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- The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction The book at the heart of all this!
- Writing Monsters Advice for SF, fantasy, and horror authors
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- Six Guns & Spaceships Featuring my space opera western story “Rendezes”
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- Completely Broken A novel of contemporary horror
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- A Reader's Guide to R.A. Salvatore's the Legend of Drizzt An essential companion to the greatest hero of the Forgotten Realms world
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- Monsters in D&D, Books, Movies… Dicegeeks Podcast interview with Phil!
- Longwinded One Podcast: Episode 158: Philip Athans: The Years of Phil
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- Inside Storytelling: Writing Monsters, Creatures & Villains
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- 10 Questions with…ME! I get grilled by Ryan Schneider.
- SF Signal Mind Meld: Aliens I join other SF/F authors and editors on the subject of what makes a good alien.
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- Writer's Digest Guest Blog: How to Make a Vampire Not Suck
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- The Fanitarium Podcast: Interviews Philip Athans
- How to Create a Magic System: M.S. Farzan and Storyteller’s Handbook features The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
- How to Write Horror: Reading, Breathing and the Long Sentence (at Writer’s Digest)
- Worldcasting: I join the guys from Worldbuilding Magazine for a chat about… everything!
Past Posts
Tag Archives: literary agents
CONTENT IS KING
I had an opportunity to chat with Joanna Penn on her Creative Penn Podcast and the concept of writers as “content providers” came up. This is something I’ve been preaching for at least nine years now, as this former Grasping … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, comic books, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, fantasy movies, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, freelance writing, Game of Thrones, help for writers, helping writers become authors, horror movies, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, Publishing Business, RPG, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Video Games, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, Writing Community, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, comic books, creative process, Dungeons & Dragons, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Star Wars novels, Wizards of the Coast, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
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LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING YOU ALREADY KNOW
Two tweets stuck out to me yesterday. One was from an indie author bemoaning her poor sales. Ads she’d paid for didn’t result in any sales. And she said she was going to give up on her book and assumed … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, characters, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, Publishing Business, SF and Fantasy Authors, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, Writing Community, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, Writing Community, writing process
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THE VALLEY OF TEEHEEMEN: EXPLORING WEIRD TALES Vol. 5, No. 1—PART 24
We’re getting close to the end of our long read-through of the January 1925 issue of Weird Tales, and I have to be honest. This next story has me almost (well… no… not really…) regretting this whole thing. Is it … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Writing, writing advice
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WRITER’S DIGEST NOVEL WRITING CONFERENCE REPORT
Last week I promised a rundown of the conference I attended this past weekend and here it is! The conference was even better than I’d hoped it would be and I’ll reiterate my “thank you Tweets” to everyone who attended … Continue reading
Posted in authors helping authors, authors to writers, best fantasy blogs, best genre fiction blogs, best horror blogs, best science fiction blogs, best websites for authors, best websites for writers, Books, characters, conventions, fiction writing blog, fiction writing websites, help for writers, helping writers become authors, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, intellectual property development, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Story Structure, transmedia, websites for authors, websites for writers, writers to authors, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best sellers, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference, Writers Digest, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
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THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S HANDBOOK INTERVIEW XXII: MARK GOTTLIEB
Literary agent Mark Gottlieb began his publishing career while still at Emerson College, where he helped establish Wilde Press. After a stint at Berkley Books, Mark went to the Trident Media Group, Publishers Marketplace’s number one ranked literary agency, first … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, Author Interview, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
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BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS XX: HEINLEIN’S RULES: FIVE SIMPLE BUSINESS RULES FOR WRITING
From time to time I’ll recommend—not review, mind you, but recommend, and yes, there is a difference—books that I think fantasy authors should have on their shelves. Some may be new and still in print, some may be difficult to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, E-Books, freelance editing, horror novels, how to write fantasy, how to write fiction, how to write horror, how to write science fiction, indie publishing, POD, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, Science Fiction Story, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing fantasy, writing horror, writing science fiction, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
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BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END
We’ve been thinking of stories in terms of three acts: beginning, middle, and end, for at least the last 2350 years or so—since the publication of Aristotle’s Poetics. I think we probably all “get it,” at least in its simplest … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, horror novels, how to write fiction, Publishing Business, Pulp Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, writing horror, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing process
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PICK MY BRAIN
Yuck. I’ve always hated that phrase. But thanks to my good friends at Writer’s Digest, there’s now an easy, simple, anyone-can-use way to get me on the phone for a substantive talk about your work in progress, questions about publishing, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, Dungeons & Dragons, E-Books, horror novels, how to write fiction, indie publishing, monsters, POD, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, writing advice, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, Books, comic books, creative process, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, story consulant, worldbuilding, Writing, writing advice, writing consultant, writing process, writing teacher
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THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT TO EVERY CHARACTER
Let’s talk briefly about characters. And that’s a subject it’s hard for me to talk briefly about. But some things I’ve been reading recently, including agent and Fantasy Author’s Handbook interviewee Donald Maass’s controversial post at Writer Unboxed, have got … Continue reading
Posted in Books, fantasy movies, horror novels, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, science fiction movies, SF and Fantasy Authors, transmedia, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, authors, best fantasy novels, best sellers, Books, creative process, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Star Wars novels, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
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THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S HANDBOOK INTERVIEW XVII: DONALD MAASS
Don Maass worked as an editor at Dell Publishing then shifted over to the role of agent, finally founding the eponymous Donald Maass Literary Agency in 1980, where he and his staff work with such science fiction and fantasy luminaries … Continue reading
Posted in Books, creative team, E-Books, Publishing Business, Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels, SF and Fantasy Authors, Writing, Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy
Tagged author, Author Interview, authors, best sellers, Books, creative process, Donald Maass, e-books, editor, Fantasy, Fiction, genre fiction, literary agents, Philip Athans, Publishing, Publishing Business, Science Fiction, Writing, writing advice, writing exercises, writing process
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Fantasy Author's Handbook 