Podcasts, Projects, Transcript

[Transcript] Ditch Diggers #54: Retcons and JKR

Ditch Diggers #54

January 31st, 2018

Theme Song: [00:00:04] Ditch Diggers appear, ain’t no wannabes here. With some not so nice advice for your writing career. To be clear, no punches will be pulled, but the punch may be spiked, how they like before they get on the mic. To my left we got the mighty Mur Lafferty, and if I piss her off, believe me, she’ll come after me. And her co-host Matt F’n Wallace on the right, yeah she may be half his height, but she could take him in a fight. So settle in folks, buckle in, and boot up. Time to meddle in a way to make you write or shut up. It’s hard work, but the perk is that it’s fun and exciting. Facebook will still be there when you’re done writing. Ditch Diggers!

Mur: [00:00:46] Coming to you live from Morgan Freeman’s official historical retconning chamber. It’s the Ditch Diggers with Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace. Good morning, Matt. How are you?

Matt: [00:00:56] Good morning, Mur. I’m well. It’s early, but I’m forcing my energy level up several octaves, so I was a little worried last time that I sounded like I was dragging ass because I’ve been getting up much earlier than I used to these days.

Mur: [00:01:11] Well you’re just dealing with the new schedule man. We all can appreciate that. Or at least I can. I don’t know about those other assholes, but this asshole can. (more…)

Podcasts, Projects

ISBW #393: Supporting Characters’ Motivations

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:40 — 18.5MB)

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serial box logoWhen your supporting characters’ response to personally tragic things in their life is “how will this affect this other person?” then you have a problem.

Are you a WorldCon member? Don’t forget to vote for the Hugos, AND remember you have the power to go to the business meeting!

ISBW is sponsored by Serial Box! Yes, my publisher for Bookburners, one of my favorite projects I’ve worked on in the past few years! Get a discount on a whole season of content with the code WRITING18.

Also: did you know I’m offering transcriptions of both ISBW and Ditch Diggers? They will go up as soon as I get them for Patreon supporters, and a bit later for everyone else. It’s only at the $1 level, and you’re helping me offer a more accessible show, so pledge now!

  • Current WiP: [REDACTED], a secret project.
  • Currently reading: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (follow me on Goodreads if you like, I’m usually reading a bunch of stuff at once.)
  • Last movie seen: Black Panther — 12/10 OMG SO GOOD

Affiliate links to my books!

News

Six Wakes is a Kindle Daily Deal!

Hey friends, I know what you’ve been thinking, that it’s time for you to get a new ebook! But times are tough, we all know it, so management* has told me we can give you such a deal, today only! Six Wakes, for only $2.99!

Now, you won’t find prices like this anywhere else, friends. If you’re looking for a shiny new ebook to drive away today, consider Six Wakes, the Kindle Daily Deal!

It’s Philip K. Dick Award nominated! It’s Nebula Award nominated! And it’s only $2.99. I don’t know what got into us to sell at such a low price, but I would take advantage of it if I were you! Buy today!

* OK, so it wasn’t management, it was Amazon.

Podcasts, Projects, Transcript

[Transcript] ISBW #391: Emotions Get In The Way

January 30, 2018

Mur: [00:00:00] I Should Be Writing 391, I think. Yeah, sure let’s say that. For the week of January 29th. Yes, I know it’s not the week of January 29th.

Theme Song: [00:00:13] I should be writing. I should be working on my craft. I should be writing. I should be submitting my next draft. But I’m sitting watching Doctor Who.

Mur: [00:00:36] Hi there, welcome to I Should Be Writing, the podcast for wanna-be fiction writers. I’m your host, Mur Lafferty, and yes, I said this is last week’s episode, and I know it’s not last week, it’s this week. Here’s what happened: I know I always have an excuse when things go sideways, but I think this is a pretty good excuse. Last week I had a pretty bad migraine for a couple days, and I got some professional news that pretty much blew my mind. And no, I can’t tell you what it is, unfortunately, because I would love to. Seriously, it ruined my brain for a couple of days, literally, and now I’m just trying to get back on the work that’s late. So you’re going to get two episodes of I Should Be Writing this week and two episodes of Ditch Diggers. (more…)

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #56: Drinking From the Fire Hose

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:33 — 47.3MB)

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(I still don’t have the hang of recording and uploading on the road. Apologies.)
Is hobo pejorative?

  • The Ditch Diggers come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s calendar room (featuring an inordinate amount of train calendars).
  • Matt and Mur argue about the configuration of a train whose cars are the months of the year and whether or not “hobo” is a pejorative term (yes, this really happens).
  • Mur is a bona fide Nebula Award nominee for her novel SIX WAKES! Woohoo!
  • Mur talks about being up for the Neblua and the Philip K. Dick Award, and meeting fellow Nebula nominee Annalee Newitz at a late-night con fetish panel.
  • The topic of the episode finally emerges: Feast or famine as a freelance writer!

(more…)

Meta

End of February-Various notes

This was titled “End of January Notes” and, uh, it was still in the draft folder. So I’m not sure what happened there.

I’m currently at a writing retreat, writing my butt off, but not doing much else. Right now I’m cleaning up the site a bit as a break from writing. So blog stuff!

  • I was recently on the Story Men podcast for a fun interview.
  • Lori Puma listed the 33 best podcasts for publishing your first novel in 2018, and ISBW made the cut!
  • We are offering transcription for both podcasts now! It’s up for Patreon supporters as soon as it’s done, and up for the rest of the world a week later. It’s definitely not a free service I’m using, so Patreon support now is more appreciated than ever!
Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #55: Christopher Brown and Timely Subjects

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:49 — 39.4MB)

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ARGH I put this in the feed but somehow didn’t make the blog post live! Here is #55. #56 will be coming soon.

Notes of Show:

  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s Border Crossing (it’s an inside reference) with special guest co-host Christopher Brown.
  • Morgan’s border crossing is a cerebral crossing into expanding your mind (Matt mostly comes here for the colors), because Morgan is an open-world kind of guy.
  • Mur apologizes to Christopher for inadvertently botching her recording of Christopher’s interview on her OTHER podcast, I Should Be Writing.
  • Christopher talks about his novel, Tropic of Kansas (Harper Voyager, 2017), a dystopian road trip about a walled-off America, and how the themes and events in the book came to life around him after he finished it.
  • The Ditch Diggers discuss with Chris how writing a novel that abruptly became so topical affected, for better or worse, the process of shopping his novel to publishes and selling the book to the public.
  • The folly of chasing headlines and current events in your fiction, and how it mimics attempting to write to the market and chase the next fiction “trend.”
  • Matt and Mur engage Christopher on the subject of award season, as his novel is on the long list for the Compton Crook Award, and the three discuss the do’s and don’t’s of campaigning for literary awards.
  • Christopher talks about how awards and the marketing of them can be used to spotlight underseen and unrecognized work from around the world, using an anthology of Mexican fiction he edited/translated that was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, and how it affected and validated the authors, as a prime example.
  • The Ditch Diggers dive into the email question bag and take on the always popular topic of MFA’s.
  • The customary end of episode shilling (Ditch Diggers is once again eligible for Best Fancast Hugo!)

Twitter handles: Mur, Matt, Chris

Affiliate links to our books!

News

Six Wakes Nominated For The Nebula Award. Seriously.

I’m completely dumbfounded, baffled, and so honored to announce that my little murder clone book, Six Wakes, is nominated for The Nebula Award.

Yeah. I know.

To compare to the movie industry, the Hugo Awards are like the Peoples’ Choice Awards, voted on by the fans attending Worldcon. The Nebulas are the Oscars: voted on by members of the professional organization of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

I never thought I would get a Nebula nomination. I mean I felt it was so far out of my league that I didn’t even want it; it wasn’t worth the mental energy to desire it. It’s like wishing you could own the moon. So when the nomination came I was floored.

It’s in the same category as some amazing books by some amazing authors. It is such an honor to be even considered among them.

For the record, in the novel category, six out of seven books were written by women, and two of seven (that I know of) written by people of color.

And check out Fonda Lee, Sarah Pinsker, and Vina Jie-Min Prasad, who are each on the ballot twice! That’s hardcore!

I’ll be attending Nebula weekend in Pittsburgh in May. I’ll be the one walking around looking stunned.

I have several friends on the other ballots, and I’m SO HAPPY and proud of them. Here’s the whole ballot. (Biggest conflict I have is the fact that “Get Out” AND “The Good Place” are nominated for the Ray Bradbury Award! I honestly don’t know how I will vote there.)

2017 Nebula/Bradbury/Norton Award Finalists

Novel

Amberlough, Lara Elena Donnelly (Tor)

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss (Saga)

Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory (Knopf; riverrun)

The Stone Sky, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty (Orbit US)

Jade City, Fonda Lee (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Autonomous, Annalee Newitz (Tor; Orbit UK 2018)

 

Novella

River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (Tor.com Publishing)

Passing Strange, Ellen Klages (Tor.com Publishing)

“And Then There Were (N-One)”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3-4/17)

Barry’s Deal, Lawrence M. Schoen (NobleFusion Press)

All Systems Red, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

The Black Tides of Heaven, JY Yang (Tor.com Publishing)

 

Novelette

“Dirty Old Town”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 5-6/17)

“Weaponized Math”, Jonathan P. Brazee (The Expanding Universe, Vol. 3)

“Wind Will Rove”, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s 9-10/17)

“A Series of Steaks”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld 1/17)

“A Human Stain”, Kelly Robson (Tor.com 1/4/17)

“Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time”, K.M. Szpara (Uncanny 5-6/17)

 

Short Story

“Fandom for Robots”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny 9-10/17)

“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM”, Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex 8/17)

“Utopia, LOL?”, Jamie Wahls (Strange Horizons 6/5/17)

“Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 9-10/17)

“The Last Novelist (or A Dead Lizard in the Yard)”, Matthew Kressel (Tor.com 3/15/17)

“Carnival Nine”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 5/11/17)

 

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Get Out (Written by Jordan Peele)

The Good Place: “Michael’s Gambit” (Written by Michael Schur)

Logan (Screenplay by Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green)

The Shape of Water (Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Written by Rian Johnson)

Wonder Woman (Screenplay by Allan Heinberg)

 

The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book

Exo, Fonda Lee (Scholastic Press)

Weave a Circle Round, Kari Maaren (Tor)

The Art of Starving, Sam J. Miller (HarperTeen)

Want, Cindy Pon (Simon Pulse)

Podcasts, Projects, Transcript

[Transcript] Ditch Diggers #53: The Money Taboo

January 25, 2018

Theme Song: [00:00:04] Ditch Diggers appear, ain’t no wannabes here. With some not so nice advice for your writing career. To be clear, no punches will be pulled, but the punch may be spiked, how they like before they get on the mic. To my left we got the mighty Mur Lafferty, and if I piss her off, believe me, she’ll come after me. And her co-host Matt F’n Wallace on the right, yeah she may be half his height, but she could take him in a fight. So settle in folks, buckle in, and boot up. Time to meddle in a way to make you write or shut up. It’s hard work, but the perk is that it’s fun and exciting. Facebook will still be there when you’re done writing. Ditch Diggers!

Mur: [00:00:44] Ditch Diggers #53 coming to you live from Morgan Freeman’s gender neutral statue factory. It’s the Ditch Diggers with Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace. How are you Matt?

Matt: [00:00:55] I’m good, Mur. I didn’t expect the factory to be in New Jersey, oddly. I feel like I judged New Jersey unfairly in that respect. But here we are.

(more…)

Podcasts, Projects

Ditch Diggers #54: Retcons and JKR

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:09 — 43.9MB)

Subscribe: Email | TuneIn | RSS

NOTE- I got an important call in the middle of this episode and was a tad distracted for the rest of the show. But Matt’s on a good enough tear that I’m not needed much anyway. I can let you know the purpose of the call some other time.

  • Matt and Mur come to you live from Morgan Freeman’s official historical retconning chamber.
  • Matt makes it clear that Morgan Freeman’s retconning chamber is NOT to be confused with a time machine.
  • Somewhere between Morgan Freeman cross-breeding bees and butterflies and Mur being responsible for the diamond trade, the Ditch Diggers explain the concept of retconning.
  • How retconning, while sometimes necessary in and accepted as part of the vernacular of the comics medium, is more often than not detrimental to writing and publishing novels, using JK Rowling’s constant retconning of the Harry Potter books as an example.
  • The difference between retconning to continue telling a story and retconning for the sake of altering the past.
  • Matt recaps the controversy over the handling of Dumbledore in the forthcoming Fantastic Beast movie (spoiler alert: No gay Dumbledore), and gives his opinion on why JK Rowling retconning the HP books is a detrimental betrayal.
  • Mur talks about how if characters in fiction aren’t explicitly identified, audiences will default to straight and white, using Hunger Games as an example.
  • What the JK Rowling situation can teach smaller authors about brand management for themselves and their book series, specifically making promises on which they can’t deliver and not engaging legitimate criticism of their public behavior.
  • How being an author in the SFF field reacting publicly to one of these situations can also affect your brand.
  • How, in Matt’s opinion, popular authors, especially in SFF, are given “passes” when they screw up if they’ve accrued enough good will points and the cliquishness of fiction communities and how they protect those authors.
  • On being aware enough to acknowledge and deal with your problematic behavior as it happens.
  • Mur and Matt are working to make Ditch Diggers a more inclusive podcast and need your help to do it through their Patreon.
  • The customary end-of-episode shilling, including Hugo Award awareness raising.

Affiliate links to our books!