Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Oct 12-18, 2014

October 21, 2014 / Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

Lots of writerly tools for your kit. NaNoWriMo prep, Scrivener tricks, and moar!

Catherine Ryan Howard gives us a sneak peek of Self-Printed: The Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing, 3rd Edition. See why Roz Morris thinks of this book as one of her go to references 🙂

Speaking of Roz, here’s here next installment in the novels aren’t movies series: How to write great description in prose.

K.M. Weiland answers the most frequently asked question to come out of her character arcs series of posts: How do you write a character arc over a series?

We all know what a protagonist and an antagonist are (or we should), but what’s a contagonist? Katie answers that question and describes how best to use one in your novel in her weekly vlog.

Becca Puglisi posts eleven novelist-tested (writer’s) blockbusters on Writers Helping Writers.

Janice Hardy continues the NaNoWriMo prep from last week with her post on planning the middle of your novel.

And the third in Janice’s series, planning the end of your novel. Fiction University.

Jami Gold shares her thoughts on NaNo prep as well. Are you ready to start drafting?

Chuck Wendig posts about what you need to know about guns to write them right.

How to create a character sketch using Scrivener, from Matt Herron for The Write Practice.

In related news, Sherry D. Ramsey shows us how to create a submission tracker in Scrivener.

Nina Munteanu explores archetypes in the second part of her hero’s journey series.

See you on Thursday 🙂

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Oct 5-11, 2014

October 16, 2014 / Melanie Marttila

Psychology is back in the mix with a pile of interesting TED Talks.

What happened to #BringBackOurGirls? World Post.

How sleep patterns have changed over the years and why we might want to change back. Collective Evolution.

Andrew Solomon: Depression, the secret we all share. TED Talk.

JD Schramm on the silence surrounding suicide. TED Talk.

Eleanor Longden shares her journey from schizophrenia back to mental health. TED Talk.

Elyn Saks on her struggle with schizophrenia and what is taught her about seeing the mentally ill with compassion and clarity. TED Talk.

Vsauce answers the question, why are we morbidly curious? Three’s actually a fair amount of science and psychology backing this one up.

And as a follow up, here is Ask a Mortician, on the topic of necrophelia. It’s quite tastefully done, really.

Looks like climate change is escalating: 35,000 walrus gather in Alaska. National Geographic.

Remember Rikki Tikki Tavi? The Smithsonian Channel shared this video of the real thing:

i09 asks, are we over thinking the dangers of artificial intelligence?

David Brin on the spirit of exploration: comets, Pluto, Titan, and Mars. Contrary Brin.

Jackie Chan’s best story ever? Getting thrashed by Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon.

The Pentatonix cover Clean Bandit’s Rather Be:

Get thoughty with it, my friends 🙂

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Oct 5-11, 2014

October 14, 2014 / Melanie Marttila

TED talks have invaded this week. Don’t think I’m hearing an argument, though 🙂

K.M. Weiland continues her most common writing mistakes series with repetitive dialogue. She shows you how to recognize it and how to fix it. Post and podcast.

NaNo prep from Janice Hardy’s Fiction University: Planning your novel.

Julia Munroe Martin explores the topic of gender bias on Writer Unboxed.

Nina Munteanu begins her exploration of the Hero’s Journey.

Songs that shape our writing. Veronica Sicoe. Have you seen this post yet, Roz Morris? 😀

No, I don’t want to read your self-published book. Ron Charles of the Washington Post summarizes Roger Sutton’s position on why Horn Book Magazine won’t be reviewing any self-published books.

Talking Writing: Rich writers vs. the critics—and me, by Anna Coppola. My favourite bit: “. . . I hate that. Book sales and dollar signs convey nothing about what literature is or how it changes the lives of those who read. Yet, the industry’s tacit acceptance that financial success is the only thing that matters has created a whole lot of confusion about art. Meanwhile, out-of-touch critics are no help, as they rail against the kind of writing that gets people to buy books.”

Elizabeth Gilbert on the ugly truth about following your passion. The Huffington Post’s GPS for the Soul.

Joni Mitchell on therapy and the creative mind. Brainpickings.

Mac Barnett: Why a good book is like a secret door? TED Talk.

Lisa Bu: How books can open you mind. TED Talk.

Anne Curzan: What makes a word “real”? TED Talk.

The three books you need to read in every major genre. LitReactor.

Things you may not have known about The Princess Bride. Zimbio.

48 things you may not have known about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. BuzzFeed.

Troll, by Shane Koyczan, from his CD and graphic novel Silence is a song I know all the words to:

Can we auto-correct humanity?

Jamila Lyiscott: Three ways to speak English. TED Talk.

Hope you enjoyed this week’s Writerly Goodness round up 😉

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 28-Oct 4, 2014

October 9, 2014October 9, 2014 / Melanie Marttila

Some facts and some fun. Just what you were waiting for!

Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post asks the question, is homework an unnecessary evil? I can tell you, I rarely did mine, even in high school. If you’re heading for university, all you really need to learn is independent study skills and effective note taking (IMHO).

Fashion through the ages, from Viral Spell.

Looking for some information on exoplanets? This great series of graphics (artists’ renderings) from Space.com includes information (off to the right) with a read more link. Could one of these planets be the setting of your next science fiction story?

Fabulous information from Popular Mechanics on how we might actually build a space colony.

National Geographic features pictures of Palmyra Atoll. It’s the world’s largest marine reserve.

More of the National Geographic’s 2014 Photo Contest featured in The Atlantic’s In focus column.

This guy can really toot his own horn 😉 The CBC reports on a Laurier student who covers Outkast’s Hey ya! on his French horn using his Mac to loop tracks.

John Scalzi share this Mary Lambert video last week and I fell in love. Seriously. I think this might be my new anthem 🙂

Now this was useful 🙂 45 essential dog care hacks, from Lifehack.

Discovery shares pictures of kissable animals. Some of these choices might be questionable.

We’ve seen dog shaming pictures a-plenty. Well, here’s some cat shaming pictures from Pet Stuff Web that beg the question, are these cats really shamed?

Itty bitty piggies!

Thanks for coming along for the ride.

See you Saturday with more WWC2014!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 28-Oct 4, 2014

October 7, 2014 / Melanie Marttila

I think this week was taken over by Roz Morris and Diana Gabaldon 🙂

Novels aren’t movie scripts: how to write great dialogue in prose, by Roz Morris.

Roz has been busy with Peter Snell of Barton’s Bookshop recording Masterclass radio shows for Surrey Hills Community Radio. Now they’ve made them available as podcasts, too. You’ll miss out on the musical selections, but Roz is always careful to offer the artist and song title so you can have a listen on your own.

Plus, Roz offers excellent advice for NaNoWriMo prep on Writers & Artists.

Ruth Harris has fourteen (writer’s) block busters for you on Anne R. Allen’s blog.

What if your character has no arc? K.M. Weiland discusses the differences between a flat arc and no character arc and whether or not it’s possible, let alone permissible, to write a novel about a character without an arc.

Agent Sarah Negovetich’s Hey, Sarah! In which she discusses how she works with self published authors.

Last week, I featured Chris Winkle’s post on Mythcreants about the heroine’s journey. Having read Maureen Murdock (both The Heroine’s Journey and The Hero’s Daughter), I was naturally interested. Now Chris has supplemented that with this post about villains who follow the heroine’s journey. Effective examples of how the heroine’s journey can be used in your novel.

Banned books week was two weeks ago, but I found this Huffington Post article interesting in retrospect: banned books by the numbers.

Maureen Ryan wrote this thoughtful article for The Huffington Post about Outlander’s wedding episode and what it means for the female viewer. Is television’s sexual revolution finally coming of age? I get to watch this tonight because the Canadian affiliate started the series two weeks late (probably by agreement). #ohcruelfate

Visit Scotland has an exclusive three part interview with Diana Gabaldon about her inspiration for the Outlander series of books and its resulting television series on Starz.

i09’s Charlie Jane Anders offers this list of ten characters that totally wasted their immortality.

Hop you enjoy these offerings, my writerly friends.

See you Thursday!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebs, Sept 21-27, 2014

October 2, 2014 / Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

Fast Company presents this lovely infographic on humanity’s greatest architectural achievements since pre-history. Fascinating.

Geoglyphs found in Kazakhstan. IFLS.

How fire may cave shaped our preference for evening entertainment. The Economist.

Thirteen misconceptions about global warming from Veritasium.

The top ten unsolved mysteries of science. IFLS. Yes. There’s still stuff we don’t know 😉

The physics of space battles from It’s Okay to be Smart:

David Brin peers into the future of AI and robot brains. Contrary Brin.

Michio Kaku: Science fiction is becoming science fact. THOnline.com.

Scientists band together to Stand up to Cancer. Upworthy.

We’re getting closer to finding a solution to spinal cord injuries. IFLS. Today, rats. Tomorrow, the world 🙂

Your brain makes decisions while you sleep. IFLS. This explains the 3 a.m. epiphany 🙂

Madness and the muse from the Chronicle of Higher Education. Is there a real connection between mental illness and creativity, or are we focusing on the wrong data? As a writer with depression who knows other writers with depression, I’m predisposed to the positive correlation. As Mr. Science likes to remind me, however, correlation is not scientific proof, and the numbers can be manipulated to say just about anything the person collecting them wants. Keep that in mind when you hear about “the latest study on . . .” whatever. While math is the basis of physics, and therefore the hard sciences, statistics tends to be the basis for many of the so-called soft sciences (psychology, sociology, etc.). Numbers can be manipulated by the clever statistician. I’m not saying they always are, but it’s something to think about.

A blood test for depression shows that the disease is not a matter of will. The Huffington Post.

This has been all over the web in the last week: Emma Watson’s speech at the UN on achieving gender equality. #HeForShe

There are seven kinds of English surnames according to Ancestry.com. Which do you have? Though my surname is Finnish, there’s a town in Finland called Marttila. It means St. Martin. So I have a surname based on a place.

Over 25 applications that can make your life easier from the TED blog.

Three Clydesdales born at Warm Springs Ranch. KSDK.com.

And, kind of related, Budweiser’s latest anti-drinking and driving ad is a real tear-jerker. 93.1 WPOC.

This cat is an opera singer. Just add scratchies.

Batman Evolution from The Piano Guys. This is just cool. And it gave me the shivers.

Jimmy Fallon has so much fund with his guests. In this clip, the fabulous Robert Plant!

Sudbury has seen a lot of film crews in the last few years. Here’s a wee news clip about the latest shoot. CTV News Northern Ontario.

And that’s a wrap.

See you Saturday 🙂

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 21-27, 2014

September 30, 2014 / Melanie Marttila / 3 Comments

I keep catching myself as I write these posts. Though I know it’s September, I keep on wanting to type August in the date (!) And here we are, almost at the end of September and I haven’t gotten used to typing the month yet.

Just a wee testimony, I think, to just how tired I am these days 😛 That, or just how crappy a summer it’s been here in northern Ontario. I’m still waiting for a few nice days. Just a few. Can we have August weather in October, please?

Find out why K.M. Weiland says you’ve been writing sentences incorrectly all your life. All about the impact sentence.

The wrong way to write a smart character. Katie gets feisty about Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Jami Gold explores how we can balance emotion in our writing without telling too much.

Laura Drake on the conscious use of adverbs. Writers in the Storm.

Dan Blank wants to help you create capacity on Writer Unboxed.

Chris Winkle shares how to use the heroine’s journey (as outlined by Maureen Murdock) in your novel. Mythcreants.

This is an older i09 post that saw a little renewed circulation this week: The seven deadly sins of religion in science fiction.

33 books to read to celebrate banned books week. BuzzFeed.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet was Irish, not Danish. IrishCentral.

Slow reading helps your brain and eases stress. The Wall Street Journal.

An old favourite from The Oatmeal: how to use a semicolon.

Have a fabulous week, everyone!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 14-20, 2014

September 25, 2014 / Melanie Marttila

Wow, I wasn’t very thoughty this week at all (!) Oh well, enjoy the puppies.

BBC News reports on new discoveries regarding the death of Richard III.

Bloom’s Taxonomy infographic and explanation on Eudemic.

Who better to protect a tiny baby than a huge dog? Wimp.com.

I actually found these underwater dogs rather creepy . . . Mother Nature Network.

I saw this video on Canada AM last week, and then what should show up in my feed? Yup. Baby bear cuteness.

Did you enjoy them? The puppies, I mean? And the bear?

Be back on Saturday with more WWC2014 and, egads, a pupdate.

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 14-20, 2014

September 23, 2014 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

I’ve an interesting variety this week.

How to use rewards and punishments to encourage your character to change, by K.M. Weiland.

Katie shares how she learned to write on her Wednesday vlog.

How to plot your novel with mini arcs. Janice Hardy’s Fiction University.

Marcy Kennedy guests on Fiction University, writing about ways to save money on editing.

Jamie Raintree asks, why are you really stuck on your novel? On Thinking Through our Fingers.

Roz Morris discovered that the pebble phone she conceived of for Lifeform Three, is a little closer to becoming a reality.

How Stephen King teaches writing, by Jessica Lahey for The Altantic.

Eight authors who experienced their biggest successes after 50. BookRiot. Take comfort. I did 🙂

Janna Marlies Maron shares how she used writing to heal her depression without taking drugs on Jeff Goins’s blog.

The real link between the psychopathology spectrum and the creativity spectrum. Scientific American.

How Jane Friedman recovered from three years of chronic back pain. It’s an injury that visits most authors at one point or another.

i09 shares 10 lessons from real-life lessons revolutions that fictional dystopias ignore.

Landmarks of feminism in science fiction, from The Cut.

Obsession and madness mark the best episode of Doctor Who in years. Polygon. Not sure if I agree with this assessment. I think I’m still warming up to Capaldi. Mind you, it’s the best episode so far this season.

Good words at you, my friends.

See you Thursday!