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Illustrators of the Future 3rd Quarter 2017 Winners Announced
The judging results are in! And here are the winners for the Illustrators of the Future Contest—3rd Quarter 2017 Congratulations to the winners: Alana Fletcher from Vermont Maksym Polishchuk from...
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On Writing Science Fiction by Dr. Yoji Kondo
Dr. Yoji Kondo talking to the writer winners at the Writers of the Future Workshop, 2006 This article was originally published in Writers of the Future Volume 14 and is being republished here. On...
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Imagination
Illustration for “Everything You Have Seen” by Karsen Slater I promised to talk this week a bit more about what I look for in a story. The first thing that I seek is originality. You may not realize...
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Spectacular Settings
I mentioned last week that when I judge a story, one of the simple things I look at is your setting. There are so many aspects to setting, let’s just look at a few: 1) Is your milieu intriguing? Many...
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Notes to the New Artist by Edd Cartier
When asked to pen a few words of advice for new science fiction and fantasy illustrators, I wondered what I could possibly add to the mass of “how-to” information that seems to be inundating the...
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Writers of the Future: Playing the Odds
A friend recently asked me about ways to improve your chances in the Writers of the Future contest. I thought it was a good question, and I thought my answers were a nice summary of lessons learned....
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Avoid Hesitation
Avoid Hesitation When you sit down to write a story or the opening to a scene, you’re presented with a problem: how to begin? As a contest judge, I see too many tales that don’t work—right from the...
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Breaking into Comics
Breaking into Comics Comic-book writing is about telling a story in pictures, with words supplementing the visual storytelling. No matter what story genre you work in, comic books convey, through...
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Questions of Balance
Questions of Balance I’m currently judging the Writers of the Future Contest for the third quarter. After my first pass, I was able to narrow the field down to just 228 possible finalists. These are...
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Precision
Precision I’ve just finished reading through thousands of stories for some writing contests—a job that has taken several weeks. It would take longer, but of course, I don’t always have to read an...
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Lou J. Berger on Writers of the Future
I want to chat about the Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest. For many beginning writers (and illustrators, but I’m going to only talk about the writing side), the WoTF contest is a nice...
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A Few Tips on the Craft of Illustration
This article with advice to artists by H.R. Van Dongen was originally published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume X. A Few Tips on the Craft of Illustration What in the dickens...
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Giving Up
Giving Up Sometimes it seems that your life has a theme. In the past couple of weeks I’ve heard from several authors the words “I’m thinking about giving up.” I worry about that. No one ever won a...
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Ciruelo’s “Dragon Caller” Provides Magical Cover for Writers of the Future...
Ciruelo’s “Dragon Caller” Provides Magical Cover for Writers of the Future Vol 34 We are very excited to announce that world-renowned artist Ciruelo has provided the cover art for L. Ron Hubbard...
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The Long Road
My last post was on “giving up.” I brought up dozens of books that got rejected over and over again, only to finally sell and either win major awards (like the Nobel Prize) or make millions of...
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More than Fame or Fortune
In the last couple of posts, I’ve encouraged writers to keep on going, and I’ve heard back from many of you who have been feeling discouraged. The markets are in turmoil still, but I’m seeing some...
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Defining Yourself
Defining Yourself by David Farland I’m going to talk a bit about audience analysis. It’s always good before you begin to write to really understand who your audience is and that their needs are so that...
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Analyzing What to Write
Analyzing What to Write by David Farland When you decide to write a novel, screenplay, or any tale at all, you should look at a number of things: 1) Do you like the basic concept? If you aren’t...
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Writers of the Future Contest – 4th Quarter 2017 Winners
The judging results are in! And here are the 4th Quarter 2017 Writers of the Future Contest winners. Congratulations to you all! Winners: First Place – Erin Cairns from Texas Second Place – Cole...
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Science Fiction & Fantasy Art: Three Keys
“Starcave” by Paul Lehr This article was initially published in Writers of the Future Volume 12 Science Fiction & Fantasy Art: Three Keys Pictorial art in science fiction and fantasy means...
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