Top 15 Tweets
The Twitter-feed of Robert Jackson Bennett is a wondrous, but dangerous place to spend time. If you follow Robert in addition to another 1000 or so people, the normality and reason of the masses will likely dilute the strangeness and zaniness of Robert’s feed to the extent there will be no lasting damage or changes in personality from what you consume. If you spend time looking through Robert’s Tweets on a Tweet-by-Tweet basis though, as I was asked to do by Jo Fletcher Books for this feature, there may be some irreversible mutations to your personality…
Below are our favourite 15 Tweets by Robert to date, as chosen by myself and Olivia of Jo Fletcher Books. Not all of them are safe/appropriate for work (or anywhere really). You have been warned!
15. Robert finds his Soulmate.
14. Robert offers insight into the horrific outcome of a cupcake that suffers emotional damage
13. Robert sums up Trolls, irrational comments and the Hugo Award crap
12. Robert finally offers pictures of the personal training client he has been working with
11. Robert reflects on lost earnings
10. Robert offers insight into the realities of being a Grandparent at Christmas
9. Robert proves that being a successful author doesn’t make you classy
8. Robert leaves us asking uncomfortable questions about his anatomy
7. Robert believes all dogs should be trained and ready to tackle fearsome foes
6. Robert tells writers to be ready to get punched in the face. A lot.
5. Robert offers advice and tactics to anyone going into an argument online
4. Robert shatters our dreams
3. Robert tries to prove the saying ‘money can’t buy you happiness or true friendship’ wrong with his latest advance.
2. Robert commits to smashing J.K. Rowling’s cutest creation with a shovel.
1. Robert leaves the world wondering why he chose Fantasy and not Erotica…
Top 7 Blog Posts
And because we don’t want to leave you feeling that Robert can’t write something articulate, powerful, useful and meaningful (in addition to those raunchy sex scenes), here are the top 7 blog posts that we recommend for SFF Readers and Writers.
7. ‘Finished’ (2009)
80% of your output will be unacceptable shit
Link: http://robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/finished
I love this blog post because, as someone who writes, it is a reminder that not everything you write is publishable or even good; in fact, ‘80% of your output will be unacceptable shit, even if you polish it.’ I’ve spoken before about my thoughts that too many novelists of 2016 are too quick to use Amazon direct publishing as an alternative to admitting their work isn’t ready to be published and that they need more practice. Robert’s ability to take the good and learn from it combined with a willingness to ‘toss the rest and start all over again’ is undoubtedly the reason his books have gotten better and better.
It’s interesting to note the book The Long Wake of which Robert says ‘I like it. I really like it a lot.’ has not been published yet (i.e. it became another, unexpected, learning experience). You can read about that here and here.
6. A Hint of Things to Come? (2009)
“This is not what I expected” can only be taken in good humor since I’d tried very hard to do something no one expected at all.
Link: http://robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/a-hint-of-things-to-come
Even a single negative review can rock an author, especially a new or young one (both of which Robert was in 2009). Robert’s accepting that negative reviews will come when you are trying something new and unfamiliar whilst remaining committed to his work in a market that encourages the shelving of each book neatly next to something similar is both bold and inspiring. It shows why his novels continue to standout from the crowd.
5. On the present tense (2013)
I want to put you in the story, to immerse you in it, for it to feel as alive and exuberant as it feels for me
Link: http://www.robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/on-the-present-tense
Present tense gets a lot of stick. Some people go so far as to label it unreadable. In this blog post, Robert takes time to explain what present tense is, how you use it and why he has chosen it as his primary method of telling a story in his latest books.
4. On talent (2013)
Talent, y’see, is maybe 5% of what makes the creative process.
Link: http://robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/on-talent
Do you look at an author and think he/she has ‘a gift’? Robert tells us that, in his view, this ‘is crap’. This post from Robert reminds each of us that there are no ‘born naturals’ when it comes to writing (or anything else). In fact, this is dangerous and can become the perfect excuse for avoiding practice. To get good at something requires work and trying, trying, trying, trying, trying. If this post doesn’t stop you wallowing in self-pity and picking up a pen to begin that process then nothing will.
3. 10 Pieces of Writing Advice That Could Be Sex Advice (2012)
On your first time, you won’t be sure what to do
Link: http://robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/10-pieces-of-writing-advice-that-could-be-sex-advice
Robert provides some writing advice and uses the title of the blog-piece to point out that pretty much all of it could be used as sex advice too. I include this article because although it’s primary purpose is to make you laugh, the over-riding point that writing, like sex, is a very personal thing and there are so, so many ways of doing it right (and wrong!) hits home.
2. Some advice to aspiring writers who wish to make a living off of writing (2016)
It’s unwise to begin your young life with writing as the sole goal for your career.
Whereas the last writing advice post was fun (despite having an important message), this one is dead serious. I don’t think a huge amount of people are giving up their day job to become writers these days (before getting a deal, and even then…), but Robert points out that narrowing your options too young is a risky move.
1. The Genre Fountain (2014)
We are in a very tiny corner of literature, arguing at the tops of our lungs about different shades of black
Link: http://robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/the-genre-fountain
It has hurt Robert’s wallet that he is trying to do something different as an artist. In a world where we readers moan and groan that the genre is stale, the reality is that we are most comfortable when choosing a book that is ‘like x’. Robert points out that this isn’t great for the long-term development of the genre and, after reading this, I think a lot of readers will feel for Robert and authors like him who are trying to push boundaries and being punished (or at very least not rewarded) for those efforts.
Be sure to follow Robert via @RobertJBennett on Twitter and visit his blog on http://robertjacksonbennett.com/blog/ for lots more of the same 🙂
Geoff Matthews
Julia Kitvaria Sarene
[…] we’ll only be posting the first ten from the list. To find the rest, you’ll have to go to Fantasy Faction, where the blog was originally posted. If you don’t already know about FF, I’ll happily take […]