December 1, 2004 – Todd McCaffrey

Letter from Nhorad

By | December 1, 2004 | Comments 0 Comment

Dear Todd

Hi, it’s me “again”. I think I am going to give up on this story I was writing. In fact, I might just give up on the whole “story writing” career thing all together. I have been having some problems in High School, and I don’t really have the time (or brainpower)at the end of the day to do any sort of “thinking”. Don’t take this letter personally or anything, and don’t think I did’nt appreciate your help, it was very helpful indeed. *sigh* Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still read you and your mom’s books, and I will still drop you some letters every now and then, but, I don’t think any of them will be about any sort of “book”, I’ll be writing in the future. I have been writing books for about four of five years now. But, none of them ever finished, and they were not of “good quality”. I hope I’m not clogging up your “mail box”, but, I did want to inform you of my decison. After all, without you, I would have never made it this far. I just can’t seem to get the book to !
“seem” right. (if you know what I mean) Well, I guess that wraps up this letter, thanks for all the help. (May your soul soar upon dragon wings)

Sincerly

Nhorad

Hi Nhorad!

Well, I’m sorry to hear that. But I wouldn’t completely give up, if I were you. You might just need a break for a bit.

If you’re still thinking about concepts, you might consider writing in different formats. A lot of people are writing comics. That’s very different from novel writing and very challenging. Each panel represents a frozen part of time and there’s only so much dialog you can put in each one. If you’re not good at drawing, you might find someone who is. Also, if that doesn’t work for you, you might consider getting some 3×5 index cards and just writing a scene heading for each scene. That’ll help plotting and give you stuff to work with. Also, don’t forget fan fiction. It’s a nice way to get a better feel for the “rules” of writing and many a published author started out writing fan fiction.

From what you’ve said, however, it sounds to me a lot like you’re letting your “editor” take over while you’re in the creative phase. You’ll want to avoid that, as it truly makes writing a painful process and there’s no way you can ever please your perfectionist “editor.” Allow yourself to make mistakes!

Cheers,
Todd

Letter from Dave

By | December 1, 2004 | Comments 0 Comment

Todd,

I don’t subscribe to Locus Magazine and very much wanted to read the whole Anne McCaffrey interview and see all the photos in the November issue (preview here: http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Issues/11McCaffrey.html). I contacted Locus Magazine to find out where it was available in my area. It is not available in North Carolina (and probably many other states and countries). However, they do sell individual issues for a very reasonably price. Anyone may purchase this issue for $7.95 by sending a check to Locus, PO Box 13305, Oakland CA 94661; or via credit card submitted by mail, e-mail, or phone at (510) 339-9198. (Or, Subscribe.) I phoned in my order Monday, so it should be to me soon!

Dave

Hi Dave!

Yes, the interview was a lot of fun. We did it at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. I hope you like the result!

Cheers,
Todd

Letter from Justine

By | December 1, 2004 | Comments 0 Comment

Dear Mr. McCaffery,

I am doing a project at school about my preferred occupation. Because I want to be a novelist when I get older I was wondering if you would answer a few interview questions for me if I sent them to you. I’m sure it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes of your time.

Thank you very much.

Justine

Hi Justine!

Sure, send ’em on! Do you mind if I share some of the questions and my answers in my FAQ?

Cheers,
Todd

Loscon31

By Todd | December 1, 2004 | Comments 0 Comment

I was at Loscon31, the local yearly Los Angeles s-f convention, this last weekened (November 26-28, 20040. Loscon has moved from its old Burbank location to the marvelously well-equippped LAX Marriott.

I hear the attendance was just over 1200 which is a nice size — not too little, not too large.

Ed Green and the con comittee put together an excellent convention and things ran smoothly.

I read chapter one of Dragonsblood to a small, intimate group.

To a larger group, I helped read “To the Stars,” this time with Karen Black, the Golden-Globe Award winner & Oscar nominated Actress, filling in the female roles that Mum had had at Dragon*con. Ms. Black handled the roles differently and brilliantly. Tadao Tomomatsu, the ever-amazing, filled the role of Bucko Hale, Jim Meskimen (the Punisher, Lost, Apollo 13) read Jocelyn, while Bob Caso (90210, The Naked Truth), and R. F. Daley (Cats, City of Angels), reprised their roles. It was a lot a fun, particularly to see how Tadao, Ms. Black, and Mr. Meskimen played their respective parts.

Probably the largest panel, surprisingly, was a panel Sunday at 1.00 p.m., entitled “The Ten best Scientific/Technological advances in the next 10 years & why.” The room was packed, and more chairs were brought in. Aside from myself, the other three panelists were all JPL/NASA types but the audience was also (as usual at s-f conventions) very educated and quite willing to participate. I think the panel could have gone on for another hour without getting boring.

At the dead dog party, I had a chance to talk with Ed Green, the chairman of Loscon31. Ed and I were on a panel together at Loscon30 dealing with disasters and we’re hoping to get together on a panel again, maybe at the next Loscon.