There’s this great scene in J. R. R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit where Bilbo is exchanging riddles with Gollum.  It’s Gollum’s turn, and once again, he has delivered a long, rich, poetic monologue–and Bilbo is stumped.  Gollum comes to eat him, as is their bargain, and Bilbo starts asking for more time.  He is so frightened [...]

Many writers at one time or another adopt pseudonyms for a variety of reasons.  Many long running series are written by multiple authors using the same name to make it easy for readers to find them, and lend a sense of continuity to the work.  Other authors use different names to distinguish between different series [...]

In a recent Twitter chat at #scifichat, I was asked about how my former career as a costumer and puppet maker affects my writing.  I realized that making and wearing costumes can actually be a great psychological tool for authors.  In fact, I think many of us do it subconsciously already. Think about the opening [...]

Hi.  My name is Elaine.  And I’m a poet. That’s right.  I used to write poems–all the time.  They were like my first love, practically an obsession.  I’m finally over them now, but sometimes I still miss them:  that shock of inspiration, the desparate sussuration of pen on paper, the thrill of an image captured [...]