sffwrtcht: Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Writer�s Chat. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 00:59:26 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Our goal is to talk w/ writers, editors, & others abt the craft of writing, specifically related to writing speculative fiction. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 00:59:43 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Our format is round table discussion. Please restrict ?s to writing craft, business of writing & the specific works of the guest. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 00:59:56 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Please wait until your question gets answered to ask another & use the hashtag #sffwrtcht for all questions and comments. (Thu Mar 21 01:00:11 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: We may hold questions at times to allow our guest to answer and catch up. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:00:32 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Future Guests 3/27 @morgankeyes 4/3 @EvieManieri 4/10 @jonathanmaberry 4/17 @happynerdjohn 4/24 @davidweber1 5/1 @CJCherryh #sffwrtcht , (Thu Mar 21 01:00:59 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Tonight�s guest @cegannon1 is a Distinguished Professor of English at St. Bonaventure University #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:01:13 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: A Fulbright Senior Specialist in Amercn Lit & Culture 2004-2009, his most recent non-fictn bk won 2006 ALA Awrd for Outstndng Bk #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:02:07 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: And was discussed on NPR�s Morning Edition when he was interviewed. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:02:20 +0000 2013)
sffwrtcht: He�s also appeared on Discovery Channel & a member of SIGMA, a SF think tank which clients include the Air Force, Pentagon & NATO #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:02:58 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Prior to his academic career, Dr. Gannon worked 8 yrs as a scriptwriter and producer in New York City #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:03:18 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: His latest novel is Fire With Fire, others are Extremis w/ Steve White & 1635: The Papal Stakes w/ Eric Flint, all frm @BaenBooks #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:04:13 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: A happily married father of 5, he lives N of Annapolis & can be found on twitter, FB & via his website at http://t.co/pSvrTJjBcH #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:04:50 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 First things first, where�d your interest in speculative fiction come from? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:05:25 +0000 2013)
cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Where? Dunno. When? The cradle, I think. Here’s the story…#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:05:38 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht When I was 3, I loved dinosaurs. So I wanted to be a palentologist & write about it.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:05:55 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht When I was 7, it was zoology…and I wanted to write about it. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:06:08 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht At about 9, it was astronomy, then being an astronaut. #sffwrtcht(Thu Mar 21 01:06:23 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht But then I learned that space travel was still ++dangerous…#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:06:31 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht …so it was back to astronomy. And of course, write about it. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:06:40 +0000 2013)
happynerdjohn: RT @sffwrtcht: Future Guests 3/27 @morgankeyes 4/3 @EvieManieri 4/10 @jonathanmaberry 4/17 @happynerdjohn 4/24 @davidweber1 5/1 @CJCherr … (Thu Mar 21 01:07:11 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht You spent long, preparatory years doing immense amounts of number crunching…#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:07:13 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht often living a dull existence, all so u get to do s.thing uberkewl 4 a few days#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:07:32 +0000 2013)
DeborahJRoss: RT @sffwrtcht: Future Guests 3/27 @morgankeyes 4/3 @EvieManieri 4/10 @jonathanmaberry 4/17 @happynerdjohn 4/24 @davidweber1 5/1 @CJCherr … (Thu Mar 21 01:07:37 +0000 2013)
J_GriffinB: Ditto RT @Wyld_Dandelyon: @cegannon1 I am seeing a theme here… #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:07:37 +0000 2013)
LeahPetersen: #Scifi to the rescue! RT @cegannon1: @sffwrtcht …so it was back to astronomy. And of course, write about it. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:07:44 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht That was not satisfying 2 me.But writing about it? I got 2 virtually live…#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:07:49 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht …all those lives, whenever I wanted. And dive in2 the topix. Now that was kewl!#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:08:26 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Who are some of your favorite authors and books that inspire you? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:08:39 +0000 2013)
Jaleta_Clegg: @cegannon1 Sounds a lot like why I started writing – fictional life was so much more exciting. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:08:47 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht A longer list than we have time 4. In SF/F, I’d have to say that Heinlein’s…#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:09:20 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @cegannon1 Did your interest in dinosaurs ever result in a book? #sffwrtcht(Thu Mar 21 01:09:29 +0000 2013)cegannon1: Every1 4give me while I put out the list of influences! #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:09:49 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @Jaleta_Clegg Not exactly. But they’ve influenced a scene in Fire With Fire.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:10:12 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 Starship Troopers was a revelation. & 4 any1 out there who has only seen …#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:10:57 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 …the movie, u will not u.stand what I mean. This was not only gr8 sf; it #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:11:07 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 B/c if u go back & count, combat occupies much much less than 50 % of #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:11:27 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 ST’s page count. There is also a lushness of prose (occasionally… #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:11:41 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 …a lushness tending toward purple) in the writing of Robert E Howard. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:11:51 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 I don’t know if I’d find him so influential today, but at age 14, yes. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:12:00 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 Gordon R. Dickson’s The Tactics of Mistake may be the finest milsf I’ve read. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:12:13 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 And there’s a lot of good milsf out there, as we all know. Jerry Pournelle’s #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:12:20 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 Janissaries had a really clever concept and an absolutely enthralling story line. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:12:30 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 And here’s a name you don’t hear much anymore: Chad Oliver. He was an …#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:12:39 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 …anthropologist by training and career in academia (in TX, I think). #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:12:48 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 Wrote some incredible fiction, particularly a short novel entitled Blood’s A Rover.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:12:57 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 A few short fiction mentions are warranted: HBFyfe’s “Protected Species”; Poul Anderson’s #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:13:15 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 eerily proleptic “Kings Who Die” & Mack Reynolds’ “The Hunted Ones”. Every single 1 of these #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:13:37 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 Is absolutely worth hunting down 2 read. All had a big influence on me. #sffwrtcht I’ll stay away from non-genre influences. (Thu Mar 21 01:14:02 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 When did you decide to become a storyteller and how did you get your start? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:14:14 +0000 2013)cegannon1: I knew I wanted 2 b a writer b4 I had any idea what that meant. All the challenges. But I could tell it wasn’t going 2 b ez #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:15:01 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 I knew that b/c there weren’t any job listings for “novelists” and b/c my Dad looked like #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:15:12 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 he’d swallowed a mastodon tusk sideways any time I mentioned that ambition. Mom was the support. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:15:22 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 However–and note the irony–it was from my Dad that I got the taste for SF, particularly hard sf. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:15:34 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @cegannon1 He wasn’t a scientist, but he was “a mind forever voyaging”. And that left an indelible imprint on me. #sffwrtcht I do visceral (Thu Mar 21 01:15:56 +0000 2013)
BryanThomasS: @PrinceJvstin Congrats on your story being out #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:15:59 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @PrinceJvstin Thought I saw a tweet about it. Was I wrong? It’s on the feed. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:16:41 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 How�d you learn craft? Trial and error? Formal study? Workshops? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:16:55 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht I took courses whenever I could in JHS and HS. Then it was half my major in undergrad. Which was…. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:17:06 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht …a bit of an ordeal and deviation. I’m not big on college cW programs, simply b/c (& this… #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:17:16 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht …was more prevalent in “my day”, I think) they turned their noses way up at any popular fxn. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:17:25 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Genre fxn the worst of all. So I was often “accommodating” the aesthetic imperatives of folks who, #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:17:34 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @cegannon1 @PrinceJvstin AH YOU JUST retweeted. SO it was @Wyld_Dandelyon Congrats on your intv and new story! #sffwrtcht #oops (Thu Mar 21 01:17:35 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht today, I just don’t think that much of as writers. I u.st. what they were trying to achieve #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:17:50 +0000 2013)
PrinceJvstin: @BryanThomasS @cegannon1 @Wyld_Dandelyon oh, that. Sorry for the confusion. Carry on. #sffwrtcht. (Thu Mar 21 01:18:10 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht So, all That said, I had good training there. Continued it on my own, and when I got a degree n writing #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:18:36 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @PrinceJvstin @cegannon1 @Wyld_Dandelyon My fault. I’m doing a lot at once right now. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:18:37 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht for Radio, TV, Film. In many ways, this was far more practical, because the markets are inherently #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:19:01 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht popular in their tastes. Story structure, effective and snappy dialogue–indispensible. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:19:18 +0000 2013)
Wyld_Dandelyon: @BryanThomasS Thank you! It never stops being exciting to know one of my stories is out there in the Wyld. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:19:31 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Did you start with shorts stories, novels? When was your first pro-sale? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:19:57 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @Wyld_Dandelyon @BryanThomasS It never gets old, Deirdre!#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:20:04 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht My first writing was long, long, long. I knew I wanted to work in the long form and did. HOwever, my first pubs… #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:20:24 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht both non-professional and professional, were shorts. Well, shorts as a relative term. Longest ms my JHS writing #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:20:39 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht magazine had ever seen. Three chapters in an ongoing ST serial for Berengeria, a fanzine (hi quality for 1973!), #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:20:49 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht and a novella for Jerry’s WAR WORLD antho (#4 “Invasion”) in 1991-2? So, pretty much “as long as they’d let me”. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:21:00 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht But I was always thinking about novels, and particularly, the world and characters of Fire With Fire. Started #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:21:15 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: @cegannon1 #sffwrtcht Read that, loved the WAR WORLD series. (Thu Mar 21 01:21:35 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @J_GriffinB it was fun. It’s still out there, 2. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:21:57 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: @cegannon1 Have a copy of that antho on my shelves here, somewhere. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:22:39 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 You�ve had the good fortune of having 3 novels come out in a very short time. How did you get involved w/ @BaenBooks? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:22:55 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Well, strangely, I was involved with them back in 1991 when I published in War World. After that, I just went in that #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:23:36 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht drxn. I My first submission was narrowly rejected #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:24:04 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht elicited an invitation for more. Then, by happenstance, metSteve White at Ravencon. on the same panel & hit it off #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:24:41 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@cegannon1 You collaborated on Extremis, a Starfire novel with Steve White. @davidweber cocreated that series What�s that about? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:24:57 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS Starfire is a space opera set about 5 or 6 centuries in the future. It started life as a game, for which David #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:25:39 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS produced a number of rulesets and products. He met Steve White, who was an avid gamer and the rest, as they say, #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:25:57 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS is history. Those were the first novels for the two of them, and their first NYT best-sellers (I think). #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:26:14 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS David left the series as his other projects began to consume his time ravenously, and Steve pulled in a 1st #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:26:26 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS collaborator who ultimately didt work out. I was just meeting Steve when that lack of fit was becoming painfully #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:26:49 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS manifest and used to joke with him about pitching in if he ever needed the help. The day before I left for overseas #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:27:03 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS in August 2009, I got an email from him: was I serious about offering my help? (He’d seen my writing in Analog b4). #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:27:16 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS I said yes n away we went. Extremis did very well and 2 more are contracted in the series: Imperative and Oblivion. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:27:34 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 How was that experience? Do you split it, switch off on drafts? How do you work together? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:27:42 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Steve already had 14 chapters done at various points in the book. I came in and caught up to his point of furthest#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:28:09 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht We split it chapter by chapter. By which I do not mean, he does all the odd numbers, I do all the even.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:28:28 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht he has a raft of characters, and so do I. We break the action down so that we can almost work independently#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:28:44 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht of each other, although that’s not our style. A unity of form and style is produced when you track each others work in #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:29:00 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht progress. But that task division a) speeds the process, b) reduces stylistic qualms. it’s his#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:29:19 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht sandbox, so I do not presume ownership. B/c I don’t have any.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:29:41 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@cegannon1 Were you familiar with the universe before you were asked to cowrite? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:29:47 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS Not a bit. Cram read for 3 weeks straight. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:30:16 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS And there were 5 or 6 novels, in addition to several rules versions (it came from a game) #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:30:44 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Next was 1635: Papal Stakes with Eric Flint in his 1635 alt history universe. Quick plot summary of Papal Stakes pls #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:30:46 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Uptimer Americans in the 30 Yrs War need to accomplish 2 things: keep the legitimate Pope from being assassinated #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:31:23 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht y a brutal usurper. And rescue a young Uptimer and his beautiful Downtime wife from the allied clutches of the #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:31:37 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Spanish Everything seems to be going just fine–until, all at once, it goes horriribly, hobbily wrong. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:31:58 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Turns out the Spanish and other Downtimers are beginning to get the measure of the Uptime opposition and their #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:32:09 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht surrogates, and deal them a heavy blow. Then its a panicked rush of improvisation, derring-do, and shrewdness #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:32:20 +0000 2013)LeahPetersen: I’ve always wondered if anyone managed that. RT @cegannon1: @BryanThomasS Not a bit. Cram read for 3 weeks straight. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:32:22 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Was the collaboration process there similar or different? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:32:31 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht to manage to complete both missions. And before it’s all over, some characters you’ve known over the books are KIA. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:32:31 +0000 2013)PrinceJvstin: How much freedom and how many boundaries were you given in helping to write in Flint’s universe? @cegannon1 #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:32:33 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: #sffwrtcht Papal Stakes has some of the best most intense action sequences I have ever read, coupled with deep discussion of canon law. (Thu Mar 21 01:33:13 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht I’m going to take a moment to answer q’s, Bryan. Paul, lots of writing freedom but close unierse constraints. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:33:30 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@cegannon1 It’s fine. Please answer them as they are added to the stream #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:34:22 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: RT @PrinceJvstin: How much freedom and how many boundaries were you given in helping to write in Flint’s universe? @cegannon1 #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:34:56 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht While we’re on the topic of Papal Stakes, that was another cram course.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:35:24 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @cegannon1 .@cegannon1 Was the collaboration process there similar or different? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:35:28 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS Very different. Not much. Read over 2.5 million words in two months. Read another 2 million in the next two months. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:35:59 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .cegannon1 And how did you wind up writing with Eric? #sffwrtcht He’s a delightful man. Met him at Chicon. (Thu Mar 21 01:36:27 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS I’write the ms, he’d read it, make any suggestions/changes/rewrites #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:36:29 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS and then we’d submit. I usually show him the ms in halves: start to midpoint, then thence to end. It’s worked #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:36:41 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS I was at Lunacon in 2009. Eric was tToastmaster. I had never met him. We were on a panel together, about writing #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:37:18 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: That he is! RT @BryanThomasS: how did you wind up writing with Eric? #sffwrtcht He’s a delightful man. Met him at Chicon. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:37:21 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS action sequences. At some point, after I remarked on how economy in description in writing action has parallels to #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:37:33 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS fast cuts in cinematic action, he leaned over to look down the table & uttered the first words he ever directed #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:37:54 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS at me:”Have you sent me anything?” (He was referring to Jim Baen’s Universe ) When I responded in the negative, he #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:38:16 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS said, “Then send me something.” And that, to borrow and repurpose a line from Casablanca, was the beginning of a #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:38:27 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 How long did the novels take to write? #sffwrtcht In both cases?(Thu Mar 21 01:38:54 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Extremis was 4-5 months. Papal Stakes a little less. Although revisions stretched over longer time with PS. (Thu Mar 21 01:39:37 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: RT @cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Extremis was 4-5 months. Papal Stakes a little less. Although revisions stretched ovr longer time w/ PS #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:40:06 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: RT @cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Extremis 4-5 months.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:40:20 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @cegannon1 No worries. I’ve got your back. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:40:31 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: @cegannon1 Now you have your 1st solo novel out, Fire with Fire, abt an agent who discovers that humans are not alone & in danger #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:41:03 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @cegannon1 Happens every week at some point. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:41:29 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 With Fire with Fire, Which came first: world, plot, character? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:41:45 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Well, Bryan, u tell me:was itthe chicken, or the egg? Seriously, I can’t really separate them. They both evolved a lot.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:42:13 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht cause both took shape as early as 1980 (yes, you read that correctly). And the one influenced the other in #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:42:33 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht a lot of ways also this: the character that became Caine was originally conceived of in #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:42:53 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Caine is sent to investigate the pssblty of sentient life on a clny tht colonists might be hiding & discovers a larger conspiracy #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:43:00 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht a differ setting. n the setting changed to become less far future, more hard sf: they convergently evolved, u mit say.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:43:24 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Tell us a bit about Caine Riordan and his world. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:43:31 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht Caine isn’t professional soldier. He is broadly familiar with defense and intelligence matters because he is an #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:43:55 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht analyst. He is a writer,~ the folks who do consulting for the Beltway TLAs (I’ve done some#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:44:15 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht myself,),also contributes to venues like Jane’s, and Nightwatch, and Stratfor, you’re getting the picture. Hedid dally #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:44:46 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht with news agencies-which was what ultimately (if indirectly) got him #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:45:25 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht coldslept in 2105. When he wakes up in 2118, things are very different indeed. FTL travel. explored worlds early in #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:45:44 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht the colonization phase. And he is awakened to do a job that he can do best not because he’s the most skilled-#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:46:00 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht but because he’s been dead, presumed missing, for 13 years. He is no one; unwatched.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:46:24 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@cegannon1 Are you an outliner or a pantser? Did you follow the surprising ride or have it planned? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:46:38 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS Well, much more of an outliner. But not rigidly. I have a list of dramatic points that should be hit in each “ACT”.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:47:02 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Is this a standalone or the first of a series (and how many books will there be)? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:48:20 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS The acts strtbecoming chapters. Notes that don’t get hit in a chpater get pushed back…sometimes to the next novel.#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:48:29 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS Ho ho! Standalone? ME??!!!!???? Surely u jest. Seriously, Fire with Fire was always just part of a larger whole. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:48:55 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @cegannon1 Is it a cliffhanger ending? I HATE those in a series. #sffwrtcht(Thu Mar 21 01:49:17 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @cegannon1 Well, yes, I noticed your answers here never standalone… 
#sffwrtcht LOL (Thu Mar 21 01:49:22 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS The next novel, Trial By Fire, in which Things Get Very Bad and Warlike Indeed, is on shelves 1year from now. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:49:41 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @Jaleta_Clegg @cegannon1 Oops. So you hated my second Davi Rhii book then… #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:49:42 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@cegannon1 What�s your writing time look like-specific block? Write `til you reach word count? Grab it when you can? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:49:54 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS I have a nanny–have to with 4 kids. Never get any writing done otherwise. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:50:28 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS I write from deep immersion. Day count of under 5 K, if I’ve got a 8 hour day, is subpar bordering on fail. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:50:59 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @cegannon1 If the nanny was ghostwriter, life would be complete. 24 hour a day someone is writing. 
#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:51:14 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @BryanThomasS Naw, you tied up enough strings and I knew book 3 was still coming. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:51:26 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS By the tme rewrite is cranked in, I average about 3500-4000 oper #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:51:49 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Do you have any writing rituals or tools? Scrivener? Word? Something else? Do you write to music or silence? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:52:39 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS Man, I’m behind on the Davi Rhi thread…largely b/c writing takes up all the time I used to read! #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:52:54 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @cegannon1 *making note to get Fire with Fire* Sounds like my kind of book. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:53:19 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @sffwrtcht No tools. Silence or downtempo/chill. or Liquid Mind. Possibly Tangerine Dream. Vangelis gets too strident. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:53:26 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @cegannon1 I understand. I’m so behind reading stuff myself. #sffwrtcht(Thu Mar 21 01:53:33 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: ,@cegannon1 As a member of SIGMA, you have lots of research resources, but I know you�re quite knowledgeable. It shows. #sffwrtcht 1 /2 (Thu Mar 21 01:54:10 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @Jaleta_Clegg Well, I hope it is! And if you like it, or not, lemme know, please! With a lovely name like that, I’d tuckerize!#sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:54:24 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@cegannon1 How much research do you do when writing? Before, after, during? #sffwrtcht 2/2 (Thu Mar 21 01:54:24 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS I figure I’ve got 80 % done before I begin, but there’s always #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:54:48 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: @cegannon1 #sffwrtcht Did I miss mention of your gaming and #RPG writing days? (Thu Mar 21 01:54:49 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @cegannon1 Aw, thanks. I write reviews for books I liked enough to finish, just not on Amazon. Author reviews get squashed there #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:55:10 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS details I didn’t anticipate, so more. I love doing the research–but I don’t love the time I spend. So I don’t get #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:55:16 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@J_GriffinB I forgot to mention that above in the bio. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:55:18 +0000 2013)cegannon1: @BryanThomasS lost in it. That’s a danger for writers, for we are naturally curious creatures #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:55:47 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 Any tips for the rest of us on how to do research well, good resources, etc.? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:55:53 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @cegannon1 What games/RPGs have you written for? #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:57:48 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: @Jaleta_Clegg @cegannon1 wrote for Traveller, amongst others. I am worried he may be in twitter jail. #sffwrtcht He’s tweeted a lot. (Thu Mar 21 01:58:21 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: Please `Like� our Facebook group: http://t.co/26BVdIKY9x #sffwrtcht(Thu Mar 21 01:59:14 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Please `Like� our Facebook group: http://t.co/tFOTDqY6 #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:59:14 +0000 2013)Wyld_Dandelyon: @Jaleta_Clegg Amazon is strange sometimes. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:59:29 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Future Guests 3/27 @morgankeyes 4/3 @EvieManieri 4/10 @jonathanmaberry 4/17 @happynerdjohn 4/24 @davidweber1 5/1 @cjcherryh #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:59:30 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @Wyld_Dandelyon For some reason, they decided authors were trading 5* reviews with each other and deleted all of them. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 01:59:58 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @Wyld_Dandelyon I’ll put reviews up on my blog and elsewhere, just not Amazon. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:00:14 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: Next week, we talk #writing #ya #fantasy #travelers #darkbeasts and much more with @MorganKeyes! Join us live with your questions #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:00:35 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: Next week, we talk #writing #ya #fantasy #travelers #darkbeasts and much more with @MorganKeyes! Join us live with your questions #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:00:35 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @BryanThomasS Traveller was a fun game. Only played it a few times. Need to play more. When I have more free time. If ever. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:00:49 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @cegannon1 Thanks for joining #sffwrtcht I enjoyed hearing about your writing. (Thu Mar 21 02:01:39 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 is sending me answers to the last 2 questions on FB. He got locked out. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:02:04 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: @Jaleta_Clegg @BryanThomasS He was the Megatraveller guru, if I recall correctly. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:02:05 +0000 2013)Jaleta_Clegg: @sffwrtcht We’re waiting with bated breath… #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:03:25 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon: Best writing advice didn’t come from a writer…he’s not well known as 1, altho he was that originally & at the end. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:03:30 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon: Winston Churchill said. Never never never give up. #sffwrtcht That’s his best writing advice. Here comes worst… (Thu Mar 21 02:04:07 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon: Worst advice? Find out what the market likes and do THAT! #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:04:39 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1: You simultaneously lose your best vision, best creativity, and true voice all in one fell swoop. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:05:01 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1 What they SHOULD say is: find the intersection of what you like to write with what other folks want to read. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:05:42 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1: Aim there, & see if you can move the exchange in your direction. Woo them to your sweet spot, #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:06:26 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1: but meet them 1st in common ground. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:06:38 +0000 2013)Wyld_Dandelyon: RT @cegannon1: Worst advice, follow the market: You lose your best vision, best creativity, and true voice all in one fell swoop. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:06:42 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: What upcoming projects do you have we can look forward to? #sffwrtcht #lastquestion (Thu Mar 21 02:07:57 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: @cegannon1: “White Sand, Red Dust” in “Steam, Aether, Empire, co-owned Steampunk universe w. Eric Flint, from Arc Manor. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:08:33 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: @cegannon1: In 2014… Trial by Fire (book 2 in Tales of the TERran Republic); Imperative (Starfire w/ Steve White) #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:09:17 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: @cegannon1: and 1635: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies (w/ E. Flint) #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:09:32 +0000 2013)J_GriffinB: @sffwrtcht @cegannon1 Very excited about this one. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:10:19 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1: Fire With Fire April 2, this year. Novella “By the book” in World of Honor 6, Beginnings in July. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:10:51 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: A transcript for this chat will be up at the website soon.http://t.co/sNNDnxP7fL Thanks for joining us! #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:11:50 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1: my appreciation to everyone who showed up. Apologies for being so twitter-challengd tht I was unaware it cld happen! #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:13:16 +0000 2013)BryanThomasS: .@J_GriffinB @Jaleta_Clegg Megatraveller, 2300 AD, Twilight 2000 are the RPGS @cegannon1 wrote for #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:13:47 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: On research advice, @cegannon1: Research = first sources. So everything you read, hear, see, look at THEIR sources. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:14:31 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: .@cegannon1: keep peeling back the layers of the onion. Look for the stuff that gets murkier; it’s probably bs. Conversely…. #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:14:56 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: @cegannon1: the stuff that gets more solid is reliable…usually. Use Wiki like a compass—navigate with it… #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:15:25 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: ,@cegannon1: but don’t try to get to a specific location; it’s not a map; it’s a direction finder. #sffwrtcht #end (Thu Mar 21 02:18:05 +0000 2013)sffwrtcht: That’s all folks. Sorry for the delay. Have a good night! #sffwrtcht Some great advice from @cegannon1 tonight! See you next week #sffwrtcht (Thu Mar 21 02:18:41 +0000 2013)Participants
