A Good Year for Scifi and Fantasy

This is a good year for science fiction and fantasy.

This summer Unfettered, an epic anthology of scifi and fantasy short stories by over 20 authors will be released. If you haven’t gotten your copy, I think there are a few of the hardback trade editions still available at grimoakpress.com.

Terry Brooks will release his third book within the past year in honor of his 35th anniversary year as a writer. These books include interior illustrations which are unheard of these days!

Joss Whedon returns to tv with S.H.I.E.L.D.

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Truth in Fiction and Emotional Vulnerability of Characters

Truth in Fiction and Emotional Vulnerability of Characters. Image by Tim Robbins. http://www.facebook.com/timrobbinsartOn May 1st I attended a workshop by Margaret Stohl about “Truth in Fiction.” She is the co-author of Beautiful Creatures and has a new book, ICONS, coming out this month.

People always say, write what you know. But when you write fiction, especially science fiction and fantasy, what you know may have little to do with your story. For example, how relevant is a receptionist in modern dentist’s office to a historical fantasy? Unless that’s your protagonist’s job, it might not provide much fodder for your story, but in the case of a historical fantasy the day-to-day knowledge of the job wouldn’t fit the time period for the story.

The “write what you know” theory goes deeper than what you consciously think you know. It speaks to emotional truths and truths of life. Your entire story may be made-up, but your characters need to feel like real people for your readers to connect to them. In order for them to feel real, you need to share the characters’ vulnerabilities, their flaws, and their emotional truths.

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Poem – Her Dragon

Her Dragon
By Robin A. Burrows

He came strong
The dragon she never thought she’d see again
No longer trapped in a youngling body
His breath searing the brittle landscape
Flames sprang to life and engulfed the land around her
Burning the distance
He came back for her
He came back to do the one thing he hadn’t done before-
To fight.

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Social Media Tutorials 05: The Difference Between a FaceBook Profile and a FaceBook Page

Social Media Tutorials 05 - The Difference Between a FaceBook Profile and a FaceBook PageSocial media websites change all the time. So do their layouts and features. FaceBook is no exception. I’m sure as soon as I post this blog, FaceBook will roll out a new round of changes, so I will try to keep this blog generic so it will remain relevant longer into the future.

Today I want to discuss the difference between a Facebook Page and a FaceBook Profile. “Aren’t the terms interchangeable?” you ask. Well, yes, people interchange the terms all the time – usually when they are referring to a profile, but they are actually two different things with separate purposes.

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Happy National Poetry Month

Happy National Poetry Month - Road of Life - a poem by Robin A BurrowsIf you didn’t know, April is National Poetry Month in the US. Many organizations are celebrating this month by sharing or promoting poetry in their communities.

One of the most well-known events in the online poetry world is the annual Writer’s Digest April Poem-A-Day Challenge on the Poetic Asides Blog. Robert Lee Brewer provides a new poetry prompt each day in April. There is also a contest at the end where Robert picks his favorite poems. It’s another great excuse to write poetry this month.

I, however, have other projects I am working on this month. But here is a poems I wrote a while back. Happy Poeming!

Road of Life
By Robin A. Burrows

on a three-seater bus
hand in hand in hand
faces interchange
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Social Media Tutorials 04: How to Use Lists in Twitter

Social Media Tutorials 04 - How to Use Twitter ListsIf you follow more than 50 people on Twitter, the list feature is a great tool for you. It works a little like circles in Google Plus, except the total number of lists you can make is limited.

Lists are wonderful because they allow you to filter through the tweets and see only what you want to see. For example, if you have one Twitter account for both your personal and professional self, you can set up a list to just show you tweets by your real life friends and a separate list for tweets from your clients.

For lists you create, you can choose whether they are public lists that anyone can see and follow, or if they are private lists that only you can see.

In addition, you can also follow other people’s lists.For example, if your publishing company has 8 reps, one person could create a list of those 8 people, and you could follow their list instead of making your own.

Go to a person’s profile on Twitter and click on lists to see all of the public lists they created and follow. You can follow any of the lists you see because you will not be able to see someone’s private lists.

There are some really creative uses for lists. One person created accounts for Star Wars characters and then added all of the characters to a list and the characters tweeted out the Star Wars story. By following the list (or visiting the list page) you could read all of the posts by the characters all in one place without having to friend them all!

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Writing News – Article in Chicken Soup for the Soul

Writing News - Article in Chicken Soup for the Soul Inspiration for Writers - The End Was Just the Beginning by Robin A BurrowsWhat seems like eons ago, I submitted a piece to Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Over a year later, I had completely forgotten about it. Then I got an email telling me my manuscript was in the final round.

When I saw my manuscript again, it was awful. Either my writing improved a lot over the past year or my distance from the piece let me see in much clearer than any other piece of my writing. I’d actually forgotten I’d written it.

A couple of edits later, my article passed the final round of cuts. It will appear in the Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers book which will be released May 21, 2013.

It’s only a page and a half article among a hundred other pieces. But check it out if it’s something that interests you.

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Marketing 101 – Turning Books into Movies

Marketing 101 - Turning Books into MoviesRecently, I read the first book in a series so I could go watch the movie. It’s more interesting to read the book before you watch the movie. Even if the movie is different, it spoils the book.

So I read said book and looked online for movie show times. It was no longer showing…?! How was that possible? The movie had premiered only a few weeks earlier. Who only shows a movie for 3 weeks?

I dug around in the reviews and found out why. Apparently the adaptation was so different from the book that it offended most of the readers. And I’m not talking about a few nit-picky difference. I’m talking about a long list of differences, and some of them were major changes. So that’s why the movie is no longer showing. Read more »

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Social Media Tutorials 03 – What are these hashtag things on Twitter?

Social Media Tutorials 03 - What are these hashtag things on TwitterIf you use Twitter, you’ve seen them – the number signs before words and series of words. If you don’t use Twitter yet, you’ve probably seen them on other platforms and wondered what the heck they were.

Well, here’s the secret to hashtags. On Twitter they are the key to conversations. If you want to talk about writing with other writers, you have two choices. You can friend/follow writers with similar interests. But how do you find other people like you? Hashtags are a good way to find and connect with people with similar interests.

Hashtags are also a great way to follow topics that interest you. For example, if you do a search for writing, you will find all tweets mentioning the word writing in all contexts. Including a college kid complaining about the essay they are writing for class. But if you search for #writing. The search will only bring up tweets which people marked as conversations about writing (using the hashtag).

Many groups create special hashtags for their group or event. You can tweet with other people at a conference (about the conference) by using the conference hashtag. It’s a great way to stay up-to-date on a conversation with people who are not followers.

Hashtags are also used for Twitter memes. You will recognize these by the typically long length of the hashtags and the humorous nature.

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Congratulations poem to my brother and his new wife

As some of you know my brother became a married man last Friday. In honor of that, here is a quick poem for him and his new wife!

Congratulations poem to my brother and his new wifeFrom Paradise to Forever
To John and Jamie – March 8, 2013
By Robin A. Burrows

Hand in hand
They walk the sand
A soft breeze
A salty splash
Beautiful days
Blazing memories
Wash away the past
And start
A new journey
On gentler paths
From paradise
To forever.

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