Melanie Bell

Tipsday: Informal writerly learnings, Dec 4-10, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to the first full tipsday, post-NaNo 🙂 It’s time to stock up on informal writerly learnings. Enjoy!

LA Bourgeois is dealing with ambiguity. Then, Richelle Lyn recommends planning early for New Year’s success. Lori Walker interviews Deeba Zargarpur about blending family trauma with the supernatural. Then Melanie Bell explains how to write a novel with alternating timelines. DIY MFA

The childless woman trope needs a serious update. The Take

Greer Macallister: on endings and non-endings. Tiffany Yates Martin shares more words you’re probably using wrong. Then, Donald Maass considers the eighth element. David Corbett shares some writing lessons from Jess Walter. Then, Kathryn Craft lists seven ways public readings can help your writing. Writer Unboxed

What kind of fencing club is this, Wednesday? Jill Bearup

Penny C. Sansevieri helps you create bonus content to double your reader engagement. Then, Janice Hardy shares three easy tips to help you revise your novel. Piper Bayard exposes honeypots and the honey trap (writing spies series). Writers in the Storm

K.M. Weiland shares 15 tips to create the perfect writing space. Helping Writers Become Authors

Lisa Poisso exposes three action-reaction misfires that flatten your writing. Writers Helping Writers

How music brings mortals closer to gods. Fate & Fabled | PBS Storied

Nathan Bransford: finding the courage to leap.

Becky Robinson explains how to bridge the gap between online and offline activities. Then, Ariel Curry helps you build your writing self-efficacy. Tiffany Yates Martin answers this question: what if you’re new to writing and don’t know how to fix things? Jane Friedman

Tiffany Yates Martin wonders, what is your Wendy? Fox Print Editorial

Three act structure: writing a showstopping ending. Reedsy

Steven Fritz reveals radiation hazards in space and how to mitigate them. Science in Science Fiction | Dan Koboldt

Chris Winkle lists five common character arc blunders. Then, Oren Ashkenazi explains why Save the Cat! can’t write a novel. Mythcreants

Julianna Kim: a new author tweeted about a low book signing turnout and famous authors commiserated. NPR

Oxford selects its word of the year 2022: goblin mode.

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you found something to support your current work(s) in progress.

Until Thursday, keep staying safe and well, my writerly friends!

Tipsday: Informal writerly learnings, Sept 25-Oct 1, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

Welcome to October! Energize yourself for the rest of the week with some informal writerly learnings.

Tiffany Yates Martin explains why plots fail. Then, Amanda Miller shares five ways to use community marketing for your book. Jane Friedman

Jenny Hansen suggests a strength-based approach to writing. Then, Lisa Hall-Wilson explains why rhetorical questions help you go deeper with emotions. Eldred Bird is writing through life’s storms. Writers in the Storm

C.S. Lakin helps you show the world through your character’s senses. Live, Write, Thrive

Angela Ackerman says, if you want lifelike characters, create a character bible. Elizabeth Spann Craig

Sauron wasn’t always evil. What happened? The Philosophy of Tolkien. Hello, Future Me

Vaughn Roycroft talks turning points. Then, Kelsey Allagood shares decision trees, angry bees, and other writer brain hacks. Julia Whelan: I’ve heard such mixed things. Jeanne Kisacky wonders who are you reading now? Writer Unboxed

Becca Puglisi explains how to reveal a character’s inner conflict. Writers Helping Writers

Nathan Bransford encourages you to close off your protagonist’s easy off-ramps.

Richelle Lyn is designing a logo from scratch. Then, Melanie Bell offers five things to think about when writing a coming-of-age story. Barbara Rubin shares how she found balance between capturing joy, sorrow, humor, and rage in her writing. DIY MFA

Tiffany Yates Martin answers the question, how much should you plot your stories? Fox Print Editorial

Chris Winkle says storytellers must stop dehumanizing prisoners. Then, Oren Ashkenazi analyzes five overshadowed characters in popular stories. Mythcreants

How H.P. Lovecraft wrote the unimaginable. Tale Foundry

Nalo Hopkinson has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction

Sean Wetselaar says Judy I. Lin’s recipe for success is fantasy and a cup of tea. The Walrus

Adrian Daub writes about losing oneself in the geography of fantasy worlds: here at the end of all things. Longreads

Guy Kawasaki interviews Min Kym about her book Gone: A Girl, a Violin, and a Life Unstrung. The Remarkable People Podcast

Jessica Winter explains how E. Nesbit used her grief, her politics, and her imagination to create a new kind of children’s book. The New Yorker

Check out Publishers Weekly’s annual publishing in Canada report. Interesting reading.

Thanks for taking the time to visit. I hope you took away something to support your current work(s) in progress.

Until Thursday, keep staying safe and well!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Dec 10-16, 2017

/ Melanie Marttila

Please find linked your informal writerly learnings for the week.

Jane Friedman gives you a book launch plan for first-time authors without an online presence.

Jami Gold takes her turn in the Writers Helping Writers coaching corner: episodic vs. epic.

Later in the week, Jami talks transitions on her own blog: meanwhile, back in our subplot …

Piper Bayard helps you win the anxiety war. Writers in the Storm

Sharon Bially touts the power of a writing group for publishing success. Writer Unboxed

David Corbett helps you motivate the reluctant protagonist. Writer Unboxed

Sarah Callender looks at fiction and improv and discovers that they’re sisters from different misters. Writer Unboxed

Kathryn Craft helps you bring your dialog to life. Writer Unboxed

Don’t get rolled by bad publicity. Porter Anderson on Writer Unboxed.

Leanne Sowul interviews Carol van den Hende for DIY MFA: be well, write well.

Melanie Bell shares five books that will help you start and finish your writing. DIY MFA

Steven Pressfield: the villain is not always a person.

Paige Duke helps you survive rejection. Standout Books

Oren Ashkenazi presents six tips for writing sequels. Later in the week, Oren lists five insufficient reasons for including bigotry in your story. Mythcreants

Ursula K. Le Guin explains how to build a new kind of utopia. Electric Lit

Then Ursula appears on Open Democracy, encouraging science fiction and fantasy authors to envision alternatives to capitalism.

CBC Books presents a guide to writing prizes for Canadians.

Jason Guriel: the case against reading everything. The Walrus

Olivia Zaleski reports that two Audible executives depart after harassment probe. The Seattle Times

Have you read “Cat Person” yet? I have, and apparently, I’m in good company: New Yorker short story triggers record-breaking response. Heloise Wood for The Bookseller.

Jessica Jernigan: the book that made me a feminist was written by an abuser. Electric Lit

Naima Coster: my editor was black. Catapult

Be well until Thursday!

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