Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, March 6-12, 2016

March 15, 2016March 15, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

A nice bit mix of craft, career, and creativity 🙂

K.M. Weiland continues her most common writing mistakes series with number 49: weak conjunctions. Helping writers become authors. Later in the week, she helps us keep things straight: Plot isn’t story.

C.S. Lakin explores cinematic scene openings in her scene structure series.

Lisa Cron tells us the shocking truth about info dumps. Writer Unboxed.

Christine Frazier helps us take charge of our novels’ symbolism. The Better Novel Project.

Janice Hardy offers the basics of punctuating dialogue. Fiction University. Later, she talks about getting readers to the end and making them glad they came.

Chris Winkle shares five haunting backgrounds for creating deep characters. Mythcreants. Then, Oren Ashkenazi shares five more reasons your story is sexist.

Laura Drake overcomes rejection: Don’t give up your power. Writers in the Storm.

Jaym Gates talks about making hard decisions and refocusing on what matters.

I’m so glad more writers are blogging about this. So important. Self-care for writers, by Jami Gold.

This is the dystopia we’ve built. Kameron Hurley reflects on life experiences and reviews The United States of Japan.

Laini Taylor offers some writing advice. The Book Life.

Publishing business news from Publishers Weekly: The Supreme Court rejects Apple’s appeal.

BBC presents ten women who changed science fiction for the better.

Bustle shares eight feminist science fiction novels. Moar recommended reading (!)

This is just amazing storytelling. The Maker.

Another brilliant piece of storytelling, but with a dystopian bent. iMom will creep you out. i09.

Entertainment Tonight online interviews Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe on season two of Outlander.

Thanks for stopping by.

Come back for some inspirational material on thoughty Thursday.

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 28-March 5, 2016

March 8, 2016March 8, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Fun stuff this week 🙂

C.S. Lakin tells us what we might not know about scene middles. Live, write, thrive. Later in the week, she asks, are your scene endings inevitable, or predictable?

K.M. Weiland shows us how to create awesome scene arcs that surprise readers. Helping writers become authors.

Nils Ödlund offers a primer in Kishōtenketsu, or Japanese four-part story structure. Mythic Scribes.

Donald Maass rethinks the mentor archetype for Writer Unboxed.

High concept vs. deep theme. Vaughn Roycroft asks, are you reaching or digging? Writer Unboxed.

Angela Ackerman explores how your character’s failures can map a route to growth. Writers helping writers.

Orly Konig Lopez shares the secret to balancing writing and life. Writers in the Storm.

Jofie Ferrari-Adler interviews four young, literary agents for Poets & Writers.

A&M Publishers have been all over SoMe this week. They got a feature from Victoria Strauss on Writer Beware. Chuck Wendig also voiced his displeasure with this post: How much should writers pay to be published? Terribleminds.

If I may use some of it: Simon Chandler writes about expanding your vocabulary. Full Stop.

Bustle lists fifteen literary heroines you wanted to be when you grew up.

Karen Swollow Prior explores Jane Eyre and the invention of the self. The Atlantic.

The only thing I envy men, by Rivka Galchen, for The New Yorker.

Hanya Yanagihara wonders what it means to be a brave author. The Guardian.

Molly Templeton looks at Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series. Tor.com

Liz Bourke tackles the topic of SFF television and female mentorship. Tor.com

Have you ever wondered what wizarding money might be worth in the real world? Look no further. Jacob Stollworthy converts galleons to pounds in this article. [Mel’s note: the Tri-Wizard cup prize money is actually worth £425,000.] The Independent.

I’m putting this video in Tipsday, because it’s a fairy/riddle song that tells a sad and lovely story. Mike Masse and Sterling Cottam cover Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair.”

Someone shared these whimsical fantasy felines by artist Kyoung Hwan Kim and I just had to pass along the awesome. Fiercely kawaii!

Are you looking forward to the new Ghostbusters as much as I am? Here’s a little teaser:

Come on back Thursday, you hear?

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 21-27, 2016

March 1, 2016March 1, 2016 / Melanie Marttila

A yummy week of Writerly Goodness for you:

Roz Morris shares three diagrams that you can use to check your novel’s pacing. Nail your novel.

Becca Puglisi also tackles novel pacing for Writers Helping Writers.

K.M. Weiland offers four tweaks that will help you write original stories and characters. Helping writers become authors.

C.S. Lakin looks at scenes as capsules of time. Live, write thrive. She added establishing your setting to her Scene Structure series later tin the week.

Jami Gold helps us find the right balance in story description.

C.S. Plocher shows us what we can learn from J.K. Rowling’s series grid. The Better Novel Project.

Janice Hardy explores how to build internal and external core conflicts. Fiction University.

Chris Winkle shares some tips about narrating dreams and visions. Mythcreants.

The 49th Shelf shares a round-table discussion about world building.

Oren Ashkenazi offers some tips for writing a diverse story. Mythcreants.

Marcy Kennedy writes about valuing yourself and your work. Remember that thing from last week? Yeah. More of that.

Jim C. Hines discusses the importance on not only having anti-harassment policies at cons, but also of enforcing them.

Heather Webb explores how a writer lives with yearning on Writer Unboxed.

Dan Blank advises us to create every day. Life is chaotic. There is no time but now. Writer Unboxed.

And here’s another Dan Blank video. Invest in relationships, not blueprints.

Jessie Burton writes about her journey, as a creative, through depression and anxiety.

Kirsten Oliphant guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog on how authors can use Pinterest best.

Then Jane posted on Writer Unboxed about a common misunderstanding authors have about web sites.

Brent Underwood goes behind the scam to discover what it takes to become a “bestselling” author on Amazon. The Observer. The answer? $3 and five minutes.

Jamie Raintree helps you design your writing career from the top, down. Writers in the Storm.

Mark Medley profiles Jennifer Robson, the most successful Canadian author you’ve never heard of. The Globe and Mail.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, read in the original Akkadian. Open Culture.

Just a quick reminder about the importance of the Oxford comma. The Poke.

Electric Lit shares an infographic analyzing the 15 most populated novels. Guess what? A Song of Fire and Ice isn’t the worst offender 😉

An accented tour of the British Isles:

How to be a person. Shane Koyczan.

A first look at five new character portraits for season two of Outlander. It’s getting closer! Yahoo!

And that’s it until Thursday!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 14-20, 2016

February 23, 2016February 23, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Pub news, literary deaths, and videos, oh, my!

The big issue of the week: The Huffington Post is proud that it doesn’t pay its writers.

Chuck Wendig: Pay the fucking writers.
Kristen Lamb: Shame on you, AOL/Huffington.
Porter Anderson: Amazing disgrace. Writer Unboxed.

Related: How do writers get paid in a world addicted to free? Kristen Lamb.

Two literary losses this week.

Harper Lee dies at 89. The New York Times.
Then, Umberto Eco dies at 84. The Guardian.

K.M. Weiland shares five important ways storytelling differs between novels and movies. Later in the week, she posted about hacking readers brains by using all five senses in your description. Finally, she explains why cool for cool’s sake character traits are not, in fact, cool.

Roz Morris wonders whether you’ve left an important scene out of your story.

C.S. Lakin shows us the benefits of breaking down scene structure into three parts. Later, she looks at scenes as segments and capsules of time.

Densie Webb explores writing as compulsion on Writer Unboxed.

Andrea Phillips guests on Terribleminds: Throw everything at the wall. On the messiness of modern careers.

Christine Frazier analyzes fight scenes on The Better Novel Project.

Christian Cameron shares his thoughts on faith, piety, and writing about religion.

Foz Meadows: we can’t just adapt science fiction and fantasy novels—we have to transform them. Tor.com

Dan Blank started his own YouTube channel (and, yup, Ima share all of them):

Porter Anderson reviews the progress of Shelfie and Bitlit at three years.

Catherine Ryan Howard updates us on the progress of her two novel deal.

Jim C. Hines: My mental illness is not your inspirational Post-it note.

Haruki Murakami writes about how he became a running novelist. The New Yorker.

Phylogenetic analysis suggests that fairy tales are much older than we thought. Phys.org

The good people of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast interview Beth Revis.

I really like Shane Koyczan’s poetry. Here are several samples for your listening enjoyment.

Valentine laments the lack of original book titles. The Guardian.

Mental Floss lists 15 things you may not know about Beatrix Potter.

Altas Obscura shares 15 real-world locations of science fiction dystopias.

Buzzfeed lists 27 products for book lovers.

And that was Tipsday.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 7-13, 2016

February 16, 2016February 16, 2016 / Melanie Marttila

Load up your plates my friends, I have lots of nommable readables here 🙂

K.M. Weiland shares her insights into being a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder and a writer. She also offers some tips on how to remain healthy even if you live at a desk.

C.S. Lakin explains how writers can benefit from outlining their scenes. Her scene structure series continues with the opening hook.

Janice Hardy shares five common problems with novel beginnings and how to solve them.

Jamie Raintree shows how the power of consistency builds writing careers.

Lisa Cron shared an older post with our Story Genius class: Three misunderstood pieces of writing advice that can derail your novel. Writer Unboxed. And here’s her most recent post for WU: Where real drama comes from.

Anne R. Allen lists five reasons writers need to use Google+ even though the new Google+ is awful. I must admit, I’ve fallen out of love with G+ these days. I still post there, but if I’m in a time crunch, it’s the first SoMe to be sacrificed.

Kameron Hurley admits her fallibility: We all drop the ball. Another excellence post on the importance of self-care and forgiveness in times of stress.

Related: Allie Larkin writes about the myth of balance for Writer Unboxed.

Jim C. Hines explores the pros and cons of antidepressants.

Chris Winkle gleans lessons from the cinematic writing of I Am Number Four. Mythcreants.

Local author and writerly friend, Paulette Dahl, publishes Love Letters. The Northern Life.

Ken Pisani says, finding an agent is the worst this ever. Publishers Weekly.

You should read this chat on diversity in publishing from The Toast.

The Kenyon v. Clare court case has been all over the feeds this week. Here’s where I heard about it first. Courthouse News Service.

J.K. Rowling will be publishing the script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Publishers Weekly.

This is cool. Mental Floss lists eight things invented by famous authors.

Mental Floss also lists eleven authors who hated the movie adaptations of their books.

Bitch Media presents, Anya to Zombies, an alphabet of graphic novels by women.

This video is sad and beautiful and all kinds of wonderful: The Life of Death. Great storytelling.

Fantasy Fiction Focus features Tim Reynolds.

Historical novelist Tracy Chevalier calls Charlotte Brontë her hero. The Guardian.

William Gibson shares his experience writing Neuromancer. The Guardian.

The secrecy and speculation around the Doctor’s new companion (or not). Radio Times.

A Discovery of Witches series is in development. Deadline Hollywood.

I can hardly wait! Outlander, season two, begins April 9! And here’s the official trailer in case you need a little something something to get excited about 😉

Now, to settle down with some tea and let all this awesome digest!

I’ll be back with some thoughty for you on Thursday 🙂

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Jan 31-Feb 6, 2016

February 9, 2016February 9, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

I’m all about the Writerly Goodness.

Most common writing mistakes, part 48: No conflict between characters. K.M. Weiland. Helping writers become authors. Then, she helps us figure out which scenes to include in act one.

Using a scene template to craft perfect scenes. C.S. Lakin. Live, write, thrive. Later in the week, she continues her scene structure series with this post: Scene structure: Beginnings and magic ingredients.

Chuck Wendig gets a little punchy with his headline: The pros and cons of pro cons (for writers).

Emmie Mears guest posts on Terribleminds on the issue of impostor syndrome.

Donald Maass says dialogue should do more than fill the silence. Writer Unboxed.

Juliet Marillier shares her experience as an ‘older writer’ on Writer Unboxed.

Jo Eberhardt ofers up her lessons learned about crafting secondary characters that count. Writer Unboxed.

Tiffany Lawson Inman gust posts on Writers in the Storm about seven fight styles every author should know about.

Chris Winkle offers five signs that your novel is sexist. Mythcreants.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch addresses the issue of writer voice (or the lack, thereof) in her weekly business post.

Joanna Penn interviews Joseph Michael, The Scrivener Coach, for The Creative Penn Podcast.

Andrew Rhomberg shares some important statistics on Digital Book World. Start strong, or lose your readers.

Some hope for the long suffering submitter: Scott Edelman sells to Analog after 44 years of submitting.

A new literary movement: method authors. The Independent.

Mental Floss lists 11 words of the year from around the world.

The book most people lie about having read is not what you think it is. The Telegraph.

Last week was national storytelling week. Bustle lists 15 books that will help you start your storytelling career.

Craft your own origami book marks. Rocket News 24.

A new play, “Pig Girl,” takes on the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women. CBC.

Katy Waldman shares what she learned by joining Emma Watson’s feminist book club. Slate.

Can historical fiction be considered serious literature? Why are we even asking this question? New Republic.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, 24-30, 2016

February 2, 2016February 2, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

The video frenzy has calmed down, but the space has been filled with all kinds of Writerly Goodness!

Your NaNo novel is a hot mess. K.M. Weiland explains how to approach revision and editing.

Katie posted later in the week about how to write realistic fight scenes and later still with the number one problem with backstory (and how to fix it).

Outlining your scenes will help you write a great novel. C.S. Lakin.

Sue returned with another entry in her scene structure series: understanding the truth about character arcs.

Roz Morris gives us a simple way to understand show, not tell.

Everyone is all about structure, the outline, and planning rather than pantsing. Well, I’m proud to identify as a plantser. Steven James explains to Writer Unboxed readers how abandoning your outline can improve your story.

Bonnie Randall guest posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University writing about matching actions and emotions.

Christian Cameron writes about war, violence, and killing characters.

Cara Sue Achterberg shares how she added a touch of fantasy to her novel. Author First.

Don’t worry, it only gets harder. Dan Blank explains why it’s important to keep your focus where it belongs. Writer Unboxed.

Kameron Hurley considers kindness and conventions. Later in the week, she’s committed to the drop and offers a few words of advice on non-compete clauses and rights grabs.

The politics of justice: Identity and empire in Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Trilogy. Liz Bourke for Tor.com.

Renee Baum helps us to see writing as surgery for the soul. The Elephant Journal.

The Book of Kells is now free to read online. It’s a masterwork of medieval illumination. Trinity College Dublin.

Jake Rossen asks, why do books have blank pages? Mental Floss.

There’s a new Beatrix Potter story to be published after 100 years. CBC.

Eight words reveal the sexism at the heart of the English language. The Guardian.

Stephen Fry, Ina McKellen, and Melvyn Bragg share their stories for this new online course, Literature and mental health. The Independent.

Hit Record: a different kind of social media. Check it out. It looks awesome.

Shane Koyczan’s Crush:

Outlander casts Brianna for season two. The Hollywood Reporter.

It was a good week. Here’s to another!

See you Thursday 🙂

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Jan 10-16, 2016

January 19, 2016 / Melanie Marttila

Of Writerly Goodness, there is much 🙂

Do you re-read your favourite books? K.M. Weiland shares five tips on how you can up the re-readability factor for your novel.

Janice Hardy explains (ha!) what you need to know about show, don’t tell. Fiction University.

C.S. Lakin shares the five essential components of scene structure. Live, write, thrive.

Later in the week, she offers an older post on the same subject: your opening scene.

Jane Friedman shares Mary Buckham’s advice on how writers can craft effective settings.

Chuck Wendig offers five lessons learned from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Continuing his ruminations on shame and guilt, David Corbett writes the broken arc for Writer Unboxed.

Lisa Cron wonders, why do we write? Writer Unboxed.

Sarah Callender writes about when to ditch the jammies on Writer Unboxed.

Delilah S. Dawson explains what you really need to call yourself a writer.

Porter Anderson uses Erik Anderson’s discussion of diversity—or the lack thereof—in his reading as a jumping off point to explore the issue of diversity in writing. Writer Unboxed.

Dean Wesley Smith offers some tough love for writers who think they’re starting too late.

Carly Watters compares the various methods of pitching and querying. Which one is best for you?

Susan Spann drops by Writer Unboxed to share some tips for writers on how to obtain reversions of your publishing rights.

Delilah S. Dawson writes about using mindfulness and flow as a way to overcome depression.

Later in the week, she continues with this post: ‘just breathe’ is my new motto.

Inspired in part by Delilah’s posts, Chuck Wendig offers his unique take on self-care for writers. Comfort food for your big, squishy brain.

David Bowie’s death (and her own near-death experience) inspired Kameron Hurley to write this post on creation and legacy: Yes, we’re all going to die.

A horse trainer points out the most common writers’ errors with regard to horses. Dan Koboldt.

Two hundred linguists from the American Dialect Society have declared the singular ‘they’ as word of the year. The Washington Post.

A visual timeline of the future based on famous fiction. Brainpickings.

i09 lists their top 40 science fiction and fantasy books coming out in 2016.

And that was Tipsday!

Come on back for Thoughty Thursday, y’all. Hear?

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Dec 20-26, 2015

December 29, 2015December 29, 2015 / Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

Here’s a little Writerly Goodness for you 🙂 Looks like I really did take a holiday last week. Yay me!

K.M. Weiland talks about coincidences in your fiction and what mistake in means you might be making.

C.S. Lakin calls these stylistic devices. I call them rhetorical figures. I lurves me some rhetoric. I blame the politicians for rhetoric’s pejorative connotation 😦 However you choose to look at them, they’re a lot of fun and can add something special to your writing.

Dan Blank says that creative work is performance. Writer Unboxed.

Why writers need human connection. Jamie Raintree guests on Writers in the Storm.

Chris Winkle shares lessons learned from the awkward writing of The Sword of Truth. Mythcreants.

George R.R. Martin uses it. So does Robert J. Sawyer. Find out why Wordstar is the preferred word processor for these authors.

And speaking of nifty writer tech, here’s Jamie Raintree’s new writing and revision tracker*. This is the spreadsheet that revolutionized my attitude toward my writing. I hope it will do the same for you 🙂

*This year, Jamie’s made the spreadsheet fairly foolproof. You can only enter data into certain cells. So much easier. I’ll still do a little post on how to set it up, but it won’t be as extensive as I thought based on past years.

Before you launch a Patreon for your writing, read this. Nicole Dieker for The Write Life.

Madeleine Monson-Rosen recounts the twelve happy accidents that helped save science fiction. i09.

Now this is my idea of a happy Christmas: Jolabokaflod. NPR.

Hope you had a wondrous holiday.

See you Thursday!

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

December 1, 2015December 1, 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.