on writing - scott fitzgerald gray

Advice to writers from speculative fiction author Scott Fitzgerald Gray.

Most importantly - Don't stop.  Don't ever stop.  Then...

1) Have more than one project on the go.  Always, always, always have
a wide slate of projects in front of you that are in progress or ready to
jump into. Everyone has a first novel, sure. Everyone has the novel they
really want to work on right now. But none of that stops you from
digging into the second novel, or thinking about where you want an
overall series to go, or working on the short story idea that some bit of
research into your current novel inspired.

2) Watch out for the all-consuming projects. You have a novel, a
screenplay, an epic poem that is the Most Important Thing you’ve ever
conceived or will ever work on. But it’s an unfortunately short walk from
the Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Work On to the Only Thing You’ll
Ever Work On Over Fifteen Successive Drafts. And if you’re only working
on one thing, you leave yourself open to stop working on it at some point.

By Felix Girard

the well written - gregory maguire

What’s the first thing you know in life?  Even before you know words?
Sun in the sky.  Heart of gold in a field of blue, and the world cracks open.
You are knowing something.  There you are.

As with all of us, the Scarecrow awoke knowing he had been for some
time already, though unwoken.  There was a sense of vanishing splendor in
the world about him, an echo of a lost sound even before he knew what
sound or echo meant.  The backward crush of time and, also, time’s forward
rush.  The knife of light between his eyes.  The wound of hollowness behind
his forehead.  There was motion, sound, color; there was scent, death, hope. 

- Gregory Maguire, Scarecrow

By Felix Girard