R. C. Beckett

R. C. Beckett  was given a collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazines as a teenager and read hundreds of the stories -- he was hooked and started writing fiction in 2013.   He loves to write hard science fiction, but can't help adding a bit of humor.  Publications:  "Exit Mars" and "Exit Earth" (available on Amazon).  "Exit Pluto", the third in the Exit series, should be published in late 2020. He lives in Golden Colorado and is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.  Walking his dog is key to his writing since that's when he imagines plots for his stories.  He also volunteers as a webmaster for non-profit companies including SpecFicWriters.

Hardware Requirements for Online Critique Groups

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Minimum equipment needed: Online critiquing is done over the Internet. Consequently, an Internet connection is required. The least expensive connection is a DSL (digital subscriber line) that is part of the wired telephone network (“land-line”). Video conferences with multiple people require a higher speed than commonly purchased. Try to obtain …

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Set Up an Online Critique Group

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Due to the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, in-person critique groups are canceling their face-to-face meetings. Our online critique group is here to help yours go online. We hope our knowledge will encourage other groups to continue to meet. Once you go video, you might not go back! Our Online Experience The …

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Suspension of Disbelief

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Any fiction book relies on suspension of disbelief by the reader. They forgo belief in some aspect of the real world to believe in the story-world. Science fiction and fantasy stretch belief to the limits requiring genre authors to exert great care to avoid “breaking the spell”. At some point …

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Point Of View

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Trends In a list of the twenty most popular science fictions books of 2019, 60% were written in third-person point-of-view (POV), 40% in 1st person and none in second person. Although the story in each novel is very inventive, the authors adhere to the rules of point-of-view, much like punctuation …

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Deep Third Person Point-Of-View

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What if you want to write a story with a personal, emotional and introspective point of view? You would have two basic choices: First person: The heat of the dragon’s breath warmed my face, increasing the pounding in my chest. Deep 3rd person: The heat of the dragon’s breath warmed …

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Word Processor for Novels

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The best word processor is the one that connects your brain directly to the page. Alas, that’s not something speculative fiction writers can purchase, yet. If you are writing a novel, use a tool appropriate to the job. Any word processor works well for the first scene, but what about: …

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Starting Points for Planning Your Novel and More

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Why plan a story before writing? Because planning tremendously decreases the time needed to edit the story later. The planning process and depth are different for every author. However, there are some good starting points: Don’t make the planning process painful Do give yourself down-time to let the subconscious mind …

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Sentence Variation

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Ever wonder how some authors create flowing prose? They do it with a variety of sentences having different beginnings, different constructions and different lengths. This does not come naturally to all authors, but the techniques can be learned. Begin by collecting data from your own writing — take a page …

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