Jenna Moreci

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, March 5-11, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

The writerly goodness just keeps on coming 🙂

K.M. Weiland offers the next in her most common writing mistakes series: dead end relationships. Helping Writers Become Authors

John J. Kelley: the care and feeding of relationships. Writer Unboxed

Bryn Greenwood explains hot bunking for writers. Writer Unboxed

Kathryn Craft explores the power of unexpected elements. Writer Unboxed

Emily Cavanaugh helps you take yourself seriously as a writer—before anyone else does. Writers in the Storm

Orly Konig-Lopez explores living with writerly self-doubt. Writers in the Storm

James Scott Bell is in the Writers Helping Writers coaching corner: conflict and suspense belong in every kind of novel.

Dan Blank guest posts on Writers Helping Writers: the daily practice of growing your audience.

Jamie Raintree examines authenticity and the discomfort of vulnerability.

Robin Lovett extols the merits of happily ever after. DIYMFA

Gabriela Pereira interviews Clare Mackintosh for DIYMFA radio.

Jami Gold: right brain vs. left brain vs. creativity.

What’s the purpose of story structure for readers? Jami Gold

E.R. Ramzipoor guest posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction Univerity: token or broken? Writing LGBT.

How to outline your novel, part 2. Jenna Moreci

 

Susan Spann lists ten questions you should ask before you accept a publishing deal. Writers in the Storm

Nevertheless, she persisted: a Tor.com flash fiction project. Awesome stories by awesome writers.

Margaret Atwood: what The Handmaid’s Tale means in the age of Trump. The New York Times

Molly McArdle takes a look at the rise of Roxane Gay. Brooklyn Magazine

Mary Walsh is coming out with her first novel! CBC Books

Kathleen O’Grady reports on the discovery of a true language universal. Ars Technica

David Schultz: some fairy tales may be 6,000 years old. Science Magazine

Robert MacFarlane considers Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising the eeriest novel he knows. 1843 Magazine

Twenty questions with Ursula K. Le Guin: The Times Literary Supplement

Simon Tolkien writes about his grandfather and how WWI inspired The Lord of the Rings. BBC

Here’s a literary cold case for you: Jane Austen may have died of arsenic poisoning. Christopher D. Shea and Jennifer Schuessler share the evidence, and the theory, so far. The New York Times

And that was your informal writerly learnings of the week.

See you Thursday!

Be well until then.

tipsday2016

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 26-March 4, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

Ah, another lovely batch of informal writerly learnings for you 🙂

K.M. Weiland: the lazy writer’s six-question guide to writing an original book. Helping Writers Become Authors

Kathryn Craft shares seven ways to get rich from writing (it’s not quite what you think). Writers in the Storm

What a sensitivity reader is and how to hire one. Natalia Sylvester guest posts on Writer Unboxed.

Julia Munroe Martin tells us how to get by with a little help from our (writer) friends. Writer Unboxed

Sarah McCoy: a hard change will do you good. Writer Unboxed

Donald Maass says, impossible odds for everyone! WriterUnboxed

Jo Eberhardt: how to (not) overcome fear. Writer Unboxed

Laura Drake: the angels are in the details. Writers in the Storm

Chris Winkle lists twelve traits that help create loveable heroes. Mythcreants

Oren Ashkenazi examines five great characters from horrible shows. Mythcreants

Chuck Wendig never fails to crack me up (while sharing awesome advice). A very good list of vital writing advice—do not ignore! Terribleminds

Jenna Moreci: how to outline your novel, part 1.

 

Angela Ackerman shares the news about the new worldbuilder tool on One Stop for Writers. Looks amazing. Writers Helping Writers

This feels weird, but also awesome. I’m curating myself! Why I write speculative fiction. DIYMFA

Bess Cozby embarks on an experiment in minimalism. DIYMFA

Gabriela Pereira interviews Dale Wiley for DIYMFA radio.

Michelle Chalkey shares five benefits of aromatherapy for writers. DIYMFA

Ruth Harris examines stress and burnout, how they’re different, and why it’s important to know the difference. Anne R. Allen’s blog

Dr. Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein asks us to, um, stop demonizing filler words. Quartz

Check out this year’s Latitude 46 line up. The North Bay Nugget

Stephanie Convery reports on Ali Cobby Eckermann, the unemployed, indigenous poet who just won the $215,000 Windham-Campbell Award. The Guardian

George Saunders: what writers really do when they write. The Guardian

Zen Pencils: Stephen King’s desk.

Hillel Italie: Ursula K. Le Guin among authors inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. SFGate

George Gene Gustines interviews Ta-Nehisi Coates about creating black superheroes. The New York Times

Don Pittis: machine intelligence lessons from science fiction. CBC

Swapna Krishna pits science against The Expanse: is it possible to colonize our solar system? Tor.com

Genevra Littlejohn critiques Iron Fist. The Learned Fangirl

If you liked the movie Arrival, Phil Plait wants a (single) word with you. Blastr

In the latest Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 trailer, Peter gets to meet his dad. Katharine Trendacosta for i09.

And that’s it until next week!

But you can always come back on Thursday for a little thoughty 😉

tipsday2016

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Jan 22-28, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

A fair number of vids this week, just to appeal to the visual learner 😉

K.M. Weiland: six pieces of common writing advice you’re misusing. Helping Writers Become Authors

Kathryn Craft wonders whether your novel’s good enough. Writers in the Storm

Lisa Cron, the Story Genius, answers questions about backstory on Writers in the Storm.

Jami Gold: “Why?” is the most important question in storytelling.

Brunonia Barry helps you create your book talk. Writer Unboxed

Elizabeth Huergo, new contributor to Writer Unboxed, gets metaphorical: writing as tango.

Barbara O’Neal helps you recognize the signposts to your writer’s voice. Writer Unboxed

Heather Webb offers her thoughts on speaking your truth through fiction. Writer Unboxed

Becca Puglisi explores some lesser-known character archetypes. Writers Helping Writers

Sara Letourneau examines man and the natural world for DIYMFA. Later in the week, Sara is back with five things you should ask beta readers when they critique your manuscript.

Gabriela Pereira recaps her experience at this year’s Digital Book World (DBW) for DIYMFA radio.

Kimberly Brock: when the stories have all stopped. Writers in the Storm

Janice Hardy wonders, is a lack of action really the problem? Fiction University

Then, Bonnie Randall guest posts on Fiction University: juxtaposition in your story.

Chris Saylor shows up on Marcy Kennedy’s blog to advise how to format dialogue within dialogue.

Oren Ashkenazi shares some tips on how to realistically depict evil. Mythcreants

Naomi Hughes guest posts on Jami Gold’s blog: three common storytelling issues.

This is just fun! Jenna Moreci: writers do weird sh*t.

 

James McWilliams believes the physical book will endure, but will it endure for the right reason? The Millions

John Cleese on creativity. Brilliant man.

 

James Lizowski lists his top space colonization novels. OMNI

Cheryl Eddy interviews J.Y. Yang on her silkpunk series. i09

It’s the 40th anniversary of the Doctor Who episode, The Face of Evil (one of my favourites, by the way—Tom Baker was my Doctor). Watch this clip. Relevant, much? Beth Elderkin for i09.

Josephine Livingstone explains why Nineteen Eighty-Four is not the novel we need in the Trump era. New Republic

The Black Eyed Peas re-release Where’s the Love. THIS is why we must keep creating in dark times.

 

Sarah Slean: real love demo. Another sad but hopeful song that speaks to me.

 

Hope you’ve had your fill of informal writerly learnings this week.

If not, come back next week, they’ll be more 🙂

Be well until next I blog.

tipsday2016