negative character arc

Tipsday: Informal writerly learnings, Oct 3-9, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers! It’s time to indulge in some informal writerly learnings. Enjoy!

K.M. Weiland presents the archetypal antagonists of the crone arc: death blight and tempter. Helping Writers Become Authors

Greer Macallister seeks success without self-promotion. Then Jeanne Kisacky is walking the line between insanity and perseverance. Donald Maass reveals the secret of passive protagonists: seeking vs. suffering. Nancy Johnson: the blessed curse of the second book. Then, David Corbett discusses the character in secret search of midnight. Writer Unboxed

Jill Bearup made armor. In a cave shed. From a box of scraps.

Karen DeBonis helps you navigate a story identity crisis. Then, Eldred Bird wonders, what (the heck) is a MacGuffin? Jenny Hansen: writing and the law of loss aversion. Writers in the Storm

Shaelin helps you edit your short story. Reedsy

Angela Ackerman says, if you want powerful conflict, you can’t forget the stakes. Elizabeth Spann Craig

Then, over on Jami Gold’s blog, Angela explains how to write conflict without “bad guys.”

Bethany Henry is making magic systems that work and wow. Fiction University

Why fat phobia is still a problem onscreen. The Take

E.J. Wenstrom presents book promotion graphics for newbies. Then, Sara Farmer looks at some modern girl detectives. Maan Gabriel shares hacks to combat writer’s block and develop discipline. Then, Jane Elizabeth Hughes offers five tips for writing a historical mystery. DIY MFA

Seth Harwood says, your writing matters; a coach can help. Jane Friedman

The Bond Girl, her secret, and her future. The Take

Chris Winkle explains how to keep mysteries from looking like mistakes. Then, Oren Ashkenazi analyzes five stories that break their worlds’ themes. Mythcreants

Lindsay Syhakhom: writing and the art of surrender. Nathan Bransford

Allison Flood celebrates Abdulrazak Gurnah’s 2021 Nobel Prize in literature win. The Guardian

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you took away something to support your current work in progress.

Until Thursday, be well and stay safe, my writerly friends!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz July 27-Aug 2, 2014

/ Melanie Marttila

Sorry for the late-ish post. Had to go to Yin practice tonight. Yoga was beginning to think I abandoned her 😉

Roz Morris started her Masterclass for The Guardian. This is the first post in her daily reporting on the queries arising from hre students. Catch all of her snapshots. She’s got a clever bunch there.

Part 3 of K.M. Weiland’s negative character arc series: The negative character arc in the third act. Surprise, surprise!

And here’s more Katie, guest-posting on Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Writers Helping Writers. Five important ways to use symbolism in your story is part of Katie’s ongoing blog tour in honour of her new book: Jane Eyre: Writer’s Digest Annotated Classics. It’s the last day to enter her giveaway! Go get ‘em writing tigers 🙂

And . . . Katie’s Wednesday vlogs return with foreshadowing’s number one job in your story. Welcome back, vlogs! We missed you!

Writer Unboxed is experiencing some technical difficulties so The Tyranny of Motive and The Many Dreams of Writing will have to wait until next week.

Shennandoah Diaz writes about three ways to save your backstory from the cutting room floor on the There are No Rules blog at Writer’s Digest.

Laura Drake shares her tale of tragedy and triumph on Writers in the Storm.

Edits, Editors, Editing. Ruth Harris explores the secret weapon of every successful writer on Anne R. Allen’s blog.

Elif Shafak’s TED talk on the politics of story.

Quentin Cooper asks the question, why is science fiction so hard to define, on the BBC’s Future blog.

Crawford Killian looks at three SF&F writers who break the mould in The Tyee.

21 books that changed science fiction and fantasy forever from io9.

Electric Lit shares a lovely list of supernatural collective nouns. Anyone for a fondle of unicorns (I thought that was a blessing)?

CNN Travel features the world’s coolest bookstores. Ok . . . gotta sop up the drool here.

Enjoy the Writerly Goodness, my peeps. See y’all Thursday.

Tipsday