Two Demotivational Pieces by Cliff Burns

Tired of bubbly encouragement and endless motivational talks on writing? Try these demotivational pieces by author Cliff Burns (who is not one to suffer fools gladly).

Cliff Burns' cautionary advice to young, developing writers

and

Cliff Burns on the perils of semi-autobiographical fiction

Cliff Burns has been a professional author for over thirty years. He has eleven books and many published short stories to his credit, including numerous anthology appearances. He lives with his wife, artist and educator Sherron Burns, in western Canada. Cliff's blog, Beautiful Desolation is often a provocative read....

James Alan Gardner on Writing

I greatly admire the writing of Canadian SF author, James Alan Gardner. One of my favorites remains Expendable, the first novel in the League of Peoples series, which is sort of a Star-Trek-like novel written from the point of view of the guys in the red shirts who know that they are, well, expendable. Commitment Hour, the second novel in the series, is one of the most interesting SF novels about gender. So I was pleased to have a colleague point out that Gardner has an online seminar on writing available at http://www.jamesalangardner.com/prose/prose.htm. The Preamble alone is useful for its advice on taking writing advice.

He also has "The Skill List Project" which "lists all of the skills that are actually involved in being a professional SF writer, plus advice on improving those skills" at http://www.jamesalangardner.com/ (scroll down the page to the list links).

Karl Johanson on The Future

From Karl Johanson's presentation at Tsukino Con (Victoria, Feb 17, 2017) "What's Going to Happen in the Future" is of possible interest to our SF fiction writers, and to anyone else who plans to live there. Karl Johanson is the editor of Neo-Opsis Magazine

Part 1: The Decline of Future Shock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxlAts6QAik

Part 2: The Great Fizzle Before the Singularity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rXUZv2kEN8

Part 3: A Problem with Neural Implants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOwLrs0OLqg

Part 4: Can We Stop Genetically Modified Organisms?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfLXF61h7BA