Writing: how to do it (well)

A massive subject of course, but here are a couple of recent posts on the ever-excellent DeepGenre blog that touched the spot. First up, Kate Elliott with an updated compilation of a series of pieces offering Advice for First-Time SFF Novelists. It's a splendid article, the sort of thing that folks like me have been telling people for years. Sole cavil: it's mis-named - this is advice for all writers, whether first-time or veterans. Give me a raw but flexible newcomer over an arrogant, stuck-in-his-ways veteran any day.

A few posts earlier, new Solaris signing David Louis Edelmann offers his take on Line Editing in 10 Easy Steps. In other words, ten very things to look for when revising your manuscript before you submit it. All very common sense, you might argue, to which I would counter that it just shows how little of that precious stuff there is knocking around. If everyone just did these, I suspect we could put several copy editors out to pasture and give more cash to our beautiful and deserving authors, which sounds like a most persuasive deal.