Remembering One of the Greats

Great article written by a great writer --Frederik Pohl -- about one of the greatest SF/F agents of all time -- Robert P. Mills.

http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/remembering-robert-p-mills/

Okay, okay, I confess I'm a little impartial -- my agent learned from him, and since I consider her the best of the best, clearly, he was a good teacher. But don't take just my word for it (take Pohl's...he probably has a little more street cred than I do).

Ah, the good old days I wasn't around for. It's fun to reminisce about things you, personally, never got to really experience, except through reading. Hey, to really remember and celebrate Mr. Mills, let's all go out and buy a book -- science fiction, horror or fantasy, of course.

G.J. Koch

In Awe (Book Review. Yeah, I Read, Too. Don't Faint)

I'm still banging my head against the walls, and my desk, and any other surface available. Because I'm still working on a play/screenplay, darn it.

It's not the same as writing a novel. Different structure, different flow. Lots of things I don't know that need to be done.

I'd quit, but I want to do this. And I also have something that's keeping me going. I have "The Complete Book of Scriptwriting" by the master himself, J. Michael Straczynski.

JMS created "Babylon 5" (all bow and go "oooooooohhhhhh" for a few minutes) and he also was a writer and producer on "Murder, She Wrote" (all bow and go "aaawwwww" for a few minutes). So the man knows of what he speaks.

And the book is great. If you're wanting to break into writing for TV, movies or the stage, this is the book to get. And it's understandable. And he gives examples. This is one of the few 'textbooks' I've hit as an adult where I just want to trot over to the easy chair and have a good, long read of it. It's that engaging.

So, while my screenplay itself is inching along (where is the funny? Where? Why is it on hiatus now?), I'm greatly enjoying learning this aspect of 'the craft' (yeah, it sounds funny to me, too, when I use that term). I give this book two big thumbs up, five stars out of five, wholehearted endorsement, and so on. If you're looking to write anything in script form -- and that includes genres other than science fiction and mystery, I must add -- this is the book to get.

Now, it's back to the reading and the attempting and all that for me. The reading is going much more smoothly, but with JMS's book in hand, I shall overcome.

Hey, at least there's some part of this that's enjoyable and educational. I'm willing to call that a win.

G.J. Koch

Still Here and Kicking

Wow. I just realized, it's been about a month since my last blog. Where does the time go?

Well, my time's been spent hacking away at some ideas, not the least of which is how to make the fast passage of time funny. (Look in the mirror and then look at your HS graduation picture before you suggest that it might be easy to do. Of course, I've seen your HS graduation picture, and 'funny' is one way to describe it...)

I've also been having ISP and internet 'fun'. We shan't speak of it here, but let's just say that I'm waiting for the funny parts to surface. So far, not so much.

On the other hand, I have gotten in some serious sports watching and video game playing. I mean, those things are important to my muse. Really. You'd be amazed at what you can come up with after watching hours of hockey followed by hours of The Force Unleashed combined with lots and lots of beer.

Oh, sure, it's not necessarily coherent, but hey, you can't have everything.

G.J. Koch

More, More, More

I've been talking to some writer pals of mine, and they're all focused on having more than one book/series to shop around. I'm not talking those without an agent -- I'm talking about those with one already in hand and happy with their work.

It makes sense. Give your agent more to work with, more options to sell. After all, it's a subjective business.

My issue? I have no idea what to focus on.

I was working on some short stories with the idea that maybe I'd sell them, and if I didn't sell them, then maybe they'd be good writing practice. (Per some people, I need the practice.)

This was fine, but it doesn't another novel make. And I've heard rumblings that science fiction isn't selling like hotcakes right now, but fantasy is. (Tomorrow, it'll probably be something else, but I can only keep up with so much.)

So, does that mean I try for humorous fantasy? Straight fantasy? (Can I actually write without being a snarkmeister? I don't know, but the Magic 8-Ball says 'unlikely'.) 'Something else'? (And who knows what THAT would be..) Or do I just sit in the corner and tear a piece of paper up into bits?

Wait! I know! When in doubt...I think I'll have a drink and a ponder. (It's like having a Coke and a smile, only quieter.)

G.J. Koch

In Space, No One Can Hear You Blog

I'm an author and someone mentioned to me -- okay, a lot of someones mentioned to me -- that in order to grow my so-far-nonexistent fan-base, I should have a blog. Probably more than one. A plethora of blogs.

Now, I love writing, but I'm all about the idea of starting small and building up slowly. Mostly because I'm also a busy person who is, at the core, lazier than potentially anyone else in North America.

I mean, I write soft science fiction. Not the hard stuff, because that requires actual scientific knoweldge, or at least actual scientific research. I love my stuff, but I probably fall onto the side of 'softer than the Star Trek Tribbles episode'. We're talking -- I make it up and if I think "hey, it could happen" it's good enough for my form of government work. I'm not into the making it harder than it has to be idea.

So, the mere idea of a blog, let alone a plethora of blogs, daunts me. And the idea that I'm probably doing this for no one and to no one would depress me, if I actually thought about it. However, not thinking is, in reality, 'my thing', so I'm good.

So, here's to the beginning of a beautiful friendship between me and my blog and, one hopes in the deepest part of one's hoping place, some readers who may, one day, become so rabid for my work that they beat down the bookstore doors in order to get my latest brilliantly soft science fiction masterpiece before anyone else.

Hey, it's a dream, okay?

G.J. Koch