For authors: Advise from veterans

At SF Signal.

A few that caught my eye & probably apply to other endeavors too:

Robert Silverberg: A story makes quick money, & another gets collected in anthologies. Later is tougher to write & sell, but brings you money rest of your life. Former brings money one time only - when it is sold.

Mike Resnick: Believe in your product. And be flexible about both the channels that will put it in the hands of consumers & the target consumers.

Ben Bova: Go for "clarity and simplicity of style". "you've got to be able to take the most complicated things happening in the world and write it so that they can understand it."

John C Wright: "Talent is mostly sweat". He also has an interesting critique of Heinlein.

Marc Gascoigne: "GET IT DOWN, CHANGE IT LATER." Sacred words for many a programmer too, when used with a bit of brains.

Patricia Briggs: I actually liked it in a context slightly different from her. What does it take to create things? "work" - sweat. "play" - creativity. And use of competitive products to gain insight.

Alan Dean Foster: "be careful never to make your hero/heroine too powerful or too omnipotent" because "no one sympathizes with superman".

Kristine Kathryn Rusch: "going deep into the story, and not being afraid of the topics I brought up."

Matt Hughes:

1. Be "minimalist": "the in-born human ability to take a few details (picking the right details is the author's job) and turn them into a complete picture. The more the reader puts in, I think, the greater the identification with the story."
2. "At the heart of every story is a conflict. The conflict has a starting point. That's the thing to put on the first page".

* Matt Hughes' "The Helper and His Hero" (novella, fantasy)

The great no-content story. Great language, beautiful imagery, epic scope - only weak point is the story. It has evil aliens that can survive imprisonment in a "gravitational cyst(?)" through geological ages to come bug humans again, medieval society, chants that summon magical powers, mystical places called "Commons", ... Summarizing this story is not easy. If you prefer package to content, you may like this story.

Fact sheet.

First published: F&SF, February/March 2007.
Rating: C
Download full text.
Was in finals of Nebula Awards 2007 in novella category.

Note: Why is this post so short?

Nebula Awards 2007 - novellas: Brief summaries & my rankings

List below is based on the results of preliminary ballot, final ballot, & the official winners announcement. Some remarks on peculiar Nebula conventions are in the opening paras of my post of Nebula 2007 short stories.

My rating in brackets (ABC: A = worth your time; C = don't bother). Where I have posted a separate review of the entry, link on story title takes you there.

Story list (5 stories, best first).

While I don't find any of these exceptional, I prefer Kiosk to all others. I don't really have specific preferences among next three entries & could have ordered them differently. Hughes' entry is more package than content. Last one - the jury nominee - is hopeless.

1. [final, prelim] Bruce Sterling's "Kiosk" (B); download; F&SF, January 2007; science fiction: Consumers win a fight to get material copying machines legalized - after a violent revolution.
2. [final, prelim] Gene Wolfe's "Memorare" (B); download; F&SF, April 2007; science fiction: Kind-of please-everyone novella about raiders of human tombs in space, & their makers who don't want the tombs of their dear ones raided.
3. [winner, final, prelim] Nancy Kress' "Fountain of Age" (B); download; Asimov's, July 2007; science fiction: An old man cannot get over love of his youth.
4. [final, prelim] Lucius Shepard's "Stars Seen Through Stone" (B); download; F&SF, July 2007; fantasy: A cocktail of - a small music label owner nurtures a talented but maladjusted musician, a romance, & evil waves that harvest human creativity. It's a good story, except for incomprehensible waves part.
5. [final, prelim] Matt Hughes' "The Helper and His Hero" (C); download; F&SF, February/March 2007; fantasy: The great no-content story. Great language, beautiful imagery, epic scope - only weak point is the story. It has evil aliens that can survive imprisonment in a "gravitational cyst(?)" through geological ages to come bug humans again, medieval society, chants that summon magical powers, mystical places called "Commons", ... Summarizing this story is not easy. If you prefer package to content, you may like this story.
6. [final] Judith Berman's "Awakening" (C); download; Black Gate, #10 (Spring 2007); fantasy: Ghosts, sorcery, swords, etc. Note that this was not on the list of preliminary ballot (I think they call it jury nominee).

Related.

1. 2007 Nebula Awards short stories, novelettes.
2. 2008 Hugo Awards novellas.