Marshall Ryan Maresca Profile picture
Fantasy Author & Podcaster | Co-host of 3x Hugo Finalist @worldbuildcast | Maradaine Saga | Velocity of Revolution | https://t.co/DGzgtK4fTy
Jan 15, 2023 26 tweets 4 min read
I’ve been thinking about this thread all day, and what gnawed at me was, “What does success as an author even look like? What does it take to be a ‘working novelist’? What does that even mean?”

So I dug into some data to get an idea, and used my debut year— 2015— as a sample. For some methodology: I used the 2015 Authors from the Debut Author Challenge at The Qwillery (), for my base of SFF Authors who were traditionally published by someone with enough clout to get listed by the Qwillery.

That gave me 88 Authors.qwillery.blogspot.com
Mar 23, 2021 14 tweets 3 min read
So, you might had a relationship blow up on you, or be the one to blow up your own relationship, but apparently my wife's grandfather should be crowned the reigning champion of Relationship Self-Destruction.

Here's the story. My wife's grandmother was Princesa Maya Nicte-Ha, who, from the 1930s to the 1960s performed Mayan poetry and dance, and toured the US extensively with her performances, and was a promoter of Mexican culture.
Feb 20, 2021 11 tweets 5 min read
In the wake of recent disaster, I would love to tell you about TEXAS SFF AUTHORS who probably (or definitely) went through some stuff this past week and who you should support by buying some books. Let's go: If you still haven't read @marthawells1's Murderbot books, you need to get on it. And if you have, there are SO MANY MORE series from her that deserve your attention.
Jul 27, 2020 7 tweets 2 min read
This is probably too complex for Twitter, but I've got a twelve-point structure that I put together to develop my outlines. They are:

1. Establishment
2. Incitement
3. Challenge
4. Altercation
5. Payback
6. Regrouping
7. Collapse
8. Retreat
9. Recovery 10. Investment
11. Confrontation
12. Resolution

I could expand in details what each of those sections mean and what they need to accomplish, story-wise, but as it is STRUCTURE and not formula, that should give a rough idea of how it works.
Mar 3, 2020 15 tweets 5 min read
So, I've been mulling on this whole thing, and one of aspect that I've thinking about is the outright HOSTILITY that comes if one suggests that, say, LOTR and other Big Name Classics of Fantasy just MIGHT NOT be good Gateway Fantasy. I have LITERALLY LOST COUNT of the number of times I've suggested that JUST MAYBE The Lord Of The Rings is NOT a great gateway series for a fantasy reader, ESPECIALLY a pre-teen or teen reader, and had someone just LOSE THEIR SHIT on me for it.
Jul 10, 2018 1054 tweets >60 min read
I keep thinking back to a discussion a few months on reddit about THE BELGARIAD. Several comments were made about it being cliche and pedestrian, and someone said, “Yeah, it’s a fine story, but it’s never going to be a classic.” And all I could think to respond was, “It’s over thirty years later and we’re still talking about it. How is that NOT ‘a classic’?
Apr 24, 2018 6 tweets 2 min read
All this. Plus you’re often seeing other writers post word counts when they’re on a sprint, and are all “I wrote 9k today” (and that’s awesome when you can do it!), but then you get the idea in your head that that’s how professionals normally do it. And some do! Some writers can write, like 8-10k a day and knock out a full novel draft in two weeks flat! That’s the process that works for them. Don’t mistake that for THE PROCESS.