Dan Koboldt's Blog, page 5

This article on making pottery and ceramics is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the cultural, historical, or world-building aspects of fantasy with input from an expert. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted. The Expert: Lisa Harnish Lisa Harnish is a […]

The post Pottery and Ceramics for SFF Writers, Part 2 appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

This article on making pottery and ceramics is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the cultural, historical, or world-building aspects of fantasy with input from an expert. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted. The Expert: Lisa Harnish Lisa Harnish is a […]

The post Pottery and Ceramics for SFF Writers, Part 1 appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

This article on writing parasitic creatures is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series. Each week, we tackle one of the scientific or technological concepts pervasive in sci-fi (space travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc.) with input from an expert. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted. About the Expert Robinne […]

The post Parasitism in Sci-fi: It Gets Under Your Skin appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

So it’s been two days since the publication of Domesticating Dragons, though it feels like much longer. When I learned that my book would come out in early January 2021, I was relieved. I figured that people would be coming back to work after the holidays and the US presidential election — regardless of its […]

The post On Dragons and Friends appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

Seven years ago I started writing a book about dragons. These were not magical or mythical creatures, nor did the story take place on another world. This was science fiction: dragons created after rapid advances in DNA sequencing, genetic engineering, and synthetic biology. I imagined a world where we didn’t just create them, but modified […]

The post Book Release and the Great Dragon Egg Hunt appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

About five years ago I started a blog series discussing the scientific/technical/medical aspects of science fiction and cultural/historical/world-building aspects of fantasy with input from real-world experts. Since that time, the Science in Sci-fi / Fact in Fantasy series has collected guest posts from more than a hundred professional contributors who were willing to share their […]

The post Putting the Fact in Fantasy Sold to Penguin Random House appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

It’s a well-known fact that while lots of people fancy the idea of becoming a published author, very few of them actually achieve that goal. The most common failure stage is almost certainly the first one: most people don’t actually write a book. That’s evident from my personal experience and also well-established from the statistics […]

The post Querying Writers Should Know the Publishing Industry appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

It’s the fourth and final week of #WriterInMotion — a month-long effort to write/edit a 1,000 word story while sharing the process on my blog. This week I had the pleasure of working with two more critique partners. Logistics were more challenging this week, as I was out in the country for some end-of-summer-break, socially […]

The post Writer in Motion Week 4: More CP Revisions appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

I’m writing and editing a 1,000 word science fiction story this month as part of Writer in Motion. It’s been a lot of fun; you can see my first draft and second, self-edited draft in my previous posts. This week, we’re revising our stories based on feedback from two critique partners. I was delighted to […]

The post Writer in Motion Week 3: CP Revision Draft appeared first on Dan Koboldt.

I’m taking part in #WriterInMotion this month — writing and revising a 1,000-word story while documenting the process on this blog. Last week I shared the first draft of my sci-fi story (“The Watcher in the Vale”). It clocked it at about 1,050 words, so one of my goals in the first revision was to […]

The post Writer in Motion Week 2: My Story’s Second Draft appeared first on Dan Koboldt.