EUOLogy: My History as a Writer

NOTE: The following is kind of a response to a thread on my forums. It grew too long to post there, and I felt that it might be of more general interest to other readers out there. So I've moved it here, and will link it in the thread. I reference the boards and people posting there, but you don't really need to know who they are to understand the essay.

MY HISTORY AS A WRITER

I've been thinking that I should give a little bit of an explanation of my history as a writer for those of you who don't know. I think it might give you some context for some of the posts I've made, and things people are saying in the forums about my unpublished novels. Read on if you want a little context.

EUOLogy: Dumbledore's Homosexuality

I'm not on the cutting edge of the blogosphere. Like many of us, I read about Rowling's statements when they were said earlier this week. However, I usually like to think about things for a time before I write an essay about them. With this issue, I was tempted to simply let it go, since others have covered it quite well, and I worried about offending people.

Sanderson's First Law

Introduction

I like magic systems. That's probably evident to those of you who have read my work. A solid, interesting and innovative system of magic in a book is something that really appeals to me. True, characters are what make a story narratively powerful—but magic is a large part of what makes the fantasy genre distinctive.

EUOLogy #15: Psychological Anatomy of a Writer Part Three

So, let's talk about arrogance.

Writers are arrogant. There's just no getting around it. Now, some people prefer to make the term sound a little more benign, using euphemisms like 'self-confident' or 'self-assured' instead. However, I don't really think these terms work as well. Writers aren't really self-assured—most of us are terribly insecure about our work in one way or another.

EUOLogy #12: Psychological Anatomy of a Writer (Part Two of Threeish)

Okay, so, hopefully you've been waiting in eager anticipation since my last EUOLogy to read part two. I used something we call a 'cliffhanger' in the biz. It's copyrighted. If you ever use one, make sure you pay me.