The interactive fiction community is a wonderful, welcoming space. It is common practice to share a book (aka a game) with other people before officially publishing it. Those first readers spot all manner of errors and are extremely generous and helpful. But with THE FLOATING CITY, I needed a Sensitivity Reader to check I wasn’tContinue reading “Editing a ChoiceScript Game”
Category Archives: Writing Ranting
The income of the full-time author
Many years ago, I learned that the average full-time writer in Australia earns $12,000 per year (that is, considerably less than minimum wage). Here’s what I earned over the last three years: $20,000. -$10,000. $5000. Soooo…. this year was better than last year. Yay? The main reason I lost so much money last financial yearContinue reading “The income of the full-time author”
Guest Post: What doesn’t kill me. . .
Hello and welcome to Karen J Carlisle! Karen J Carlisle is a writer and illustrator of steampunk, Victorian mysteries and fantasy. She was short-listed in Australian Literature Review’s 2013 Murder/Mystery Short Story Competition. Her first novella, Doctor Jack & Other Tales, was published in 2015 and her short stories have featured in the 2016 AdelaideContinue reading “Guest Post: What doesn’t kill me. . .”
NaNo Oh No!
Astute viewers may have observed a certain lack of blog posts lately… a dearth of content that started just before November and is now ending just after November. Not a coincidence. November (and sometimes July) is National Novel Writing Month, when thousands of writers around the world attempt to write the first 50,000 words ofContinue reading “NaNo Oh No!”
My Six Selves (on facebook)
And I’m on twitter, too 😛
Monsters
Spoilers for The Shape of Water. (And highly unrelated pictures, because I’m hazy on copyright law for movie stills.) Last night, I saw The Shape of Water, which recently won an Oscar and (more importantly in my world) has been talked up by The Mary Sue. I walked into the movie saying to Chris, “I have noContinue reading “Monsters”
A little piracy
Last weekend I ran a stall at CanCon for three days. It’s Canberra’s biggest board game gathering, and this was the 40th year. I wore corsets! It was so exciting! And there was a T-Rex. I’ve already booked the exact same stall location for January 2019. I also wore my pretty pretty princess outfit:Continue reading “A little piracy”
My 2017: No wonder I need a lie down
What an epic year. I spent over 15 years of my life writing novels that nobody would touch, and now that it’s started to rain it’s pouring (which is a wonderful thing). I spent vast amounts of time on the Tin Man Games “Choices That Matter” app (Google Play and iOS). It’s a story hub forContinue reading “My 2017: No wonder I need a lie down”
Sad, Bad, Mad: Cat Person
The New York Times published a short story, “Cat Person” and people have gone a bit nuts over it. Including me. Minor things first: *Trigger warning: This article might bring up traumatic memories for some people. *Cats are awesome and cat people are awesome. Cats are not the point of the story. (But some ofContinue reading “Sad, Bad, Mad: Cat Person”
Murder in the Mail
I wrote a guest post here about how I fell in love with steampunk. And it’s part of a series by a bunch of steampunky types. I’m working on a new story called “Murder in the Mail: A Bloody Birthday” which will be released by Publisher Obscura, Odyssey’s imprint for “beautiful and unusual novelty andContinue reading “Murder in the Mail”
What I earned this year
Full-time writers in Australia have an average income of around $12,000 (I know, yikes). In Canberra, which has a lot of good public service jobs, the average income is around $52,000. I just did my taxes, and worked out that I earned just under $20,000 last financial year while working full-time. 100% of that cameContinue reading “What I earned this year”
Procrastination Technique #452: Reviews
I’ve written about reviews before, and I’m always fascinated, whether the review is positive or. . . not so much. The Tin Man Games app “Choices: And The Sun Went Out” (including the second story, my steampunk fantasy, “Choices: And Their Souls Were Eaten”) has just under a hundred reviews (mostly just stars) on itunesContinue reading “Procrastination Technique #452: Reviews”
Conflux 2016
Conflux is Canberra’s speculative fiction conference. It happens every year on the October long weekend (even when that means starting in September, like in 2016 and 2017). Each year features guests of honour from around Australia and the world; panels on a variety of topics (including deliciously blatant fanfests); workshops; book launches; pitching sessions; aContinue reading “Conflux 2016”
Dancing, Duelling, Delicious: The official book launch for HEART OF BRASS
You know what’s cool? Nurofen tablets are sugar coated. * HEART OF BRASS had her official Book Launch yesterday as part of the inaugural Canberra Writers Festival, an absolutely huge event. I was written about (with a cover image) in Canberra Weekly magazine (96,000 readers!) and in the Canberra Times, as well as various otherContinue reading “Dancing, Duelling, Delicious: The official book launch for HEART OF BRASS”
Deadlines
I love deadlines. That’s not sarcasm. The writing life consists largely of sitting alone in a room (or worse, sitting in the same room as young kids who I desperately hope are sufficiently distracted by the blaring TV) scowling at a screen as I invent worlds and people that absolutely no-one cares about except myself. Deadlines giveContinue reading “Deadlines”
Supanova Sydney
Oh, wow. All the wows. It got me when I found out Nathan Fillion would be there. It got me when I found out Dr Karl would be there. It got me when I saw a pack of medieval cosplayers, with enormous weapons, at Sydney Central. It got me when I asked at Central howContinue reading “Supanova Sydney”
Tally Ho! etc
TJ’s year of daily photos is done and dusted, and I have a real live book coming out in 2016. So what happens to the blog now? I expect to blunder about a bit this year as I find my blogerly voice once more. I know a few things: Reading over my book reviews fromContinue reading “Tally Ho! etc”
Writing
This was taken as I edited a novel a few moments ago. Technically both kids have been asleep at the same time for over an hour, so – yay. Bloggy blog and back to the novel.
Ch-ch-ch-changes
I’ve finally bitten the bullet and discarded Louise Curtis as my primary writing name. I’ll now use Felicity Banks – since that is, in fact, my name. Also, it’s easier to spell. So my blog is now felicitybanks.wordpress.com. My twitter is @FBanksBooks Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/FelicityBanksBooks
Pitch Me A Pitch
Conflux is Canberra’s annual speculative fiction conference. I’m there most years, one way or another – wandering around in garb (see pic at right), going to sessions, leading sessions (!), and of course pitching. Pitching is when writers get five or ten minutes one-on-one with a publisher or agent to try to convince them toContinue reading “Pitch Me A Pitch”