Student Film: Omeleto

The Fast Friday Interviews: Robyn Bennis

Robyn Bennis

Tell me about yourself, Robyn.

I grew up in Florida, where I was co-raised by my grandparents and a biker gang. No, really. Buy me a drink, prove you’re not wearing a wire, and I can tell you some great stories. I moved to Boston for my first biotech job, where I stayed with gay furries for a year. I then moved to San Diego and worked down the street from Mitt Romney. From there, I went to the San Francisco Bay Area, where I learned more than I ever wanted to know about venture capital—which, for the record, is an infinitely weirder and more absurd world than that of biker gangs or furries.

Tell me about your current Book:

When a vast army conducts a surprise attack, a nation’s first female airship captain must bring her unwieldy ship under control and gain the respect of her yet more unwieldy crew, or else they’re all totally boned.

Think Stargate SG-1 on an airship. Or Red Dwarf on an airship. Oh, or Firefly on an airship! Or Stargate meets Red Dwarf meets Firefly meets Battlestar Galactica on an airship! Ahem. Sorry, someone gave me an Amazon gift card recently and I’ve been using it to rewatch my favorite shows.

In all sincerity, if you like witty dialogue, hard fantasy, military fiction, and fart jokes, you’re going to love The Guns Above. Also, if you don’t read it, I’ll send roving bands of bikers, furries, and/or venture capitalists out to find you.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m working on the sequel to The Guns Above, to be released next spring. Once that’s on its way to print, I’ll be writing a supernatural fantasy about a woman who speaks to the devil. It’s semi-autobiographical.

Where is your favorite place to be when you write?

Anyplace that has good coffee and tables that don’t wobble. I therefore write mostly in coffee shops, but I won’t kick a donut shop out of bed.

What is your favorite lesson you have learned about the business of writing?

My favorite lesson? That there’s no right way to conduct the business side of it. There are wrong ways, certainly, but there’s no single right way. I’ve seen writers successfully build a following via social media, events, reviews, blogging, and even word of mouth. It’s not about finding the right way, it’s about finding your right way.

What is your favorite Website?

Based on the frequency with which I access it, that would have to be www.sadtrombone.com. It’s the perfect link for any occasion that involves epic fail. And let’s face it, epic fail is on the rise these days.

Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Guns-Above-Signal-Airship/dp/0765388766/
Blog: http://www.robynbennis.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robynbenniswriteringpun/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/according2robyn
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26123536-the-guns-above

Art that Inspires

Voyager by Luis Lara Osorio

Quotes of the Week

Sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can come together.
—Marilyn Monroe

The time to begin writing a story is when you have finished it to your satisfaction.
—Mark Twain

The best stories don’t come from good vs. bad but from good vs. good.
—Leo Tolstoy

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.
—Albert Einstein

Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.
—Isabell Allende

Let the readers do some of the work themselves.
—Fyodor Dostoevsky

If you’re a writer, you sit down and damn well decide to have an idea. That’s the way to get an idea.
—Andy Rooney

If you don’t turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else’s story.
—Terry Pratchett

Tuesday Tips: Socialize

One thing that has helped me almost more than anything else is hanging out with other writers.

Here is a simple list of the various ways:

• Take a class about writing.
• Join a writers critique group.
• Use meetup.com and find groups of working writers.
• Meet aspiring writers.
• Drink lots of coffee.
• Do NANOWRIMO meetups.
• Go to lit conferences.
• Join FB groups.

I attend one group of writers that meets monthly. They call themselves a group of drinkers with a writing problem. They just meet and eat and drink and talk about writing. It's fun and social and not only do I enjoy the interaction and learn something now and then, I can study all kinds of people.

Another group I know talks exclusively about screenplays. Another is all about editing. Another is dedicated to the genres I love.

I get energized by interacting and talking with other authors. Some of them are introverts and it may be the only outside human interaction they ever get!

All work and no play makes Marty a dull boy.

Get out there and talk to other writers about the craft and the business of writing. It will make you a better writer.

--It will also make you a happier person.

Reading: To Fire Called

Last week I read To Fire Called by Nathan Lowell.

I love these characters and this series.

Here is the description from Amazon:

A dead ship returns to the Deep Dark with a live crew.

Captain Ishmael Wang finally gets the Chernyakova out of the yard and embarks on a voyage into the Toe-Holds where the Confederated Planets Joint Committee on Trade has no authority. Where the law is whatever you say it is as long as you can enforce it.

Where he learns that some will do anything to hide their secrets and everybody has a secret.

--This is a great series. I will keep buying them as long as he writes him.

Need more naked time!