1001 FeCUS 19 FA 50th Anniversary hort Story Competition FIRST PRIZE £500, (plus £50 for all shortlisted stories) , JUDGES Justina Robson Stephen Baxter

The BSFA is fifty, and to celebrate wire holding a short story competition. ,

The competition is open to any writer resident in the UK or Ireland. The maximum Length of stories is 8.000 words. ~. The stories must be science fiction, but we're wilting to take a broad definition of what that means.

The winning and shortUsted entries will be published in a special issue of FOCUS.

The closing date for entries is midnight on Friday 5 September 2008.

The winner will be announced at the • BSFA 50th Anniversary Birthday Party in November.

FOR FULL DETAILS VJSIT: www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa/website/Competition.aspx