Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 3-9, 2017

September 12, 2017September 10, 2017 / Melanie Marttila

Here are your informal writerly learnings for the first full week of September (!)

K.M. Weiland continues her most common writing mistakes with part 62: head-hopping POV. Helping Writers Become Authors

Colleen M. Story explains how your time personality influences your writing productivity. Writers in the Storm

Susan Spann explains the law (and ethics) of conference blogging. Writers in the Storm

James Scott Bell stops by the Writers Helping Writers coaches’ corner: using the novel journal to make writing breakthroughs.

Vaughn Roycroft is fortified by gratitude. Writer Unboxed

Donald Maass muses on what makes a journey. Writer Unboxed

Here’s the second part of my exploration of The Hero’s Journey on DIY MFA.

Crash Course Mythology – The Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth. They do a really good job of illustrating how some of the stages of The Hero’s Journey are optional, or can be shifted 🙂

Leanne Sowul: it’s back to school time at DIY MFA—what do you want to learn?

Kristen Lamb explains why suffering is essential for great fiction.

Jeff Lyons returns to Jami Gold’s blog to bust the rest of the top ten writing myths.

Rachel Chaney is Dan Koboldt’s equine expert for this article: matching horses to use, climate, and characters in fiction.

And then, Judith Tarr contributed in praise of the hard-working fantasy horse to the Tor.com blog. What do these ladies have against Friesians, anyway?

Rebecca Solnit: if I were a man. The Guardian

Isabella Biedenharn: Libba Bray has some thoughts on this all-female Lord of the Flies remake. Entertainment Weekly

What growing up in the sulphur city taught me about beauty. Christine Schrum on the Latitude 46 blog.

Cat Rambo announces that games writers will be eligible for an award in the 2018 Nebulas. Geekwire podcast.

Tor.com presents Ursula K. Le Guin’s introduction to the Library of America’s The Hainish Novels & Stories, volume one.

OMG. Droughtlander’s almost over! Actually, the first ep will have aired by the time I post this. Still. OUTLANDER!

Ever think Gandalf was a dick? Well, so does Emily Asher-Perrin: five things Gandalf should have admitted instead of being a jerk. (ROFL-hilarious) Tor.com

So I went to WorldCon in August, eh? This happened. The Tea & Jeopardy live podcast taping with George R.R. (Really Really) Martin!

Enjoy, and be well until Thoughty Thursday!

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Aug 27-Sept 2, 2017

September 5, 2017September 4, 2017 / Melanie Marttila

Here are your informal writerly learnings for the week 🙂

Kathryn Craft offers four tips for translating critique-speak 🙂 Writers in the Storm

Janice Hardy visits Writers in the Storm: six ways your setting can create conflict.

Julia Monroe Martin shares seven things she learned from wrecking her novel. Writer Unboxed

Tracy Hahn-Burkett gives a primer in outlining for pantsers. Writer Unboxed

James Scott Bell offers some tips on how to weave backstory into frontstory. Writer Unboxed

Steven James talks about telling the truth in fiction. Writer Unboxed

Natalia Sylvester explains how white writers can be better allies to writers of colour. Writer Unboxed

Jo Eberhardt compares authentic female characters to Hollywood’s passion for gender-swaps. Writer Unboxed

K.M. Weiland shows us seven ways to write thematically-pertinent antagonists. Helping Writers Become Authors

Later in the week, Kate explains why doubt is the key to flat character arcs.

Janice Hardy stops by Writers Helping Writers: why characters need choices in fiction.

Sara Letourneau continues her series on developing themes in your stories with part 12: the setting. DIY MFA

Ghenet Myrthil: five lessons I learned writing my first middle grade novel. DIY MFA

Tamara Linden presents five myths to plunder for ideas and inspiration. DIY MFA

Jeff Lyons guest posts on Jami Gold’s blog: don’t believe these writing myths, part 1.

What psychology says about the first page of your novel. Tamar Sloan for The Write Life.

Chris Winkle: when dark and gritty is just exploitation. Mythcreants

More Wordstock 2017 news from The Sudbury Star.

Peter Robb interviews Kate Heartfield for Artsfile.

Gear Bear says that in the genre’s new “golden age,” science fiction has won the war. Geekwire podcast.

Tolkien’s plant passion moves botanist to write Flora of Middle-Earth. David Fuchs for NPR.

Ursula K. Le Guin: on power, oppression, and freedom. Vox Populi

Robin Kirk explores epic fantasy and breaking the rules of infrastructure in the interest of speed. Tor.com

I hope you gleaned some writerly goodness from this curation.

Be well until Thursday, my friends!

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, March 26-April 1, 2017

April 4, 2017April 2, 2017 / Melanie Marttila

Holy cow, lookit all the informal writerly learnings 🙂

K.M. Weiland covers seven stages of being a writer. Helping Writers Become Authors

Later in the week, Kate helps you notch up your scene conflict.

Fred Johnson guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog: how to get violence right in your fiction.

Grace Wynter joins Writer Unboxed as a contributor: Look! Up in the sky! It’s a … writer?

Catherine McKenzie: are you tired of writing? Writer Unboxed

Tracy Hahn-Burkett helps you have patience over the long, long haul. Writer Unboxed

Jo Eberhardt unpacks the relationship between envy, perfectionism, and the work of writing. Writer Unboxed

Susan Spann: how to avoid pay to play publishing contracts. Writer Unboxed

Jenna Moreci: Show vs. Tell, part 2. When to tell.

Kimberly Brock has the blank page blues. Writers in the Storm

Kathryn Craft says we can do it all—but should we? Writers in the Storm

Ruth Harris shares some stress busters and burnout beaters. Anne R. Allen’s blog

Leanne Sowul: how one skeptic became a meditation convert. DIY MFA

Gabriela Pereira interviews Jessica Strawser for DIY MFA radio.

G. Myrthil explains why kid lit matters. DIY MFA

Linda Bernadette Burgess shares five ways to manage multiple creative passions. DIY MFA

Emily Temple says that if any literature is going to change the world, it’s going to be young adult. Literary Hub

Fantasy Faction explores sieges and siegecraft. Part one: attackers.

Jeff Lyons returns to Jami Gold’s blog: what is high concept and how can I create it?

Lilith Saint Crow stops by Terribleminds: when a short story won’t stay short for long.

Nina Munteanu: the power of myth in storytelling.

Bonnie Randall wonders, do sensitivity readers hurt or help our novels? Fiction University

Nathan Bransford says that the key to a great query letter is summarizing through specificity.

Barbara Kyle shares ten query letter tips.

Pamela Hodges explains how to edit your novel like a New York publisher. The Write Practice

John Koenig makes another entry in the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: morii.

S.B. Divya reveals the seed of her novel Runtime. Tor.com

Malka Older’s not predicting the future, she’s just observing the present. Tor.com

Sunny Moraine: resistance through speculative fiction. Tor.com

Leah Schnelbach revisits Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds, twenty years on. Tor.com

Am I pathetic because I still love Buffy? I guess I’m not alone: Katharine Trendacosta shares pics from the Entertainment Weekly Buffy reunion photo shoot. i09

Three translators respond to Arrival. Susannah Greenblatt for Words without Borders.

Adam Frank explains how great science fiction shows like The Expanse prepare us for the future. NPR

Evan Narcisse shows us the Valerian trailer. i09

Hope you enjoyed the writerly goodness.

See you Thursday for some thoughty 🙂

Be well until then.

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