Angela Ackerman

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, December 13-19, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

Here’s your Writerly Goodness for the first day of winter, 2015.

K.M. Weiland offers four ways to reignite your sense of wonder in your writing.

Later in the week, Katie shared three smart tips for structuring powerful scenes.

Roz Morris wonders how much you talk about your work in progress?

I’m fond of the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) and similar assessments. Jami Gold shares some MBTI resources in her exploration of personality and how it affects writing process.

Janice Hardy offers some strategies for describing your first person narrator. Fiction University.

Angela Ackerman discusses how to use weather to create mood, not clichés on Writers in the Storm.

Carly Watters explains why we need time, fear, and talent to make it as writers.

Amy Craft explores the science behind the best way to read for CBS News.

Kids should read whatever they want, whenever they want. Rachel Cordasco for Book Riot.

Tech Insider shares six websites that let you download ebooks for free. You may not know about all of them.

Steven Pinker reveals some of the most misused word in the English language. Business Insider.

Scrabble’s Anagram Christmas turns negatives into positives 🙂

 

X-rays reveal the secrets of medieval books. Medieval Books.

Mansplaining Lolita. Rebecca Solnit for LitHub.

Buzzfeed shares 38 literary quotes that may help you when you’re feeling down. ‘Tis the seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Blastr shares Arthur C. Clarke’s top 12 science fiction movies.

Den of Geek celebrates the dogs of speculative fiction.

Molly Templeton reviews the first episode on SyFy’s The Magicians (based on Lev Grossman’s novels) for Tor.com. Phil and I caught it and were very impressed. Looking forward.

Leah Schnelbach liked the SyFy adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End well enough, but Phil and I weren’t impressed. Now Phil is a scientist and a SF purist, so his reaction was understandable. My disappointment? Not so much. I’m still working it through, but I think it has something to do with the storytelling decisions made. The critical error in my estimation (so far)? Whose story is it? What character is there from beginning to (almost) end? Karellan. That’s who. Now that’s a story I would have liked to see. It would have been a bigger departure from the book than what SyFy gave us, but I think it would have been better. That’s just my opinion, though.

Because the costume makes the period drama part of Outlander shine, Frock Flicks is giving us droughtlander sufferers a sneak peek at the season two wardrobe.

Good words to you, my friends. The light is returning! Or maybe it’s just the Earth turning/tilting? Meh. Precession and all that.

See you in two days for some Thoughty on Thursday 🙂

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Nov 22-28, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

We’re back on track and heading full steam ahead 🙂

K.M. Weiland shares more lessons she learned from writing Storming: How to write multiple antagonists.

And: Seven easy ways to research an historical novel.

Veronica Sicoe is sharing some of the lessons she’s learned from writing The Deep Link and The Prime Rift. Writing out of sequence is the best way to draft.

How to get comfortable with the f-word. Vaughan Roycroft for Writer Unboxed.

Brunonia Barry asks, are you writing for love or money? Writer Unboxed.

Julie Glover guests posts on Jami Gold’s blog about how grammar can strengthen our writing voice.

Angela Ackerman writes about creating characters that readers trust, but shouldn’t. Writers Helping Writers.

Chris Winkle shows us how to write a riveting fight scene. Mythcreants.

Chuck Wendig considers privilege.

The two posts mentioned in Chuck’s:

Further linkage to be clicked.

C.S. Lakin wonders, is backstory killing your books plot? The Write Life.

Shad interviews Nalo Hopkinson on diversity in science fiction for CBC’s Q.

NPR talks to Ta-Nehisi Coates about his work and the painful process of becoming conscious.

Martha Nussbaum explores how storytelling rewires us and why we have to befriend our neediness to be happy. BrainPickings.

Waterstones prepares for a new chapter as the chain returns to profitability. The Guardian.

Damien Walter writes about the genre versus literary debate. It’s a battle in which both side lose. The Guardian.

The BookBaby blog suggests you focus on your book’s back cover copy.

If you’ve enjoyed a good book and you’re a woman, the critics think you’re wrong. The Guardian.

How a Finnish librarian decoded the world’s folklore. Timeline.

The Best Sci-Fi Books presents its list of the 23 best cyberpunk novels.

Be well until Thoughty Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Nov 8-14, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

I’m a curating machine 🙂

Roz Morris discusses the differences between British, Canadian, and American English and why writers should know when to use each. Nail Your Novel.

Writer tech: How to storyboard in Scrivener. Matt Herron for The Write Practice.

K.M. Weiland offers six steps to create a fantastic narrative voice in her lessons learned from Storming series.

Katie then discusses the easiest character she’s ever had to write.

Lisa Cron gives us the inside story on what grabs readers. Writer Unboxed.

Sophie Masson helps us get the most of mentoring, from both sides of the fence. Writer Unboxed.

Christine Frazier shares ten traits of the mentor archetype on the Better Novel Project.

Kameron Hurley was never in this for the parties.

Then, she wonders if Goodreads ratings correlate to sales.

Next, she reassures us that everything is not awful.

Finally, Kameron explains why having a writing-related day job does not ‘ruin’ you for fiction. Silly rabbits.

Mary Robinette Kowal helps us discern when writer’s block is depression. And when it’s not.

Madeleine Dore shares fifty ways to take care of yourself in the arts. Performing Arts Hub.

Dan Blank discusses the three essential ingredients to creative success. Writer Unboxed.

Building a better world through science fiction: the new utopians. New Republic.

Carly Watters shares fifteen things she’s learned in her five years as an agent.

Declining ebook sales hit home with the big five. Publishers Weekly.

Erin Lindsey is in search of a more nuanced discussion of women and gender in SFF: When Mary Sue failed the Bechdel test. Tor.com.

Margaret Atwood addresses the lack of diversity in fiction: In Tolkien, there are hardly any women at all. The Guardian.

Buffy Ste. Marie recommends eight books she loves. CBC.

Neil Gaiman stops by Buzzfeed to offer writing advice.

100 pieces of writing advice from Chuck Wendig.

The Myers-Briggs types of 101 famous authors. BookRiot.

It’s going to be okay. I did not know this. The Oatmeal.

Judging medieval books by their covers.

Finding Dory’s going to be a-dory-ble 🙂 Space.

Krysten Ritter kicks all the butt as Jessica Jones. i09. <Starts this Friday, guys!>

Tor.com lists all the TV series and movie adaptations of SFF books in the works.

Ima check out SyFy’s new series The Expanse. Tor.com.

Come back next week for more Writerly Goodness.

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Oct 25-31, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

The NaNoWriMo posts keep on coming. I think we’re going to be neck deep in them the whole month of November (!)

K.M. Weiland explains how to win NaNo with totally doable daily and weekly writing goals.

Worried that your character isn’t likeable? Katie advises you to try this technique.

Carly Watters explains why perfect characters are a problem.

Angela Ackerman shows how your characters past trauma determines her character flaws. Writers Helping Writers.

Beth Revis explores the book of your heart on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University.

Chadwick Ginther interviews Julie Czerneda about returning to science fiction after a fantasy hiatus.

Then Julie appears on Jim C. Hines’ blog, answering the question, what do I call it?

Delilah S. Dawson (as Lila Bowen) talks about the silly ideas that grow into novels. Barnes & Noble.

Emily Johnson offers a step-by-step guide to home workplace organization on C.S. Lakin’s Live, Write, Thive.

Renovate you sentences with active phrasing. Chris Winkle for Mythcreants.

43 words you should cut from your manuscript immediately. Diana Urban.

David Mitchell is so over the genre wars. Salon.

More David Mitchell: In praise of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea. The Guardian.

If the novel is dead, so are we all. Junot Diaz on BigThink.

Is solarpunk the new cyberpunkpunk? SciFiIdeas.

Charlie Jane Anders reviews Maisy Williams’ guest appearance on Doctor Who. i09.

And then she took a look at Supergirl: dorky cuteness still packs a punch. i09.

Natalie Zutter reviews Supergirl for Tor.com.

Emily Asher-Perrin wonders if Marvel is shying away from a Black Widow movie because they know they’ll never get it right. Tor.com.

A short film offers a vision of post-apocalyptic Earth. Gizmodo.

And that is Tipsday.

Hang tight until next week, my friends.

And for those of you fighting the NaNo fight with me: keep writing.

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 27-Oct 3, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

This week’s offerings:

We all “know” we’re supposed to be honest in our fiction, but what does that really mean? K.M. Weiland.

Katie features One stop for writers, by Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi, and Scrivener’s Lee Powell, on her personal blog. We have to wait until October 7 to sign up, though. (Hey! That’s TOMORROW!)

Then, Katie offers two warning signs that you’re starting your story too early in her Friday vlog.

Bonnie Randall is back with another great post on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University: Getting psyched out.

C.S. Lakin gives us a list of ten questions that will help check our stories for underwriting. Live, write, thrive.

Every journey starts with a first step. Every story begins with the first word. About gittin’ ‘er done. BookBaby blogs.

Cathy Yardley asks, is your story complex, or overly complicated? How to build complexity without confusing your reader. Writer Unboxed.

Nicole Winters writes about how she kicked research in the butt. Writers in the Storm.

Canadian small press Bilblioasis is doing great things (with three books on the Giller long-list). The Globe and Mail.

Now is not the time for realistic fiction, says Margaret Atwood. NPR.

Elizabeth Gilbert warns of the perils of ignoring your creative self on CBC’s Q.

Eleanor Arnason guest posts on the Women in Science Fiction blog.

Chuck Wendig asked a few cool people to write guest posts on his Terribleminds blog. First, Stina Leicht offers her thoughts on message fiction in SFF. The S.L. Huang defends escapist, blow-shit-up-hell-yeah, popcorn entertainment. Then, editor John Adamus explains why getting an independent and professional editor to review your work is so important.

Anna Lovind explains why she ditched her beautiful career in publishing. Annapurna Living.

“If you’re being rejected 90% of the time, you’re actually incredibly successful.” Dan Blank interviews Eric Wert on We Grow Media.

Check out this historical fiction: The incredible expandable book. Medieval Books.

Put these ten ultra-weird science fiction novels on your reading list. i09.

Mental Floss presents 11 unusual books stores you can visit.

Hope you found something useful. If you did, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Hang in until Thoughty Thursday.

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, June 21-27, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

W00t! You wanted moar writerly goodness? Well, here it is!

In local publishing news, Latitude 46 moves into the void left by Your Scrivener Press. The Northern Life.

Listen to K.M. Weiland’s weekly podcast (and subscribe) or read her companion post. Last week’s offering: What every writer ought to know about omniscient point of view (POV).

How to make your secondary characters truly memorable. Katie’s Wednesday vlog.

Will readers find you protagonist worthy? Angela Ackerman on Writers Helping Writers.

The bigger the dream, the greater the resistance. When resistance pays you a compliment. Steven Pressfield.

The four dangers of writing and critique groups. The title says ‘hidden dangers,’ but they’re not really hidden. First-timers and eternal optimists might be blind to them, though. Jennie Nash on Jane Friedman’s blog.

How to write about guns without sounding like a doorknob. Benjamin Sobieck (who was much more polite about it that I was) guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog.

The Listen Inside podcast from Readers in the Know features chapter 2 from Veronica Sicoe’s The Deep Link.

The ten best literary love songs brought to you by Quirk Books.

BuzzFeed compiles their list of the 53 best opening lines in literature.

Not to be outdone, Penguin Random House offered its list of captivating first lines.

In case you weren’t already crushed by the weight of your unread book stack, BuzzFeed compiles this list of ALL 339 books referenced in Gilmour Girls.

i09 lists its essential cyberpunk reads.

ZDNet shares their list of 26 essential science fiction novels that will help you prepare for the future.

Where Japanese science fiction has been and where it’s going. Japanese Times.

The 2015 Sunburst Awards finalists announced on the CBC.

And here’s Quill & Quire’s piece on the awards.

The brilliant ideas that didn’t make it into Pixar’s Inside Out. i09.

I must say that Phil and I are enjoying Sense8 quite a bit. Then again, we love well-developed character and story. The slow burn is just fine with us. Here’s Bram E. Geiben’s take on season 1 for i09.

Moar season 2 fodder for your Droughtlander jonesing. Carter Matt.

See you on Thoughty Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Aug 17-23, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 8 Comments

I really tried to get used to the new WordPress editor, but I finally had to give in and activate Classic Mode (Dum-ta-de-dah!). It’s so much easier to apply tags in the classic editor.

Let’s start with some publishing news. From Publishers Weekly, no less. What copyright changes mean for Canadian publishers.

Here’s K.M. Weiland’s weekly podcast/post: Can a character’s arc be a subplot?

Here’s her guest post on the Writer’s Alley on what weather can do for your story.

Then Katie wandered over to the Wordserve Water Cooler to discuss how to make a walk-on character memorable (but not too memorable).

Here’s Katie’s workshops & webinars page if you want to get moar of the good stuff.

And her weekly vlog on how to tighten your tale by streamlining your symbolism.

Anne R. Allen rounds up the usual suspects for her post on five protagonists readers hate.

Roz Morris examines how to write a character with an addiction.

Angela Ackerman guest posted on The Insecure Writers Support Group about how to deepen your conflict by forcing your hero to embrace the grey of morality.

Jan O’Hara considers cadence and its power to affect the reader in this post on Writer Unboxed. I started off as a poet. Believe me, people can tell 😉

Dave King shares his love of bafflgab on Writer Unboxed.

Painting vs. Dramatizing: How to make a scene, on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University.

How one writer kept a productivity streak going for 373 days. Jamie Todd Rubin on 99u.

Jami Gold has some fun discovering how writing changes our brains. Brain science rules 😀

I do a little conference reportage, but today I get to feature Mona Alvarado Frazier’s post about the lessons she learned at the Writer’s Digest Conference. Part two will be coming up next week, if you’re interested.

Lev Grossman writes about finding his voice in fantasy. The New York Times.

Buzzfeed presents the epic writing tips of George R. R. Martin and Robin Hobb.

I was shocked to discover that William Gibson’s Neuromancer is 30 years old. Egad. The Guardian.

25 pieces of life advice from literature, presented by Flavorwire.

A little writer tech for you here. Bookbaby blog posted about proofreading software. Interesting . . .

And that’s the load for this week.

See you on Thoughty Thursday with researchy, inspirational stuff.

Let me know if any of this curation tweaks your muse, will you? I’d love to know how things are going 🙂

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Aug 3-9, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 3 Comments

Anne R. Allen explores the good and bad of critique groups.

What’s the most important relationship in your story? K.M. Weiland explores how focusing on this aspect of your story could improve it.

Then Katie continued her blog tour on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University, on finding your character’s breaking point.

And then she continued the tour on Procrastiwriter with, What Jane Eyre can teach us about mind-blowing heroines.

Opening lines (and scenes) are some of the most difficult to write. K.M. Weiland has some suggestions for you in her post about Most Common Writing Mistakes: Boring opening lines. Podcast link included.

SF author Veronica Sicoe writes about opening line madness. See, everyone struggles.

MJ Bush guests on Writers Helping Writers (Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi) on the problem of overly self-aware protagonists.

Then she posted about inner conflict on WritingGeekery.

Casting your novel may seem like frivolous fun, but Fantasy Faction offers five ways it can help improve your story.

Stuck on a scene? Janice Hardy gamifies the work of sorting through scene outcomes on Fiction University.

QueryQuagmire (on Tumblr) offers ten things writers should keep in mind before diving into revisions.

Porter Anderson shares Hugh Howey’s ten counterintuitive tips for self-publishers on Publishing Perspectives.

The Canada Council has denied operational funding to On Spec. Susan MacGregor, On Spec editor and author, explains the situation and offers some options to help. On Spec is a Canadian institution in speculative fiction, and the quality of their fiction, editing, and production, is excellent.

I know this first hand. My SF short story “Downtime” will be appearing in the fall 2014 issue, and Barb Galler-Smith, the editor with whom I worked, was very professional. That the magazine is excellent is not just my opinion, though. On Spec is an award nominated, and award winning publication.

Their Patreon account has now been set up. Go to the On Spec web site for more information.

Why Fifty Shades of Grey has bondage all wrong. Tickld.

Forgotten Dr. Seuss stories and other news from Poets & Writers.

Mashable offers up their list of 22 summer reads.

Ten SF novels that will make you more passionate about science, from io9.

Ursula K. LeGuin talks to Michael Cunningham about genre, gender, and broadening fiction on ElectricLit.

Billy Collins shares two dog poems in this brief TED talk.

 

Wow! That’s a lot of Writerly Goodness.

Enjoy, folks 🙂

Tipsday

Caturday Quickie: Calgary, I am in you

/ Melanie Marttila

I’ve been waiting to say that for a long time. I’m such a nerd.

To be brief:

Thursday afternoon, Phil and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy. I may have to post a Mel’s Movie Madness about it. For the future. I enjoyed it thoroughly, however.

Yesterday (Friday), I got up at the ungodly hour of 4 am so I could get out to the airport by 5-ish and catch my 5:55 am flight.

All went well, caught my connection, watched the second Hunger Games en route, and arrived at 10:18 am, on the dot, in Calgary.

My friend, Sharon, offered to pick me up and we went out to lunch before I checked in at the Carriage House Inn and started my marathon of sessions.

I attended 5 of those yesterday, plus the keynote speakers in the evening. I also met, in person, several people I’d only known to this point virtually: Angela Ackerman, Diane Walton, Tim Reynolds, and I reconnected with some fellow writers and publishers: Mark Leslie, Ron Hore, Swati Chavda, and Avery Olive.

I had dinner and lovely conversation with Nina Munteanu, and met a few other writers and editors hanging around outside the hotel. I also saw the wonderful Jack Whyte again, and met Brandon Sanderson in the flesh. Brandon was my fangirl moment of When Words Collide so far.

I’ll be in sessions from 10 am to 6 pm today, and then there is the mass autograph session this evening.

It has been a jam-packed conference so far, but I’m having a blast. Prepare for much bloggage coming out of this 🙂

Also got to see the 2014 In Places Between anthology chapbook. The readings and judging take place tomorrow morning. Will let you know (of course) how “On the Ferry” fares.

I think this may be my only post this weekend, just because WWC is proving to be a very fast-paced event.

In the meantime, I shall wish much you all much Writerly Goodness.

Caturday Quickies

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz July 27-Aug 2, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

Sorry for the late-ish post. Had to go to Yin practice tonight. Yoga was beginning to think I abandoned her 😉

Roz Morris started her Masterclass for The Guardian. This is the first post in her daily reporting on the queries arising from hre students. Catch all of her snapshots. She’s got a clever bunch there.

Part 3 of K.M. Weiland’s negative character arc series: The negative character arc in the third act. Surprise, surprise!

And here’s more Katie, guest-posting on Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Writers Helping Writers. Five important ways to use symbolism in your story is part of Katie’s ongoing blog tour in honour of her new book: Jane Eyre: Writer’s Digest Annotated Classics. It’s the last day to enter her giveaway! Go get ‘em writing tigers 🙂

And . . . Katie’s Wednesday vlogs return with foreshadowing’s number one job in your story. Welcome back, vlogs! We missed you!

Writer Unboxed is experiencing some technical difficulties so The Tyranny of Motive and The Many Dreams of Writing will have to wait until next week.

Shennandoah Diaz writes about three ways to save your backstory from the cutting room floor on the There are No Rules blog at Writer’s Digest.

Laura Drake shares her tale of tragedy and triumph on Writers in the Storm.

Edits, Editors, Editing. Ruth Harris explores the secret weapon of every successful writer on Anne R. Allen’s blog.

Elif Shafak’s TED talk on the politics of story.

Quentin Cooper asks the question, why is science fiction so hard to define, on the BBC’s Future blog.

Crawford Killian looks at three SF&F writers who break the mould in The Tyee.

21 books that changed science fiction and fantasy forever from io9.

Electric Lit shares a lovely list of supernatural collective nouns. Anyone for a fondle of unicorns (I thought that was a blessing)?

CNN Travel features the world’s coolest bookstores. Ok . . . gotta sop up the drool here.

Enjoy the Writerly Goodness, my peeps. See y’all Thursday.

Tipsday