Cliff Pickover's Tips for Writers

Click here for Cliff Pickover's 14 Rules for Creating an Instant Bestselling Novel!

Other Useful Information

Cliff Pickover's 14 Rules for Creating a Bestselling Novel
"How to Write" by Rob Sawyer.
Great Beginnings, Point of View, Constructing Characters, Show: Don't Tell, Description, Speaking of Dialogue, Research, Heinlein's Rules, Wordprocessing Tricks, Cover Letters and SASEs, Self-Promotion, Professionalism
54 Tips For Writers, From Writers
Marelisa writes: " Then comes the wait to discover how your writing will be received. Chilean author Isabel Allende once said that writing a book is like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean. You never know if it will reach any shores. So just how do you go about facing an empty page, coaxing your ideas into the world of form, and steering the end result toward shore? You can start by studying the tips and advice from writers presented at this web page."
How many publishers ignore submissions?
Which publishers are the biggest black holes? Do we laugh or cry?
(The page requires thirty seconds to load. Be patient.)
"The Truth, The Horrible Truth, About The Lives of Writers."
"Back in 1993, when his book _Virtual Light_ came out, a reporter from USA Today asked William Gibson if he got any groupies thanks to his books. Gibson said (and I paraphrase, not having the interview directly underneath my nose at the moment) 'Oh, yes, can you imagine some blonde in a teddy in the middle of the night, saying to herself 'I'm lonely; why don't I call some middle-aged, married science fiction writer?'"
Piers Anthony on Internet and other forms of publishing
"Publishers Weekly will now look at self-published books, something they would never have done five or ten years ago. Famous self-publishers include Edgar Rice Burroughs, Stephen Crane, William E.B. DuBois, Alexandre Dumas, Mary Baker Eddy, Zane Grey, James Joyce, Rudyard Kipling, D.H. Lawrence, Edgar Allen Poe, Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, George Bernard Shaw, and Upton Sinclair."
Writer's News. News, features and resources for media and publishing professionals.
Asimov on what writers go through.
"Almost every writer, before he becomes a success, even a runaway supernova success, goes through an apprentice period when he's a 'failure.'"
Help for Writers
"Fiction fans unite! The Fiction Addiction Forum is your gateway to the fictional world. Ask questions. Get answers. And just plain shoot the breeze."
Writer's Digest
How to Write by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Writer's Thoughts
"The writing itself is no big deal. The editing, and even more than that, the self-doubt, is excruciatingly impossible. Profound, bottomless self-doubt: it has no value, what's the point?"

Other Interesting Book Sites

What is the "Best Science Fiction Series Ever Written?"
Book TV. Each weekend, Book TV features 48 hours of nonfiction books from 8am Saturday to 8am Monday.
Book a Minute. "We at Book-A-Minute understand that your time is valuable. You want to experience the wonder and excitement of the fine art of literature, but reading actual books requires a significant time investment. We've got the solution for you. Our ultra-condensed books are just the ticket."
Hard Books Made Easy. "A plotbyte is like a Cliff Note, except it's not written by a 67 year old professor who doesn't own a TV and thinks the world revolves around Shakespeare and his plays. Plotbytes are written mainly by grad students from some of the top schools in the USA."
What are the world's 100 greatest books?
Top 100 books of the century
Top 100 books of the century
Top 100 books of the century
Strange & Wonderful Books
Stranger & Wonderful Books
BookSearch
Cliff Pickover's favorite books (of other writers).
Cliff Pickover's favorite books (that he has written).
CNN Book News

Clifford A. Pickover received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is the author of over twenty highly-acclaimed books on such topics as computers and creativity, art, mathematics, black holes, human behavior and intelligence, time travel, alien life, and science fiction. Pickover is a prolific inventor with dozens of patents, is the associate editor for several journals, the author of colorful puzzle calendars, and puzzle contributor to magazines geared to children and adults. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote, "Pickover has published nearly a book a year in which he stretches the limits of computers, art and thought." Wired magazine wrote, "Bucky Fuller thought big, Arthur C. Clarke thinks big, but Cliff Pickover outdoes them both." Pickover's computer graphics have been featured on the cover of many popular magazines and on TV shows. His web site, www.pickover.com, has received over 1,000,000 visits.

Return to Cliff Pickover's home page which includes computer art, educational puzzles, higher dimensions, fractals, virtual caverns, JAVA/VRML, alien creatures, black hole artwork, and animations.