Bryan Thomas Schmidt

There’s this little thing referred to in Hollywood script talk as “business.” It also gets a mention in Phil Athans’ excellent The Guide To Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy from Adams Media. “Business” in this instance is those little actions characters do underneath dialogue in scenes. You know, they’re having an argument and one washes dishes  [ Read More ]

When I went to screenwriting school, the key thing they taught us about writing scenes was to enter a scene as late as possible and get out as soon as possible after that. Forget the niceties. None of this:   Bob walked in the room to find Guy sitting on the couch, chilling. “Hey, dude,  [ Read More ]

If you’re an author or aspiring to be one, chances are that at some point you’ll be asked to participate in Author Panels. Author panels are staples at Conventions, Workshops and Literary Festivals and give authors and readers the opportunity to question each other and explore topics from Characterization to Genre to Research and more.  [ Read More ]

Okay so you have a book, congratulations. And one of the best depositories locally to get it attention is a place where book lovers congregate: the local library, right? So how do you make that happen? Just walk in the door, ARC under you arm and hand it to them? Are there better ways? What  [ Read More ]

If you’re like me, you may have been a long time fan who rarely or even never went to Cons. So much of the mainstream publicity surrounding Cons leaves it kind of mysterious about what’s going on. Panels? Is that lectures? Who wants to pay for that. I had enough in college, thanks. Or even  [ Read More ]

Humor can be an important part of both character development and reader engagement. When used well, it can endear both writer and characters to readers. When used poorly, it can ruin an otherwise successful tale. Here’s some tips for how to use humor effectively in your stories and novels.  1 ) The Running Gag– This  [ Read More ]

If you’re at all concerned with marketing yourself or your products, by now you’ve probably heard a million times how important Social Media has become for marketing yourself and connecting with/building an audience of customers. The challenge can be knowing exactly how to go about it without coming across as pushy or self-centered and alienating  [ Read More ]

I’ve spent a lot of time studying and designing websites the past ten years. I’ve done so for Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, non-profits and individuals. I’ve done it for myself. With the rapidity of change on the World Wide Web, there are constant lessons to be learned. But my author website has grown in  [ Read More ]

Interviews are a fact of life for successful people–especially entertainment people like writers. At some point, you’ll be asked to do an interview about your work. How do you prepare? How do you stay calm and fight nerves? How do you overcome introversion or shyness? Interviews require different things from an interviewer and an interviewee.  [ Read More ]

One issue writers who work around dayjobs face is finding time to write. From job demands to family demands to everything else, it can be a real challenge. So how do you do it? Here’s some suggestions: 1) Write When You Can. Carry your laptop or notebook with you and write whenever you get a  [ Read More ]

We all have our favorite tools we use when writing. But one of the advantages of the modern age is having a lot of great resources available right here on the World Wide Web. What are the tools you never write without? Here are 15 of mine: 1) www.dictionary.com This great website is a quick and  [ Read More ]

One of the most important tasks for a writer is creating character names. Everyone has their own approach. Some find it more challenging than others. Here’s 10 Tips which might help you with the naming. 1) Keep A List. Mary Robinette Kowal kept a spreadsheet of names when writing Shades Of Milk And Honey as a  [ Read More ]

It’s the bane of any writer’s existence–Writer’s Block–like a monster in the closet, creeping out when you least expect it and stalking you with relentless determination. It can be devastating to your sense of creative flow in a project and frustrate your word count and other goals, when you’re on a deadline. For years writers  [ Read More ]

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been a fan of action. Movies like the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard series always entertained me. I like action in my reading, too. Space opera is my favorite science fiction genre and sword & sorcery tops my fantasy favorites. Is it any wonder that I find myself  [ Read More ]

One of the things I’ve learned in the past year from working with editors and beta readers is how important a role these folks play in the creative success of any published product. Now there are good editors and bad editors, good beta readers and bad beta readers. I’ve been lucky with my editors so  [ Read More ]

After almost a year, nine drafts, two independent editors, a series of beta readers, two critique groups, and a few rejections, I was tired of looking at the word file that was my novel’s manuscript. I still believed in the story and characters and felt good about my writing though. Both the professional editors I’d  [ Read More ]