Recent content by Mad Swede

Coupled to this is the problem of characterisation. One of the issues with a self-insert character heavily based on the author is that the characterisation lacks depth. Because the writer knows so much about the character a lot of the background and details about the character get forgotten...

As authors we often swap tips on how to avoid being scammed. But how often do we give a thought to the reality of what it's like to work in one of the scams? Like many authors, I’m bombarded by scam fan mail. I wasn’t prepared for what would happen when I wrote back

A story of exactly one hundred words is what writers in the UK call a drabble. The first one I read was back in the 1980s, and if I remember right there are three published collections of these, including stories by Terry Pratchett, Brian Aldiss and Gene Wolff. There's even a literary magazine...

This is why I have a random text file, for all those ideas and thoughts that turn up but which don't fit into the story I'm currently working on. The key to completing a story is self-discipline. Write those random thoughts down and then get back to your story.

You mean you'd rather not admit to being a thief. Yes, well, the idea that stealing a millionaire's car or something is OK is in fact what is called illegalism and individual reclamation and these are Anarchist concepts...

No it does not. No reputable publisher ever tries to make the author sign over copyright. What the author sells is the right to publish their book. The length of time for this grant varies between countries, and here in Sweden it's nornally seven years after which the publishing rights revert...

I think, lightruin, that you need to read up on what copyright is. Put very simply, copyright protects an artist who creates an original work. Note that the work must be original and it must exist in some form (be that on paper or stored electronically). It's not enough to have an idea or...

Tolkien himself explained why, but I can't remember the reference. I'll have to look it up.

This is probably a discussion best moved to Chit Chat... :) But, the idea that property is theft and therefore that it is OK to take other peoples property is not Communist or even Marxist. It is Anarchist, and has its basis in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's various works on the subject. What...

Not really. Stealing books shows a lack of respect for the author and their personal property. That's especially so when you're talking about books published independently. Saying it's OK to steal even when you're able to buy the book at a store or borrow the book from a library just makes you...

And I agree with A. E. Lowan and Prince of Spires. The fact that you haven't seen many indie books in the largest book piracy repositories does not make theft any more acceptable casval. The reason many books cost $15 is because the publishers have to cover their costs. Most books, especially...

Pittsburg, Missouri. Hickory County, right?

What's being missed in some of the comments here, and what John Hartness didn't say, is that for most authors all these events are usually done in their own private time. As an author with a publishing contract I don't get paid for the time I spend doing book signings or attending events like...

My publishers rarely do events, mostly because we don't have that many in the Nordic countries. What my publishers do more often is book signings, but even then we don't do that many. I've only got two this autumn.

Trust me, it is in this case. To take Swedish and the other Nordic languages as an example, proper nouns and proper names are sometimes (but only sometimes) capitalised...