Jared Sandman

I’ll be posting a four-part series about writing over the next week or so.  Until then, here are a few things from the Interwebz that caught my interest.

Television writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach published an essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books about the New Golden Age of TV and what elements contributed to it.  He and Jose Molina host a podcast as well, which is full of great information about writing for television.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned their program before, but it’s worth reiterating.  Check out “Children of Tendu” or suffer the consequences.

I also came across this post about Murder, She Wrote. It skewers formula-driven scriptwriting in a hilarious fashion.  Even though I’ve never seen an episode of Murder, She Wrote, I feel like I’ve seen them all.  Just replace Jessica Fletcher with Magnum, P.I., MacGyver, Simon & Simon or any number of other procedurals from that era.  Sadly, these lazy formulas exist to this day, in spite of television’s New Golden Age.  I’d love to see someone lampoon NCIS, Law & Order or CSI like this.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this genius comic strip about my favorite superhero.  It perfectly summarizes why Bruce Wayne is both totally awesome and batshit insane (see what I did there?).

Here’s a Los Angeles Times article from 1990 about screenwriter Shane Black.  At one point he was the highest-paid writer in Hollywood, then he fell out of favor with the movie studios and had to wander the desert for forty days and forty nights — okay, more like sixteen years — until he was tapped to direct Iron Man 3.  Now he’s on top again, and I’m sure he appreciates it more the second time around.

Also, check out this lengthy interview with several executives on The Simpsons.  Or, even better, this video with Conan O’Brien and a few of the show’s staff writers.

Finally, I bring you an impromptu Q&A session with Joss Whedon.  The full transcript is fascinating.

Here are a couple of sitcom pilots from the ’90s.  The first, Pistol Pete, comes from John Swartzwelder.  He wrote more episodes of The Simpsons than anyone else, almost three seasons’ worth, including many of the absolute classics (“Itchy and Scratchy Land,” “The Cartridge Family,” “Rosebud”).  In 1996 he wrote this western pilot.  It’s kind of a misfire, truth be told, but funny in places and full of Swartzwelder comedic hallmarks.  He writes satiric novels nowadays, which you can check out here.

The next pilot is from 1991 and comes from Conan O’Brien and Robert Smigel.  This one’s a lot funnier, Lookwell, played to perfection by Adam West.  I would’ve loved to see this go to series.  The concept — a faded celebrity who thinks he can solve real crimes because he once portrayed a detective on TV — is a brilliant one that can still work today.  Somebody please take this idea and turn it into a movie about a bumbling Columbo.

A few interesting links I’ve come across:

The Daily Routines of Famous Writers

How Stephen King Teaches Writing

Margaret Atwood in Future Library

I’ve been busy writing (screenplays) and am gearing up for my next novel (horror), so expect minimum action on this blog in the short term.

I also want to plug a massive new anthology that just went on sale:  Widowmakers.  Lots of stories, lots of great authors, and all proceeds go to a fantastic writer named James Newman.  Over 800 pages of material for $5 — pick it up ASAP.

This year’s Hugo Award ceremony was held earlier this month.  Below is a complete list of the winners (taken from the Hugo site).

Also, last week would’ve been Ray Bradbury’s 94th birthday.  He passed away a couple years back, but I recently came across an interview with him in The Paris Review: Read the transcript here.

I haven’t blogged lately, though I’ve been hard at work.  I’m finishing up the rough draft of a screenplay (an action movie) that I’m quite excited about.  After I beat this script into shape, I’ll press ahead on a new novel that I’ve been researching.

* * * * *

BEST NOVEL

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie (Orbit US / Orbit UK)

BEST NOVELLA

“Equoid” by Charles Stross (Tor.com, 09-2013)

BEST NOVELETTE

“The Lady Astronaut of Mars” by Mary Robinette Kowal (maryrobinettekowal.com /
Tor.com, 09-2013)

BEST SHORT STORY

“The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere” by John Chu (Tor.com, 02-2013)

BEST RELATED WORK

“We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative” by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY

“Time” by Randall Munroe (xkcd)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM

Gravity written by Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Esperanto Filmoj; Heyday Films;Warner Bros.)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

Game of Thrones “The Rains of Castamere” written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, directed by David Nutter (HBO Entertainment in association with Bighead, Littlehead; Television 360; Startling Television and Generator Productions)

BEST EDITOR, SHORT FORM

Ellen Datlow

BEST EDITOR, LONG FORM

Ginjer Buchanan

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

Julie Dillon

BEST SEMIPROZINE

Lightspeed Magazine edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton, and Stefan Rudnicki

BEST FANZINE

A Dribble of Ink edited by Aidan Moher

BEST FANCAST

SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester

BEST FAN WRITER

Kameron Hurley

BEST FAN ARTIST

Sarah Webb

Ginger Nuts of Horror has a new interview with me up on their website.  Give it a read and tell me what you think.  Check out the whole site too, because there’s some great stuff on it.

And here’s an old essay from Doug Winter that’s republished on DarkEcho.  It’s called “The Pathos of Genre,” and although it was written in the ’90s, it still resonates today.

John Gary recently broke down the latest employment numbers from the Writers Guild of America, and you can read his analysis here.  Hollywood hasn’t jumped back to its pre-recession/pre-strike levels, but the numbers are headed in a positive direction.

And Comixology is currently running a special deal on 750 Batman issues, in celebration of the Dark Knight’s 75th anniversary.  I snagged some of the greatest Batman stories ever told for a song, so grab yours while you can because this sale only lasts one week.

Earlier this month the winners of this year’s Shirley Jackson Awards were announced.  Congratulations to all the nominees.  (List taken from ShirleyJacksonAwards.org.)

NOVEL

Winner: American Elsewhere, Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit)

Finalists

• The Accursed, Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco)
• The Demonologist, Andrew Pyper (Orion-UK/ Simon & Schuster-US)
• The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo (William Morrow)
• Night Film, Marisha Pessl (Random House)
• Wild Fell, Michael Rowe (ChiZine Publications)

NOVELLA

Winner: Burning Girls, Veronica Schanoes (Tor.com)

Finalists:

• Children of No One, Nicole Cushing (DarkFuse)
• Helen’s Story, Rosanne Rabinowitz (PS Publishing)
• It Sustains, Mark Morris (Earthling Publications)
• “The Gateway,” Nina Allan (Stardust, PS Publishing)
• The Last Revelation of Gla’aki, Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing)
• Whom the Gods Would Destroy, Brian Hodge (DarkFuse)

NOVELETTE

Winner: Cry Murder! In a Small Voice, Greer Gilman (Small Beer Press)

Finalists:

• “A Little of the Night,” Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix 4, Mythic Delirium Books)
• “My Heart is Either Broken,” Megan Abbott (Dangerous Women, Tor Books)
• “Phosphorus,” Veronica Schanoes (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, Tor Books)
• “Raptors,” Conrad Williams (Subterranean Press Magazine, Winter 2013)

SHORT FICTION

Winner: “57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides,” Sam J. Miller (Nightmare Magazine, December 2013)

Finalists:

• “Furnace,” Livia Llewellyn (Grimscribe’s Puppets, Miskatonic River Press)
• “The Memory Book,” Maureen McHugh (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, Tor Books)
• “The Statue in the Garden,” Paul Park (Exotic Gothic 5, PS Publishing)
• “That Tiny Flutter of the Heart,” Robert Shearman (Psycho-Mania!, Constable & Robinson)
• “The Traditional,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed, May 2013)

SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION

Two Winners: Before and Afterlives, Christopher Barzak (Lethe Press) and North American Lake Monsters, Nathan Ballingrud (Small Beer Press)

Finalists:

• Everything You Need, Michael Marshall Smith (Earthling Publications)
• In Search of and Others, Will Ludwigsen (Lethe Press)
• The Story Until Now, Kit Reed (Wesleyan)

EDITED ANTHOLOGY

Winner: Grimscribe’s Puppets, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Miskatonic River Press)

Finalists:

• The Book of the Dead, edited by Jared Shurin (Jurassic London)
• End of the Road, Jonathan Oliver (Solaris)
• Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Tor Books)
• Where thy Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Steve Berman (Lethe Press)

Buzzfeed has a lengthy interview with several of Hollywood’s top screenwriters that’s worth a look:  How to Write An Awesome Movie.

Also worthy of your time is this Q&A with J. Michael Straczynski from last year’s Phoenix Comicon.  His Complete Book of Screenwriting was the first screenplay manual I ever read.  I still consult that book, which reads woefully out of date in matters of technology but remains timeless in terms of actual writing advice.  If you can track down a copy, snag it.

World Fantasy Award nominations are out — congratulations to everyone involved.  The winners will be revealed at the World Fantasy Convention in Washington, D.C. in November.  (List taken from WFC website.)  Additionally, lifetime achievement honors this year go to editor Ellen Datlow and novelist Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

Novel

• Richard Bowes, Dust Devil on a Quiet Street (Lethe Press)
• Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent (Tor Books)
• Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane (William Morrow/Headline)
• Sofia Samatar, A Stranger in Olondria (Small Beer Press)
• Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni (Harper/Blue Door)
• Gene Wolfe, The Land Across (Tor Books)

Novella

• Andy Duncan & Ellen Klages “Wakulla Springs” (Tor.com, 10/13)
• Caitlín R. Kiernan Black Helicopters (Subterranean Press)
• KJ Parker “The Sun and I” (Subterranean magazine, Summer 2013)
• Veronica Schanoes “Burning Girls” (Tor.com, 6/13)
• Catherynne M. Valente, Six-Gun Snow White (Subterranean Press)

Short Story

• Thomas Olde Heuvelt, “The Ink Readers of Doi Saket” (Tor.com, 4/13)
• Caitlín R. Kiernan, “The Prayer of Ninety Cats” (Subterranean magazine, Spring 2013)
• Yoon Ha Lee, “Effigy Nights” (Clarkesworld, 1/13)
• Sofia Samatar, “Selkie Stories Are for Losers” (Strange Horizons, 1/13)
• Rachel Swirsky, “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love” (Apex Magazine, 3/13)

Anthology

• Kate Bernheimer, ed., xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths (Penguin Books)
• Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds. Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy (Tor Books)
• Stephen Jones, ed. Flotsam Fantastique: The Souvenir Book of World Fantasy Convention 2013 (Smith & Jones/PS Publishing)
• George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, eds. Dangerous Women (Tor Books/Voyager UK)
• Jonathan Oliver, ed., End of the Road: An Anthology of Original Short Stories (Solaris Books)
• Jonathan Strahan, ed., Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy (Solaris Books)

Collection

• Nathan Ballingrud, North American Lake Monsters: Stories (Small Beer Press)
• Laird Barron, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories (Night Shade Books)
• Caitlín R. Kiernan, The Ape’s Wife and Other Stories (Subterranean Press)
• Reggie Oliver, Flowers of the Sea (Tartarus Press)
• Rachel Swirsky, How the World Became Quiet: Myths of the Past, Present, and Future  (Subterranean Press)

Artist

• Galen Dara
• Zelda Devon
• Julie Dillon
• John Picacio
• Charles Vess

Special Award—Professional

• John Joseph Adams, for magazine and anthology editing
• Ginjer Buchanan, for editing at Ace Books
• Irene Gallo, for art direction of Tor.com
• William K. Schafer, for Subterranean Press
• Jeff VanderMeer & Jeremy Zerfoss, for Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (Abrams Image)

Special Award—Non-professional

• Scott H. Andrews, for Beneath Ceaseless Skies
• Marc Aplin, for Fantasy-Faction
• Kate Baker, Neil Clarke & Sean Wallace, for Clarkesworld
• Leslie Howle, for Clarion West administration
• Jerad Walters, for Centipede Press