John Scalzi
John Scalzi
John Michael Scalzi IIis an American science fiction author, online writer, and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his Old Man's War series, three novels of which have been nominated for the Hugo Award, and for his blog Whatever, at which he has written frequently on a number of topics since 1998. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2008 based predominantly on that blog, which he...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth10 May 1969
CountryUnited States of America
dictates either hit mark novel schedule serious until work
When I'm writing a novel or doing other serious writing work, I do it on a schedule that dictates writing either 2,000 words a day or writing until noon. After I hit whichever mark comes first, then I can give my attention to everything else I have to do.
amount best engage free good noticed people step takes time work worth
Ultimately, the first, best step in getting your work noticed is to write good work. If people don't engage in your writing, no amount of serialization or free downloads is going to matter. You have to write something worth reading, and often it takes time to get at that level.
car jigsaw turned
When I was 10, I was hit by a car, which turned my right tibia into a jigsaw puzzle.
account market trend
What we need to do, as writers, is find out where our market is and adapt to it. I'm not saying that you follow every trend slavishly, but what you see is that, if there is a sea-change in the way that things are being done, then you account for it.
owned privately public utility
Reddit is not a public utility or a public square; it's a privately owned space on the Internet.
basically coin decided fiction flipped novel people science time toss
I tell people the first time I decided to write a novel I was in my mid-20s, and it was, 'Well, it's time to see if I can do this.' I basically flipped a coin to see if I was going to write science fiction or if I was going to do a crime novel. The coin toss went to science fiction.
craft denigrate fairly mind terms
I think that what I do, in terms of how I craft my words rhetorically, is fairly simple stuff. I don't mean that to denigrate myself. I mean that in the sense of, when I write, the person that I keep in mind is my mother-in-law.
candles disappoint formula imagine inevitably lighting magic morning next people repeat saying
People imagine that there are rituals, like lighting candles or sacrificing chickens. They really just want to know what the magic formula is for writing. I inevitably disappoint them by saying you just put your butt in the chair, and you write 500 words a day, and then you get up and repeat it the next morning.
love
I would say I'm a medium-sized 'Star Trek' fan. I love the universe that it's created.
bones books eight finally funny meant point took
It took me eight books to finally be at a point in my career where I could come out with a book and say, 'This is meant to be a funny book,' and we didn't have to make any bones about it.
bit fiction movies partly science shows televised tension writers
There's always been a little bit of tension between the writers of science fiction literature and then science-fiction televised shows or movies, partly because they have a different dynamic.
fun happening novels particular
The way that I write novels in particular is I don't usually outline; I just write. Part of the fun is discovering what's happening in the story as I'm going along.
entertainment fact form larger movies palette people survived surviving
People start panicking because they think it's the end of everything. But the fact is, you know, books survived movies; books survived TV. Books are surviving manga and anime. Books will always be there in one form or another. You just have a larger palette of entertainment options.
people
People are worried about their bodies. They're worried about disease. They're worried about how they are able to get out and participate in the world.