Writers Write

The Sci-Fi Genre That Feels Too Real – What Is Mundane Science Fiction?

'I make myself work every day regardless of whether it’s a productive day or not. That way I know I will be at my keyboard when the logjam finally breaks.' ~Sara Paretsky

After critics and authors picked their top 100, The Guardian asked readers for their favourite novels.

'Diversity fuels everything I do. I read broadly, watch broadly, listen broadly, and write broadly. I don’t want to leave any genre or writing style unturned.' ~Daniel Kraus

Elizabeth Bowen’s 7 Tips For Writing Dialogue

'The research and plotting is very much left-brained, a very logical process, and one that I think can be learned. The actual writing, the flow of words, description, dialogue—all of these are right-brained. That’s where the passion comes in. When writing is going well, it’s like being plugged into a cosmic socket. There’s no other experience that compares with it.' ~Deborah Crombie

I’m endlessly fascinated by the process of writing, because to have come to it in the middle of my life as someone more conscious and more cognizant and maybe more self-aware than I would have been had I been doing this in my twenties, it’s really interesting. It’s interesting to watch your hand move across the page and be like, ‘Look at that. There is a thing that did not exist minutes ago. There is a sentence and a string of words.’ ~Sonya Walger

'I’ve heard somebody say that some writers are architects and some are gardeners; I’m absolutely a gardener. I know the characters, I know the world, and then the story moves forward and flowers up. That’s not to say that I don’t have a plan, it’s mostly that I don’t chain myself to my plans and expectations. I like to leave myself open for beautiful accidents, for strange things to happen, and then I want to pursue those. That can be hard if you’ve shackled yourself to an outline.' ~Patrick Rothfuss