I am actually a pretty miserable scholar of SF and so I don’t think I have the knowledge base to give you a good answer! Hang on, I have to get out of a car.

I actually think that getting immersed in a big story is a desirable luxury for people now precisely because they are reacting against what you describe. That’s why long-form TV series have become so huge.

Don’t think of it as a fine art. Think of it as more like cabinet making. The more you do it the more skills you acquire.

As few as possible. Multiple drafts implies lots and lots of editing. Editing text is like doing surgery on a living body—it might be necessary but it leaves scar tissue and it has side effects. So I like to proceed gradually.

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