Big Idea Category
The Big Idea: Courtney LeBlanc
Posted on April 5, 2023 2 Comments
While strong emotions like sadness or grief can be powerful motivators for writing, author Courtney LeBlanc was determined not to let the heaviness of her poems overwhelm her reader, and turned to a fellow poet for help. Come along in her Big Idea to see how she solved her problem, and structured Her Whole Bright Life. […]
The Big Idea: Ness Brown
Posted on April 4, 2023 1 Comment
If you’ve ever wondered if aliens are out there, author Ness Brown is right there with you. In their new novel, The Scourge Between Stars, aliens might be a lot closer than the characters think. Follow along in Brown’s Big Idea to see if we’re really alone in the universe. NESS BROWN: Astronomy is sometimes called […]
The Big Idea: Stark Holborn
Posted on March 31, 2023 2 Comments
Thinking about the potential change your choices carry can be paralyzing in the decision-making process. Such is the case in author Stark Holborn’s newest novel, Hel’s Eight, and in Stark’s own journey for writing it. Follow along in the Big Idea to see how overcoming this led Stark to the writing of this novel. STARK HOLBORN: […]
The Big Idea: Tiffani Angus & Val Nolan
Posted on March 30, 2023 3 Comments
Have you always wanted to give speculative fiction writing a go, but felt like you could use a hand, or two, or five? Authors Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan are here to lend you all the hands you might need with their new guidebook, Spec Fic For Newbies. TIFFANI ANGUS & VAL NOLAN: A Short […]
The Big Idea: J. L. Worrad
Posted on March 29, 2023 2 Comments
What is an urban legend without people to tell their tale, and spread fear into the hearts of others? Luckily, author J. L. Worrad is here with a new novel to keep the legend of his hometown monster alive. Read on to see how he utilizes this boogeyman in The Keep Within. J. L. WORRAD: Have […]
The Big Idea: Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Posted on March 28, 2023 3 Comments
Coming up with one main character can be hard enough, but author Lavanya Lakshminarayan came up with over twenty in her debut novel, The Ten Percent Thief. Read on to see how all these individual stories took form and shaped into one book. LAVANYA LAKSHMINARAYAN: I first met my arch-nemesis burnout when I worked in videogames. […]
The Big Idea: Leopoldo Gout
Posted on March 23, 2023 2 Comments
A beloved part of childhood celebrations has a darker past than most people realize — and for author Leopoldo Gout, this is only one secret that the past holds, which came to be part and parcel of how his novel Piñata came to be. LEOPOLDO GOUT: Piñatas can be seen as a symbol of hiding […]
The Big Idea: Blair Austin
Posted on March 21, 2023 3 Comments
Philip K. Dick once asked if androids dreamed of electric sheep; author Blair Austin wonders about the dreaming habits of another entity entirely in the Big Idea for his first novel, Dioramas. BLAIR AUSTIN: What if the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition (1906-11) fell asleep and began to dream? Since I was young, I’ve struggled with […]
The Big Idea: Jane Hennigan
Posted on March 16, 2023 5 Comments
In her novel Moths, author Jane Hennigan does a table flip on the world we know to reveal some things that are truths in any world we might happen to live in. JANE HENNIGAN: Why did you make the men suffer so much? Do you just hate men? Is that it? This is the sort […]
The Big Idea: Mia Tsai
Posted on March 14, 2023 4 Comments
Victories are dramatic, but victories don’t have to be the end of the story. In today’s Big Idea for her novel Bitter Medicine, author Mia Tsai looks beyond the usual climax of a tale to find another part of the story. MIA TSAI: There are a lot of hooks floating around in Bitter Medicine: xianxia-inspired […]
The Big Idea: Elle Marr
Posted on March 7, 2023 3 Comments
You think you know family, but maybe your family isn’t quite like the family in Elle Marr’s novel The Family Bones. And maybe that’s a good thing, but as Marr explains, this family here makes for interesting reading. ELLE MARR: Who among us has never returned from a family event, and wondered at their good […]
The Big Idea: J. Dianne Dotson
Posted on March 3, 2023 1 Comment
In The Shadow Galaxy: A Collection of Short Stories and Poetry, author J. Dianne Dotson explores spanning multiple genres and styles within a small package. J. DIANNE DOTSON: Back in the 1980s, I moved to a place called Gray. Its name essentially summed up my initial ambivalence for it, until I fell in love with […]
The Big Idea: Karen Katchur
Posted on March 2, 2023
Most people say that humor is subjective, but for author Karen Katchur, it was a craft that needed to be studied. Come along in her Big Idea to see how she studied comedy to write her newest novel, The Greedy Three. KAREN KATCHUR: When I was a kid in the late 70s, we played a lot […]
The Big Idea: Michael Berry
Posted on March 1, 2023 3 Comments
What is described by translator Michael Berry as a sci-fi dystopian novel may actually be somewhat of a familiar tale to you. Come along in his Big Idea to see how Hospital, by Han Song, ended up being a perfect representation of his own life. MICHAEL BERRY: During a recent podcast interview about Hospital, the host […]
The Big Idea: J.A. Tyler
Posted on February 28, 2023 2 Comments
Sometimes, when you start writing a novel, the book is about one thing. As the writing and editing process goes on, however, the book will reveal itself as being about, if not something else entirely, at least, something more. What was that “more” for J.A. Tyler in his novel Only and Ever This? Come find […]
The Big Idea: Susan McDonough-Wachtman
Posted on February 23, 2023 7 Comments
They say good things come to those who wait. They also, however, say that the waiting is the hardest part. In both cases, Susan McDonough-Wachtman has reason to understand each aphorism, and in this Big Idea for the aptly-named Snail’s Pace, she explains why. SUSAN McDONOUGH-WACHTMAN: I started writing Snail’s Pace in 1984. 1984! I […]
The Big Idea: Matt Ruff
Posted on February 21, 2023 12 Comments
New York Times bestselling author Matt Ruff is back with his first ever sequel, The Destroyer of Worlds. Follow along in his Big Idea as he tells what led him to write a continuation of Lovecraft Country. MATT RUFF: This novel is a departure for me. Over the course of my career, I’ve written in […]
The Big Idea: Jane Yolen
Posted on February 15, 2023 5 Comments
This Big Idea, for Jane Yolen’s new book The Scarlet Circus, tangentially involves me! In, I must admit, pretty flattering way. JANE YOLEN: I have loved John Scalzi, his work, and his Big Idea column for many years. I even wrote a bunch of stuff for him along the way. But in the manner of fantasy […]
The Big Idea: Paz Pardo
Posted on February 14, 2023 2 Comments
Writer Robert Benchley once noted that you can do anything, as long as it’s not the thing you’re supposed to be doing. Paz Pardo knows a little bit about that – in fact, it’s one reason why her colorful new novel The Shamshine Blind is now out in the world. PAZ PARDO: What if emotions […]
The Big Idea: Bruce Schneier
Posted on February 7, 2023 6 Comments
The world has systems. Systems have rules. Or are they more like guidelines? In today’s Big Idea for A Hacker’s Mind, security expert Bruce Schneier takes a look at systems, how they are vulnerable, and what that fact means for all of us. BRUCE SCHNEIER: Hacking isn’t limited to computer systems, or even technology. Any […]
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