[Core concepts: Human beings all have souls. Souls are software objects. Software is not immortal.] Charles Stross More Quotes by Charles Stross More Quotes From Charles Stross Speech recognition is utterly crap for writing fiction. If you try reading a novel aloud you'll soon figure out why - written prose style is utterly unlike the spoken word. Charles Stross style reading writing If I write too much of anything for too long, I burn out on it. So it helps to vary my output from year to year. Charles Stross writing long years I don't do flash fiction. Charles Stross flash fiction Biggest influence: my mother. Charles Stross influence mother What I've learned during my life is that the near future is 90% identical to the present - if you buy a new car today, it'll probably still be on the road in 2022. Charles Stross car life-is today I reckon I can count on 30 more writing years, averaging a book a year (I can't keep up the 2-2.5 a year I used to do these days). And these days I've gotten round to wondering, for each new idea, "do I want to be remembered for this?" before I get to the point of spending a year on it. Charles Stross writing book ideas I wanted an agent who would actually sell stuff. After two British agents failed comprehensively, I was reading Locus (the SF field's trade journal) and noticed a press release about an experienced editor leaving her job to join an agent in setting up a new agency. And I went "aha!" - because what you need is an agent who knows the industry but who doesn't have a huge list of famous clients whose needs will inevitably be put ahead of you. So I emailed her, and ... well, 11 years later I am the client listed at the top of her masthead! Charles Stross editors reading jobs If I was a Marxist I'd call it the crisis of capitalism. Even though I'm not a Marxist, that seems like a not unreasonable term for the widening gap between the rich and poor that we're seeing. Charles Stross gaps rich poor I have no policy, for or against: only a personal style. Which is to say, I use them when I think it's appropriate to; for example, an internal monologue by a locquacious and verbose narrator is more likely to be larded with adverbs than an exchange of instant messages between cops at a crime scene. Charles Stross narrators style thinking Publishing is the final step in making a book; if I was afraid to publish one, I wouldn't write it in the first place. Charles Stross finals writing book The problem with ebook filesharing is simply one of scale. But I think the "piracy" problem is massively over-rated. Charles Stross scales problem thinking The dirty little secret of publishing is that, all along, each book sold has had an average of 5 readers. That's an 80% "piracy" rate if you insist on looking at it in those terms. Charles Stross average book dirty Writing your own story around the same ideas is not plagiarism; at worst, it's being unoriginal. Charles Stross stories writing ideas Book depository is nothing new; there've been outlets selling books internationally via mail order for many decades - the only change is that it's now easier to find and use such services. Charles Stross use order book The trouble is, if you go too far towards being polite, the label that applies is "doormat". Charles Stross doormat labels trouble I don't want to permanently damage myself! On the other hand, a couple of days off the keyboard tends to make things somewhat better. Charles Stross days-off couple hands If I wanted to be in movies, I'd have gone into scriptwriting: the fact that I write novels should be a big hint about what I prefer to do! Charles Stross hints gone writing While writing a novel I almost completely stop reading books in the same sub-genre for the duration. Charles Stross reading writing book I don't think most of my opinions, political or social, are so far outside of the mainstream that they'd cause massive outrage on a scale liable to provoke death threats or referrals to prosecutors for outraging public decency, so why worry? Charles Stross political worry thinking In general, a little controversy isn't harmful: if anything, it gets people interested. Charles Stross controversy littles people
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