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VIDEO: Cory Doctorow on Writing

We are so excited for all of you to read Attack Surface, so we decided to offer a special treat—an inside look into Cory Doctorow’s writing habits and advice! Check out his video on writing here.

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Excited for the book? Pre-order Attack Surface here!

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Transcript of video:

On Writing with Cory Docotorow

Question: What is your favorite way to procrastinate?

Cory Doctorow: I think my favorite way to procrastinate is to write something else. I have written whole books by procrastinating about books. Little Brother was written while I was procrastinating about Makers.

What is your ideal time and place for writing?

CD: It’s funny, I have a writing space at home. I have an office full of books and tchotkes, that you know–I just had a writing friend over and he was like ‘Oh it’s the opening credit reel from that Ray Bradbury show where he shows you all of his junk.’ And I’m like: ‘Yeah, basically’. And I’ve got a 40 inch monitor and a great chair and a standing desk that comes up and down and all of the things! And yet, I have to say, I do the majority of my writing on the road. I always have.

I sold my first novel while I was doing a startup and then I went to work as the European director of an NGO. I was on the road 27 days a month, and I learned to write with my laptop folded all the way vertical and my fingers like this (gesture: hands bent back fully back palms out, fingers crooked in a typing motion) on the keyboard. And then between flights I would crouch down next to the toilets where the AC outlet was because Always Be Charging is the lesson of any writer.

So as it turns out, I write everywhere. In theory, I write at home, but that’s pretty aspirational.

What’s your advice for writing complicated and occasionally unlikeable characters, like Masha in Attack Surface?

You know they say that no one is the villain of their own story, but anyone who’s ever lain awake at night recriminating with themselves about some thing that they did that day or 10 years before knows, it’s actually pretty easy to be the villain of your own story. That compartmentalization, self doubt, and inability to be perfect is, I think, part of the human condition. And there is something very sympathetic, being in the head of someone who’s wrestling with their better nature and their worse and who’s rationalizing their way in and out of trouble.

Masha was a fun character to write because she knows when she’s rationalizing and she doesn’t kid herself about it. And because of that, she thinks she’s better than people who think they’re doing good–who talk themselves into thinking that they’re doing good even when they’re not. It made for really gnarly writing. It also I think it changed how I think about my own life. I mean, like everyone else, I am a flawed vessel, and being inside the head of someone who was so rigorous with and hard on herself made it a little harder for me to kid myself when I knew I was doing the wrong thing.

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Getting to Know Candice Fox, author of Redemption Point

With the paperback of Crimson Lake coming this January, and a kick-ass sequel, Redemption Point, coming in March, we thought it was the perfect time to get to know  #1 New York Times bestselling author Candice Fox a little better!

 

Writing is hard. Rejection can be harder. But for Candice Fox, one of her biggest inspirations was her first rejection letter:

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Writing is one thing. But how did Candice get into writing about grisly crimes? The inspiration comes from pretty close to home:

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Pick up Crimson Lake in paperback and pre-order Redemption Point here:

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Advice from a Tor Editor

One of the great things about social media is its ability to connect genre fans, or to connect authors and readers. It can also connect writers with editors, as Tor/Forge Senior Editor Melissa Ann Singer reminded us on Friday. Every once in a while, Melissa takes to Twitter to explain the reasons she rejected manuscripts recently. The reasons are all fairly general, but even a tiny glimpse behind-the-scenes of an editor’s thought process can be fascinating! So, we decided to collect Melissa’s tweets, and share them here for all the writers out there.

So there you are! Of course, as Melissa herself stated, these are all her own opinions, and may not reflect the opinions of other editors and/or agents. But we hope this peek behind the curtain is useful to all those aspiring writers out there!

August #TorChat lineup revealed!

In honor of the back-to-school season, this month’s chat is YA-themed, featuring authors Lisa Desrochers, Kendare Blake, and Kiki Hamilton, this Wednesday, August 17th, from 4 – 5 PM EST!

Tor Books (@torbooks) is thrilled to announce the theme and participants for August’s #Torchat, part of a monthly series of genre-themed, hour-long chats created by Tor Books and hosted on Twitter.

August is back-to-school season in most of the US, in preparation for Fall classes. That means that soon it will be time for students to put down their summer reading and pick up textbooks. In honor of their upcoming sacrifice to state curriculums, this month’s #TorChat is Young Adult themed, and features three guest authors. Lisa Desrochers (@LisaDez), a working mother with two daughters and a paranormal romance series about the fight between Heaven and Hell—and their delicious representatives—for teenage Frannie Cavanaugh’s soul; Kendare Blake (@KendareBlake), who writes about a boy whose job is to kill the dead, and the ghost girl who spares his life; and Kiki Hamilton (@kikihamilton), an avid reader and a debut author of historical fantasy, will talk about Young Adult fiction: why they write it, why you should read it (even if you’re not a teen), and what makes it so popular.

The chat will be loosely moderated by a rising star in the YA world, Tor editor Melissa Frain (@frain), and fans are invited to follow or join in on the chat using the Twitter hashtag #torchat.

About the Authors

Lisa Desrochers (@LisaDez) lives in central California with her husband and two very busy daughters. She has a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, and has a full time day job with her PT practice. She also has a weekend job as a lecturer on a variety of healthcare topics. With the publication of her first book, PERSONAL DEMONS, Lisa added a third job to her resume: author. Her second book, ORIGINAL SIN, published in July and tells the further adventures of Frannie Cavanaugh, her former-demon boyfriend Luc, and Gabe, the angel who’d like to save her soul (and steal her heart, if he can).

Kendare Blake (@KendareBlake) holds an M.A. in creative writing from Middlesex University in northern London. She lives and writes in Washington, brakes for animals—the largest of which was a deer, which sadly didn’t make it, and the smallest of which was a mouse, which did, but it took forever—and appreciates Greek mythology, rare red meat, and veganism. Her novel ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD is just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. It will be published on August 30th.

Kiki Hamilton (@kikihamilton) lives in Olympia, Washington. She is a member of the Class of 2k11, a group of debut middle grade and young adult authors who have banded together to promote their books and a general love of reading. Kiki’s debut novel is THE FAERIE RING, a historical fantasy set in Victorian London and the menacing otherworld of the Fey.

About #Torchat

#Torchat is a genre-themed, hour-long chat series created by Tor Books and hosted on Twitter. Guest authors join fans in lively, informative and entertaining discussions of all that’s hot in genre fiction, 140 characters at a time, from 4 – 5 PM EST on the third Wednesday of every month. Each #Torchat revolves around a different genre topic of interest, often of a timely nature, and strives to provide a new media opportunity for readers to connect with their favorite authors.

About Tor Books

Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, is a New York-based publisher of hardcover and softcover books. Founded in 1980, Tor annually publishes what is arguably the largest and most diverse line of science fiction and fantasy ever produced by a single English-language publisher.  In 2002, Tor launched Starscape, an imprint dedicated to publishing quality science fiction and fantasy for young readers, including books by critically acclaimed and award winning authors such as Cory Doctorow, Orson Scott Card, and David Lubar. Between an extensive hardcover and trade-softcover line, an Orb backlist program, and a stronghold in mass-market paperbacks, books from Tor have won every major award in the SF and fantasy fields, and has been named Best Publisher 24 years in a row in the Locus Poll, the largest consumer poll in SF.

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