Recent content by Mad Swede

No, you don't understand commercial publishing. First, I got an advance - 70 000 SEK. Second, editing takes several passes, not just one. For my book it cost 90 000 SEK. Cover design 45 000 SEK. One of the things you've missed is printing costs - hardback and trade paperback. Three hundred...

There's a lot of comments in this thread about agents and publishers, some of which show a distinct lack of understanding of the realities of commercial publishing. My editor once said to me that publishing is a form of venture capitalism. Since no-one is ever quite sure how well a book from a...

Well, this depends on how you define fantasy as opposed to speculative fiction. For most readers I've met (who are, obviously, people who read my books) fantasy means a story set in a place which is not this world but which is which is not science based (if that makes sense). Bear in mind here...

A. E. Lowan mentioned the word "conflict", which in terms of writing stories means something the protagonist has to overcome to reach their goal - it needn't be a physical fight or even any form of enimity with another character. This usually leads into character development, as it follows that...

Hope. Cynicism-idealism. Integrity-venality

My advice as a published author? Just write. Don't worry too much about the themes in the story, or what layers there are in the story. As The Dark One wrote, if you care enough about (or are driven/motivated enough by) something then these will come over in your writing. You may not give this...

No, but Bayaz is. He is shown to use magic, personal and political manipulation and (in the later stories) technology to win his battles. But the way his magic work is never explained. Or we could take Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. All we're told about her magic is that she...

Oh dear. And the scammer doesn't even have their own (fake) profile right. Comes from Chattanooga and lives in one of the most exclusive parts of London? Even I know London better than that...

You don't need a detailed explanation of the "how" to show this. Tolkien makes it quite clear how tired Gandalf is when they meet the Balrog in Moria, and Joe Abercrombie also shows how tired Bayaz is after helping Jezal to win the fnecing tournament. Readers will accept something like that, a...

Do you need to explain the magic system? Here I'm thinking of legends, folk tales and myth. It's very rare that any of these explain how magic works or why it works. It just does. I sometimes think we as authors are guilty of excessive world building, we seem to think we have to explain...

Does NUMLOCK need to follow the PAGE DOWN to the cellar? If there's wine down there it might be the best place to meet the END...

My editor has a somewhat jaundiced view of literary fiction. In her more cynical moments she says that literary fiction is whatever the current most influential literary critics define it to be (by which she means they decide whether a work is literary fiction or not). When she's feeling less...

I wonder how much thought you've given to characterisation. Even supposedly normal characters need to be well developed, that's what makes them interesting to the readers. If you're sitting there wondering how to make your POV characters more interesting then I'd suggest you need to develop them...

OK, the best paying English language magazines are those that used to be regarded as qualifying markets for SFWA membership. That includes Asimovs, F&SF, Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Strange Horizons. You could also consider BFS Horizons, although they don't pay as well. Be warned...

You know you are a writer when you see some stranger on the train reading one of your books.