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

November 3, 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.

Christine Frazier shares her day-by-day NaNoWriMo outline. The Better Novel Project.
Jenny Hansen says, don’t stop—your novel is calling you. More Cowbell.
Each writer must make his choice whether to NaNo or not. Chuck Wendig offers us a balanced list of reasons for and against.

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: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Oct 18-24, 2015

October 27, 2015 / Melanie Marttila

Whee! The countdown to Can-con and NaNoWriMo has begun!

I’m all a-squee!

K.M. Weiland answers a reader’s question: How do I keep writing during NaNo when all I want to is watch football?

C.S. Lakin writes about the insanity that is NaNoWriMo.

Katie describes how to make your hero’s self-sacrifice even more heart-breaking.

Jan O’Hara explores those times when dark emotions threaten your writing. Writer Unboxed.

Dan Blank compares copying others and failing vs. forging your own path on Writer Unboxed.

Veronica Sicoe looks at the power of momentum and the three c’s of productivity.

Maya Sapiurka teaches us how to cure writer’s block. Time.

C.S. MacCath gives us a strategy for writing through an emotional block.

Catherine Ryan Howard gives us a virtual tour of her writing space: where the crying happens.

Joanna Penn presents seven things to fix in your first self-edit.

Chuck Sambuchino guest posts on Carly Watters’ blog with seven tips to help you craft your novel’s pitch.

Ruthanne Reid provides a lesson in world building 101. The Write Practice.

Liz Bourke writes about strong female characters and the double standard. Tor.com.

Jamie Gold offers great tips for and examples of writing diversity (without issues).

Noah Charney describes the not-quite end of the book tour. The Atlantic.

George Saunders shares his writing education in The New Yorker.

Was there a real-life Rochester in Charlotte Bronte’s life? The Telegraph.

Has sci-fi become a 21st century religion? The Guardian.

Emil Lendof of The Daily Beast introduces us to Brian K. Vaughan, the comic visionary behind Y: The Last Man.

The Jessica Jones trailer:

And the heresy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:

I guess it’s trailer day on Tipsday. Here’s the supercut trailer for The Force Awakens:

Charlie Jane Anders lists 50 science fiction movies that everyone should see at least once. i09.

Grammarly shares 20 jokes for grammar nerds.

BuzzFeed presents 17 rooms for book lovers.

Seven celebrities recite Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” MentalFloss.

Come on back for Thoughty Thursday!

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

October 6, 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: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, July 26-August 1, 2015

August 4, 2015 / Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

Tipsday is back, full force. Feel the Writerly Goodness 😉

K.M. Weiland shares four ways to write a likeable protagonist at the beginning of the character arc. Helping writers become authors.

Related: Chris Winkle asks (and answers), do characters need to be likeable? Mythcreants.

Here are two ways to make the most of your climactic setting, Katie’s Wednesday vlog.

Writer Unboxed continues its Diversity series with Gabriel Valjan: Import foreign cultures into your fiction.

Jami Gold shines a light on diversity issues.

Kim Bullock gets confessional on Writer Unboxed: The elephant in my living room.

How to write a novel in the dark, by Siobhan Adcock. The Daily Beast.

This is crazy-awesome Writingeekery. MJ Bush decided to live blog her 24 hour write-a-thon to draft her next book.

More Writer Unboxed: Jo Eberhardt shares a personal story about the power of fiction. [Mel’s note: Mary Brown’s The Unlikely Ones was one of the books I latched onto in my university years. Wonderful.]

Jeff Gerke guest posts on C.S. Lakin’s Live, Write, Thrive blog about hacking your reader’s brain.

Callie Oettinger revisits a past post on Steven Pressfield’s blog: Lay a little heavy on the business side.

Your second life starts when life cracks you open. Justine Musk on stepping into the bigger story.

Virginia Woolf believed that the best mind is an androgynous mind. Brainpickings.

Janis Joplin speaks about creativity and rejection in her final, lost interview, rediscovered and animated. Fabulous. Brainpickings.

Portland Monthly features home grown author Ursula K. le Guin. Amazing read.

Ever thought, ‘gee, I’d like to ask Ursula K. le Guin about writing’? Well, now you can! The Book View Cafe.

Neil Gaiman talks in his sleep. His wife, Amanda Palmer, found a forgotten recording of one of their nocturnal conversations and created this whimsical animated short. Brainpickings. [Mel’s note: I take a strange kind of comfort in the fact that I talk in my sleep, too. Phil doesn’t record our conversations, though.]

Fantasy writer N.K. Jemesin upends the racist and sexist status quo. The Guardian.

Haruki Murakami shares the moment he knew he’d be a writer. The Telegraph.

Jill Soloway calls for a matriarchal revolution in film. The Vulture.

How changing your reading habits can improve your health. Fast Company.

Charlie Jane Anders of i09 writes about ten books we pretend to have read and why we really should. For the record, I’ve only read one of these, Dune.

Foz Meadows writes about Sens8 for Tor.com. Just for the record, Phil and I loved the shite out of this Netflix Original.

CBC is now producing webseries: The Riftworld Chronicles. Tamoh Penikett stars 🙂

Buzzfeed presents seventeen (gif) faces that every grammar nerd will relate to.

Authors tweet #tenthingsnottosaytoawriter. Entertainment Weekly.

Interesting stuff coming up on thoughty Thursday, See you then!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, March 29-April 4, 2015

April 7, 2015 / Melanie Marttila / 7 Comments

Does it serve your story? Why killing your darlings is a mark of the mature writer. Roz Morris.

K.M. Weiland asks, What are pinch points and how can they make your story easier to write?

Show what your characters are thinking and feeling like a writer, rather than a director. Katie’s Wednesday vlog.

Ruth Harris shares the ten commandments of productive professional writers.

Here we are at day 29 of Janice Hardy’s online novel revision workshop: Eliminate unnecessary repetition. Though the month is over, you can peruse this lovely series of posts for revision assistance any time you want 🙂

Donald Maass discusses emotional work on Writer Unboxed.

Editor Rachel Starr Thomson guests on C.S. Lakin’s Live, Write, Thrive and writes about weaving in backstory.

Editorial advice: Stop using two spaces after a period. Cult of Pedagogy.

Eight natural phenomena to use in your stories. Mythcreants.

Reading makes us smarter and nicer. Readers are more empathetic. Who knew? Time.

Mary Robinette Kowal played an April Fool’s joke that wasn’t really a joke. She really is going to be working on Sesame Street.

Andrew Pyper is featured in Now.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia and her novel Signal to Noise have gained some high-profile attention. i09.

Culture and conflict on Warpworld: Dr. Robert Runte discusses Canadian vs. American Science Fiction.

J.K. Rowlings’ ten pieces of advice on the lessons of failure (and the commencement speech from which they were taken). The Guardian.

Six John Green Quotes on writing. Authors Publish.

Jack Kerouac’s 31 beliefs about writing. The Write Practice.