Anne R. Allen

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz June 15-21, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

There’s a little bit of everything this week. A little craft advice, some blogging tips, love for the word nerds and the book worms, writerly brain science, and a couple of thoughtful pieces about women in fiction and making it in the world of fandom.

Part two of K.M. Weiland’s how to write a flat character arc series.

Later in the week, Cathy Yardley wrote a guest post for Katie: Six tips to outline your novel faster.

Jan O’Hara discusses McKee’s four tips on writing a BIG story on Writer Unboxed.

Anne R. Allen’s blogging essentials for authors.

In related news, Roz Morris answers the question, how much time should an author spend blogging and building websites?

10 words that started out as errors from Grammar Girl, Mignon Fogarty.

Moar wordnerdery from ideas.ted.com: 20 words that used to mean something completely different.

24 quotes that will inspire you to write more from Buzzfeed.

Also from Buzzfeed, 37 books every creative person should read.

Back with ideas.ted.com, six science fiction and fantasy books for the app generation.

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Kurt Vonnegut’s letter to McCarthy after the burning of (among other books) Slaughterhouse Five.

 

I just saw Lisa Cron tweet about this NY Times article: This is your brain on writing, by Carl Zimmer.

Tasha Robinson’s post on The Dissolve, We’re losing all our strong female characters to Trinity Syndrome, caused a bit of a furor on the SFCanada listserv, and elsewhere on the interwebz.

Jim C. Hines shares his Continuum guest of honour speech. It’s kick-ass. Then again, Jim’s good at that kind of thing 😉

Enjoy, my writerly peeps.

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the Interwebz May 4-17, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

Yes, you read that date correctly. It’s a double shot of Tipsday this week (since I missed out on last week).

A writer friend actually called me the queen of curation this past week 🙂 I think that title belongs to Elizabeth Spann Craig, but I was duly flattered, nonetheless.

Part 12 and Part 13 of K.M. Weiland’s Creating Stunning Character Arcs series.

Lisa Cron’s TEDx lecture, Wired for Story:

 

I would have posted Lisa Cron’s Writer Unboxed: What kindergarten got (and still gets) really, really wrong, but WU is having some technical difficulties right now. I’ll try to keep it in mind for next week. It’s an excellent post. Heart Lisa Cron.

A little more brain science for you here. Frank Bruni encourages kids to read, kids, read.

Anne Ursu examines the phenomenon of ‘Greenlit.’ Contemporary realism in MG and YA.

Jami Gold asks the question, when should we skip a scene in our stories? And she answers it too, clever lady.

Janice Hardy makes a case for prologues: not as evil as you think.

Victoria Mixon’s three things you should know about exposition and telling.

6 tips to modernize your prose for the 21st century reader from Anne R. Allen’s blog. This one generated a few comments. Who should be more accommodating, the writer or the reader?

Roz Morris’s tips for using Amazons keywords and categories intelligently.

Joanna Penn interviews Jane Friedman on money, writing, and life.

Publishing industry news: Pay equity and gender parity are still issues. Why Jill Abramson was fired.

Carly Watters offers 5 easy steps for formatting your next query.

Laura Pepper Wu write a guest post for Catherine Ryan Howard about 11 inspiring quotes from the world’s best writers.

10 more inspiring quotes from the Procrastiwriter.

And even more inspirational quotes from Jane Friedman:

 

George Saunders on the power of kindness, animated, from Brainpickings.

You may remember I posted the Rolling Stone interview with George R.R. Martin a couple of weeks ago. Well, here are the “outtakes.”

And, I know it’s been everywhere, but I love this clip about George R.R. Martin’s secret weapon.

See you all on Thoughty Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz April 20-26, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

TipsdayLinking has won the day, if not the poll.

Got yourself a Franken-draft? There may be hope. Dianne K. Salerni on Writer Unboxed.

K.M. Weiland’s Creating Stunning Character Arcs series, part 10: The Midpoint.

9 tips to entice readers to your author blog from Anne R. Allen.

Everybody Arcs! How it all comes down to character. Kristen Lamb.

Carly Watters with 6 reasons you need an agent now more than ever.

12 realizations every writer must come to from 12 Most.

The Atlantic. The appeal of science fiction. A.K.A. why do people look down at the genre of Orwell and Atwood?

Is literary fiction just good marketing? The Guardian. More on the literary/genre debate.

Time. 21 women authors you should be reading.

And that’s it this week. Linking certainly makes for a shorter post!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the Interwebz April 13-19, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

TipsdayLet’s see what we gots here …

Part 9 of K.M. Weiland’s Creating Stunning Character Arcs series:

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2014/04/character-arcs-9.html

the 10 Commandments of Social Media Etiquette for Writers. Anne R. Allen’s blog.

http://annerallen.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-10-commandments-of-social-media.html

Agent Carly Watters on why you want an agent who reads:

http://carlywatters.com/2014/04/14/agent-who-reads/

Eight steps to an agent, a publisher, and a two-book deal by Becca Puglisi.

http://writershelpingwriters.net/2014/04/eight-steps-agent-publisher-two-book-deal/

Brevity in Science Fiction – Veronica Sicoe. She was my new discovery this week, thanks to MJ Bush 🙂

http://www.veronicasicoe.com/blog/2014/04/brevity-in-science-fiction/

Jami Gold wonders whether genre fiction can be art:

http://jamigold.com/2014/04/can-genre-fiction-be-art/

Justine Musk on Beauty in the broken places.

http://justinemusk.com/2014/04/17/wounds-to-light-the-art-of-making-beauty-in-the-broken-places/

(Mel’s note: I write an SF story called The Broken Places. Not sure if it’s beautiful, but I’m biased.)

Patty Jansen on how she writes:

http://pattyjansen.com/blog/how-i-write-so-many-books/

And Roz Morris on hers. Follow the strange. LOVE!

http://writerlycommunity.azurewebsites.net/following-strange-write/

6 things you should know about your story.

http://lopopololiterary.com/2014/04/17/some-things-you-should-know-about-story-six-to-be-precise/

The WoMentoring Project. Just check it.

http://womentoringproject.co.uk/

Rochelle Sharpe: Be relentless.

http://rlsharpe.wordpress.com/2014/04/17/writing-tip-wednesday-be-relentless/

Muses rejoice!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz April 6-12, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

TipsdayAnother eclectic bumper-crop here on Tipsday.

Wired podcast with Elizabeth Bear:

http://www.wired.com/2014/04/geeks-guide-elizabeth-bear/

MJ Bush’s WritinGeekery. A balance of strengths to take your story higher.

http://www.writingeekery.com/strength/

Robin Lafevers on Writer Unboxed. Dear soon-to-be-published author.

http://writerunboxed.com/2014/04/11/dear-soon-to-be-published-author/

And Lisa Cron on The importance of letting ‘em see you sweat.

http://writerunboxed.com/2014/04/10/the-importance-of-fear/

And … Jael McHenry on the relative value of writing craft books.

http://writerunboxed.com/2014/04/07/should-you-read-about-writing/

3 tips for writing better action scenes from BookBaby blogs.

http://writerunboxed.com/2014/04/10/the-importance-of-fear/

Wlater Benjamin’s thirteen theses from Brain Pickings.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/15/the-writers-technique-in-thirteen-theses-walter-benjamin/

Agent Carly Watters answers the question, Can I write fiction for a living?

http://carlywatters.com/2014/04/07/q-can-i-write-fiction-for-a-living/

Patty Jansen offers her thoughts on when hiring an editor isn’t necessarily the answer.

http://pattyjansen.com/blog/get-your-book-edited/

The Outlander fan gathering. If you’ve been drooling over the coming Starz series as much as I have, you’ll want to see this 🙂 BTW, for my Canadian friends, Showcase will be broadcasting (eeeee!). this summer. Can hardly wait.

http://www.starz.com/videos/video/388

How to be the lord of your novel’s timeline (timelord, get it?) from Roz Morris.

https://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2014/04/05/an-easy-way-to-make-your-plot-plausible-control-your-novels-timeline/

10 ways pre-published authors can start their careers now, from Anne R. Allen.

http://annerallen.blogspot.ca/2014/04/10-ways-pre-published-writers-can-start.html

K.M. Weiland on the elephant in the room. Are you ignoring your writer’s instincts when it comes to revision?

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2014/04/story-revision.html

Enjoy, my friends.

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the Interwebz March 30-April 5, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 3 Comments

TipsdayCreating Stunning Character Arcs, part 8:

http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2014/03/character-arcs-8.html

And more Katie, this time on NPR. Listen, or read the transcript. As you wish, dear reader.

http://www.npr.org/2014/04/05/298728897/how-to-kill-a-character

 

 

R.A. Salvatore interview with Bryan Stearns from Oct 16, 2010. The interview is actually in three parts, but parts 2 and 3 will populate the YouTube sidebar when you watch this first one.

Roz Morris received an anguished Tweet. Here is her response.

http://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/how-many-words-do-you-write-a-day-and-do-you-have-to-force-yourself-how-successful-authors-do-it/

The Sword & Laser spotlight on Chuck Wendig 🙂

Ruth Harris on Anne R. Allen’s blog. It’s all about the blurbage.

http://annerallen.blogspot.ca/2014/03/8-tips-for-writing-that-killer-blurb.html

Orna Ross and Kobo’s Mark Lefebvre discuss the “Open Up to Indie Authors Campaign.”

http://www.ornaross.com/2014/04/chatting-with-kobos-mark-lefebvre-about-our-open-up-to-indie-authors-campaign/

Look for more inspirational curation on Thoughty Thursday!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the Interwebz March 16-22, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila / 8 Comments

TipsdayAway from home this week and free wifi is slooooow.

I’d just posted about seasonal affective disorder (SAD) myself when Lydia Sharp posted this to Writer Unboxed:
http://writerunboxed.com/2014/03/16/seasonal-writing-disorder/

On the changing role of agents and new submission guidelines from Anne R. Allen’s blog (with the fabulous Pam Van Hylckama Vlieg):
http://annerallen.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-changing-role-of-literary-agents.html

Part 6 of K.M. Weiland’s Creating Stunning Character Arcs series:
http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2014/03/character-arcs-6.html

Two from Elissa Field. Is teaching a good day job for a writer? http://elissafield.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/writers-day-job-is-teaching-a-good-day-job-for-writers/ and Friday Links for writers 03.14.14 http://elissafield.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/friday-links-for-writers-03-14-14-quirky-info-sources/

Hey, who says I can’t curate the curators?

And here’s a third for good measure: novel revision strategies: http://elissafield.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/novel-revision-strategy-retyping-the-novel-draft/

The science of emotion in marketing. The article speaks to me more of braiin science and the power of story.
http://blog.bufferapp.com/science-of-emotion-in-marketing

Improve your vocabulary.
http://justenglish.me/2014/03/10/important-infrequently-used-words-to-know/

Stephen King’s top 20 rules for writers, ‘cause you know, we can never break too many of them 😛
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers/

Agent Carly Watters explains what she looks for when she Googles a prospective client.
http://carlywatters.com/2014/03/17/q-what-do-agents-like-to-see-when-they-google-writers/

Roz Morris on the dangers of over-dependence on your thesaurus.
http://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/bring-on-the-empty-horses-handle-synonyms-with-care/

The neurological similarities between writers and the mentally ill. Get your critical thinking caps on people.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/cody-delistraty/2014/03/the-neurological-similarities-between-successful-writers-and-the-mentally-ill/

5 charts that show how publishing is changing from Jane Friedman.
http://janefriedman.com/2014/03/21/5-valuable-charts/

5 insightful writing tips from Paul Harding.
http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/60070-5-writing-tips-paul-harding.html

5 reasons your platform may be spinning its wheels from Michael Hyatt.
http://michaelhyatt.com/traction.html

WOW! Did I find a lot of good stuff on the interwebz last week or what?

That’s the thing with me. Sometimes, I’ll be all over that. Sometimes I won’t. This week, for instance, being on the road, I don’t think will be very productive for the linkage. We shall see.

And this is me, saying goodnight.