Alchemy Ink

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

Thoughty Thursday

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

Tipsday

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

Thoughty Thursday

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

Tipsday

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

Thoughty Thursday

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

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 7-13, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Once again, IFLS seems to have taken over Thoughty Thursday. I guess I really do fucking love science 😉

Most undergraduates are now being taught by poorly-paid, part-timers. CBC.

Ten surprising benefits of Earl Grey tea. Lifehack.

The Earth’s new address: planet Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Laniakea. IFLS.

Ten myths about space we need to bust. IFLS.

Underground map reveals the secrets of Stonehenge and nearby “superhenge.” IFLS.

Less than 1% of Sweden’s trash ends up in landfills. We should all aim for this! IFLS.

Your blood type could affect your memory. IFLS.

Tor.com. Improved methods identify half of Viking warriors as women. Are we surprised?

The Daily Mail: how DNA evidence helped track down the identity of Jack the Ripper.

How to stop your brain from hijacking your goals. IttyBiz.

Vi Hart. They became what they beheld: medium, message, and YouTubery.

 

Thirty old, but useful, names for parts of the body. Mental Floss.

Don’t you just feel like this every Monday morning?

 

This young pug loves his ball pit.

 

32 animals being total jerks. Diply.

Hope you thought thoughts, and laughed laughs 🙂

See you Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 7-13, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

Anne R. Allen writes about the biggest mistake new writers make and how to avoid it.

K.M. Weiland returns to her most common mistakes series with this post on why you should show important scenes rather than telling.

Katie’s Wednesday vlog covers how to use a surprising detail to give greater impact to a tragic scene.

And a bonus Katie post: her one-question interview on the Writer.ly Community.

Writing a book? Try Jeff Goins’s five-draft method.

Robin LaFevers writes about the surprising importance of doing nothing on Writer Unboxed.

How to deal with a bad review, by Roz Morris.

After a speaking engagement during which she was asked a lot about the topic, Roz decided to post this ultimate beginner’s guide to ebook publishing.

J.K. Rowling shuts down a homophobic troll. Class act, that Joanne. Refinery 29.

The attic that inspired Charlotte Bronte opens for public tours. The Independent.

Wired Science. How movies encourage audience empathy. Something that might help you with your literary endeavours?

John DeNardo of Kirkus Reviews offers his top picks for speculative reading in September.

Lifehack’s Joseph Hindy offers a list of 25 words you may be using incorrectly.

It’s short and sweet, this week.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Aug 31-Sept 6, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

First, because 9/11.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum

The new head of the Ontario Bar Association goes on record about his struggle with depression. The Toronto Star.

Five supplements that may help with depression. IFLS. Please read the whole post, including the very important caution that you not begin any supplemental regimen without first consulting a medical health professional.

What happens when a therapist who’s counselled patients through loss faces the death of his father? Psychiatric Times.

Renewable energy sources now provide 22 percent of the world’s energy. IFLS. C’mon, people! We can do better than that, can’t we?

Fifteen thou a litre? Holy horseshoe crab blood, Batman! Mind you, I still feel sorry for the poor wee things. They really need to work on that whole synthetic thing a little harder, don’t you think? IFLS.

Deep sea life form that resembles a mushroom could mean a new branch on the tree of life. IFLS.

What makes the rocks of Death Valley “slither”? When one researcher decided to put cameras on the rocks, they found out . . . IFLS.

The silent line: photographer Pierre Folk captures images of a 160 year old Parisian rail line. This is Colossal.

What the fugu? Japanese puffer fish create lovely works of underwater art.

And here’s the video of one of the little guys at work:

 

What personal space? Dogs without boundaries from Pet Stuff Web.

30 little-known features of your favourite social media, by Kevan Lee for Buffer.

Isabel Allende’s TED Talk on how to live passionately:

 

Test your Highland IQ with the verra much harder Outlander quiz, from The Daily Record’s Scotland Now.

New Pentatonix video, La La Latch:

 

Kina Grannis, Tyler Ward, and Lindsey Stirling cover Coldplay’s The Scientist:

 

See you Saturday, with more WWC2014 🙂

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Aug 31-Sept 6, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 9 Comments

Egad, another month has come and gone. How in the hell did that happen?

Now that we know all about character arcs from K.M. Weiland’s various series on the topic, should every character in your novel have an arc? Hmmmm . . . That way lies madness, methinks.

On her weekly vlog, Katie cites Sunshine Cleaners as an example of how you can use your characters’ professions to make your story more interesting.

Do all of your characters have the same voice, and is that voice yours? Roz Morris shares some tips on how to recognize the problem, and how to fix it.

Donald Maass offers metaphorical writing advice by way of gems and necklaces.

Janice Hardy offers some advice on how to recognize episodic scenes and how to fix them on Fiction University.

A bit of authorial humour, from the New Yorker.

An anatomy of endings, from The New Yorker.

Jim C. Hines guests on Magical Words on the topic of despair.

Here’s to creatives who work a day job, from The Artist’s Road.

A writer’s guide to Canadian Literary Magazines and Journals, from the Magazine Awards blog.

Haruki Murakami lists three essential qualities all novelists and runners share. Open Culture.

The Press Enterprise reports: UC Riverside’s science fiction collection gets a 3.5 million gift.

It’s a bit brief this week, but that’s all that tickled my fancy.

Be back on Thoughty Thursday!

Good words at ya, until then.

Tipsday