Roz Morris

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, July 3-9, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

Some very interesting posts and articles this week 🙂

K.M. Weiland continues her most common writing mistakes series with part 52: stagnant story conflict. Helping writers become authors. Becca Puglisi guest posts later in the week with four ways to choose the right story setting. Kate returns with more lessons from Marvel: how to transform your story with a moment of truth.

Must you have conflict in every scene, disaster in every act? Roz Morris says, yes, and no. Nail your novel.

Kathryn Craft shares ten ways to add a spark of fire to your fiction. Writer Unboxed.

Donald Maass explores how to stay ahead of yourself . . . and your reader. Writer Unboxed.

Heather Bouwman writes (in the) happy middles. Writer Unboxed.

Annie Neugebauer begins a new series for Writer Unboxed. The query letter, part one: the pitch.

Sara Letourneau looks at the protagonist-antagonist relationship in DIYMFA’s developing themes in your stories series.

Data mining reveals the six basic emotional arcs of storytelling. MIT Technology Review.

“The six basic emotional arcs are these:

A steady, ongoing rise in emotional valence, as in a rags-to-riches story such as Alice’s Adventures Underground by Lewis Carroll. A steady ongoing fall in emotional valence, as in a tragedy such as Romeo and Juliet. A fall then a rise, such as the man-in-a-hole story, discussed by Vonnegut. A rise then a fall, such as the Greek myth of Icarus. Rise-fall-rise, such as Cinderella. Fall-rise-fall, such as Oedipus.”

Susan Spann busts some popular copyright myths. Writers in the storm.

Hugh Howey writes about an idea, broken. The Wayfarer.

Shakespeare and music.

 

Underwritten female character: the movie. (Bwahahahaha!)

 

What Mallory Ortberg learned about heterosexual female desire from decades of reading. The Toast.

Ted Ed: What makes something Kafkaesque?

 

Airship Ambassador interviews Colleen Anderson in four parts: part one, part two, part three, and part four.

Jen Doll explains how A Wrinkle in Time changed science fiction forever. One of my formative reads. Who’d a thunk it? Mental Floss.

Shawn Taylor wonders why Hollywood is ignoring Octavia Butler. Fusion.

The New York Times called this guy daring for “daring” to tackle slavery through science fiction. (Includes the author’s response.) J. Hotham for Slate.

Jonathan Barkan celebrates 30 years of Big Trouble in Little China. Bloody Disgusting.

Emily Asher-Perrin: Jupiter Ascending is a chilling look at our future, in more ways than one. Tor.com

Phil and I are looking forward to checking this one out. Netflix’s 1980’s science fiction throwback Stranger Things is must (binge) watch TV. i09

Until thoughty Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, May 22-28, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Another wonderful week of writerly goodness!

Roz Morris helps writers avoid this plotting pitfall when writing drafts at speed. Nail Your Novel.

Everyone’s getting into video. Should you? Jane Friedman on Writer Unboxed.

Barbara O’Neal makes the case for journaling. Writer Unboxed.

Dan Blank advises you to invest in yourself. Writer Unboxed.

John Vorhaus tells us how to write like the Buddha. You guessed it. Another great post from Writer Unboxed.

Lawrence MacNaughton guest posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University. Five questions you need to ask if your story is stuck. Later in the week, Janice is back with how to keep your characters compelling beyond the first draft.

Angela Ackerman explains how to deepen your protagonist by challenging her moral beliefs. Writers helping writers.

Sara Letourneau offers part six of the developing themes in your stories series: the inciting incident. DIYMFA. Later in the week Amy Bearce shares five marketing tips for introverts.

K.M. Weiland also wrote about theme this week: how to create a complex moral argument for your story’s theme. Helping writers become authors.

Chris Winkle shares seven great sources of conflict for romances. Mythcreants.

Steven Pressfield offers his advice on drafting: cover the canvas.

Nina Munteanu shares part two of her writer-editor relationship series: five things writers wished editors knew—and followed.

Marcy Kennedy guest posts on Christine Frazier’s Better Novel Project: five times Katniss nailed deep point of view.

Kameron Hurley confesses that she’s thought about quitting . . . but, don’t quit.

Over on Tor.com, she shares an excerpt from the recently released Geek Feminist Revolution. It’s awesome. You should read the post. And then you should buy the book 🙂

All of us toilers need reminders like this: Rick Riordan on his ‘overnight’ success. It’s from 2007, to give context.

Emma Straub was born to be an author. Alexandra Alter for The New York Times.

Kim Vandels shares the secret to writing great science fiction. The spinning pen.

Airship Ambassador interviews Kate Heartfield about her story “The Seven O’Clock Man” in the Clockwork Canada anthology.

BookBaby offers some tips on how to promote your science fiction on social media.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is an Indigogo success story. The Guardian.

Mental Floss explains why reading makes you a better person with an infographic 🙂

Leila Fadel reports on the delicate task of restoring one of the world’s oldest libraries. NPR.

Louisa Young grew up in J.M. Barrie’s house: we longed for Peter Pan to come for us. The Guardian.

Judith Shulevitz reveals the Bröntes’ secret for The Atlantic.

The teaser trailer for Disney’s live action version of Beauty and the Beast. I’m looking forward to seeing what Emma Watson does with Belle 🙂

 

Here’s the Ghostbusters UK trailer.

 

The Little Prince is coming to Netflix August 8 🙂

 

Laura Prudom explains how Outlander created its most powerful and devastating episode yet. Variety.

And that was Tipsday.

See you Thursday. *waves*

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, April 24-30, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Another lovely batch of writerly goodness for you!

First some Sudbury poet laureate news 🙂

Adriana Nicolucci interviews Kim Fahner for Our Crater.

More poet laureate goodness: it’s been a busy week at Sudbury’s libraries. Jessica Watts for The Sudbury Star.

K.M. Weiland asks, do you have a writing superpower (and why you shouldn’t)? Helping writers become authors. Later in the week, she helps us understand how to write scenes your readers will rave about.

Roz Morris shares tips on how to blend a parallel, allegorical fantasy plot into your novel. Nail Your Novel.

Bonnie Randall guest posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University: battling the block.

Marcy Kennedy returns with part two of her reading like a writer mini-series.

Chuck Wendig: What I’d like to say to young writers, part two.

Leanna Renee Hieber guest posts on Terribleminds: what to do when the bottom drops out.

James Scott Bell guest posts on Writer Unboxed: how to weave a message without pummelling your readers.

Steven Pressfield: I can’t squeeze my theme in! My favourite bit: “This is why writing (or the pursuit of any art) is, to me, a spiritual enterprise. It’s an endeavor of the soul. The stories we write, if we’re working truly, are messages in a bottle from our Self to our self, from our Unconscious/Divine Ground/Muse to our struggling, fallible, everyday selves.”

Later in the week, Shawn Coyne posts this: the designated driver. I’ve been listening to The Story Grid podcast and Tim Grahl has just finished his first draft.

Nina Munteanu explores the writer-editor relationship: editors preparing writers.

Stephen Stratford writes an essay on the dark arts of editing for The Spinoff.

Query Shark Janet Reid sounds off on why you should avoid querying services.

Author brands: Which kind of influencer are you? Carly Watters.

Martha Alderson guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog and shows us how to use a plot planner.

Jami Gold looks at brain science from the perspective of how we, as writers, imagine.

I may have shared this before, but it’s a good article: how stories change the brain. Paul J. Zak for Greater Good.

This is long as heck, but Tor.com covers (almost) all the science fiction and fantasy adaptations in production and already on the air.

Charlie Jane Anders explores the moment when science fiction diverged from competence porn. i09.

Cassandra Clare created a fantasy realm and aims to maintain her rule. Penelope Green for The New York Times.

The secrets of medieval fonts. Medieval Books.

David Tennant as Puck. Just ‘cause it’s Shakespeare’s 400th 🙂

Shakespeare is dead: six hot takes. Literary Hub.

Rob Brydon shares Shakespearean phrases in everyday use.

 

The Doctor’s Long Story, a fan video with heart. Radio Times.

John Boyega and James MacAvoy to voice Netflix’s Watership Down. Comic Book Resources.

Nathan Fillion joins the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy 2, with more than just a prosthetic-covered cameo. Peoples Choice.

Electric Lit shares an infographic that explains the real history behind Game of Thrones.

Sarah Mesle reviews the first episode of season six for the LA Review of Books.

Until Thursday, be well.

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, April 10-16, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

I can’t believe how much writerly goodness I have for you this week. WTF’s going on here, anyway?

Angela Ackerman wonders, why do characters resist change? Writers helping writers.

David Corbett argues that conflict isn’t the engine of story. Writer Unboxed.

Lisa Cron explains what ‘let it go’ really means. Writer Unboxed.

Sarah Callender helps us create delightful, messy characters with the humble ampersand. Writer Unboxed.

Lance Schaubert talks talecraft on Writer Unboxed.

Jami Gold explores paragraph breaks and voice in her building blocks of writing series.

Janice Hardy helps you get what’s in your head onto the page. Fiction University.

Margie Lawson shows us how to make strong writing stellar. Writers in the Storm.

Chris Winkle shares some tips on narrating layout and position. Mythcreants.

Kelly Simmons explains how your personality type wreaks havoc on your writing and offers ten things you can do about it. Writers in the Storm.

In times of doubt, Chuck Wendig advises you to write what you love. Terribleminds.

Leanne Sowul offers some tips to keep writing when times are tough. DIYMFA.

K.M. Weiland shares twelve ways to rock your novel research. Helping writers become authors. Later in the week, she explained how to moderate reader reactions to character sins.

I’m curating the curators, now 😉 Elissa Field shares a number of quirky research sources for writers on her Friday links for writers.

Jamie Raintree offers the three most common query mistakes and advice on how to fix them.

Roz Morris shares a discussion on the benefits of editors from Author Fringe 16.

Nina Munteanu writes part two of her ecology, women, and science fiction post: praxis. Great discussion with some of Canada’s best women SF writers and editors.

Kim Fahner shares some of her lessons learned from her week in Banff with Lawrence Hill (and meeting with Alice Major). Upon her return, she struggled with decompressing and managing her creative energy.

The first of three posts by Jim C. Hines on trigger warning shenanigans inspired by Stephen Fry’s poorly thought out comments: Trigger warnings are censorship, and other nonsense. He returned the next day with Trigger warnings as an impediment to healing and mental health. Here’s the third instalment: when trigger warnings attack!

John Grisham and Donna Tartt headline the author protest of Mississippi’s anti-LGTBQ law. Electric Lit.

Doctors and psychiatrists may soon prescribe fiction to help youth with mental illness. <This is me, cheering like Kermit—yaaaaaaaaaaay!> The Guardian.

Rod McDonald, Canadian designer of the typeface Classic Grotesque, heads for Manhattan launch party. The Toronto Star.

An interview with transplanted Sudburian, Matthew Murphy. Quebec reads.

Sian Cain covers Sir Terry Pratchett’s memorial for The Guardian.

Hedgehogs are the keepers of order and knowledge in Slavic fairy tales. Tiny Donkey.

Ten facetious book dedications that actually got published. Books rock my world.

Orna Ross shares a Celtic creation story.

This is awe-inspiring: The librarian who saved Timbuktu’s cultural treasures from al Qaeda. The Wall Street Journal.

Film dialogue from 2000 screenplays, broken down by gender and age, shows how sexist movies are. Polygraph.

No trailer for this yet, but Story of Your Life looks like it might be a good SF film to check out. Movies.com

Cheryl Eddy previews another fairy talish movie due out this year: A Monster Calls. i09

We have to wait until November (no way I’m wishing is here any sooner—love spring, summer, and fall!). Fantastic Beasts and where to find them.

 

But this weekend! Eeeeeee! Game of Thrones, season six. I really hope they make up for last year.

 

 

And that is Tipsday for this week.

Hope you are all well and writing wicked stuff 🙂

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, April 3-9, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Wahoo! Is it possible there’s even more writerly goodness in here then there was last week? Hella yeah!

More exciting local news: Sudbury is part of Reading Town 2016 (think Hockey Town with books) 🙂

 

Most common writing mistakes, part 50: Info dumps (and how to fix them). K.M. Weiland. Helping writers become authors.

Liz Bureman looks at parataxis and hypotaxis (and how Greek makes you a better writer). The Write Practice.

Sara Letourneau explores how to develop theme in your stories through symbolism. DIYMFA.

Donald Maass discusses relevance for Writer Unboxed.

Juliet Marillier writes about the different responses you can (and should) have to an editorial report. Writer Unboxed.

Roz Morris asks, must plot twists always be misfortunes or disasters? And, where does your story end? Nail you novel.

Daniel José Older offers twelve fundamentals of writing the other (and the self). Buzzfeed.

Marcy Kennedy explores how to read as a writer (part 1).

Real writers don’t self-publish, part two. Kristen Lamb shares her further thoughts on the issue.

Mike Shatzkin wonders what will happen to high-cost non-fiction in the evolving indie world.

C.S. Lakin points out the need for persistence in your writing journey. Live, write, thrive.

Janice Hardy shares her thoughts on challenging yourself, versus setting yourself up to fail. Fiction University.

Kameron Hurley writes about career milestones and prioritizing projects.

Catherine Ryan Howard recounts how the idea for her novel Distress Signals evolved.

How to create a better writing space (and other thoughts on writing). Avoiding Atrophy.

Jennie Nash shares her one page book planner on Kobo Writing Life.

Sarah Selecky shares more writing retreats for your wish list.

Speaking of writing retreats, my friend, Kim Fahner, has just spent the week in Banff with Lawrence Hill. Here are her posts on the experience: Making time to write, and Writing retreats and the friends you meet.

“Mad Men” creator, Matthew Weiner’s reassuring life advice for struggling artists. Fast Company.

Sword and Laser: Interview with Ken Liu.

 

The Writes of Women: a celebration of female writers and their work.

Stephen Greenblatt explores how Shakespeare lives now for The New York Review of Books.

A Shakespeare first folio was discovered on the Isle of Bute, just in time for the Bard’s 400th anniversary. The New York Times.

The history of typography. Ben Barrett-Forrest.

 

Christopher Zumski Finke discovers what Battlestar Galactica teaches us about the militarization of police. Yes! Magazine.

Rogue One teaser trailer.

 

Kate Spencer says, hey dudes, you should be watching Outlander. Esquire.

And that should keep you busy for a while (!)

See you on Thursday for a video heavy dose of thoughty edutainment 🙂

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 21-27, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila

A yummy week of Writerly Goodness for you:

Roz Morris shares three diagrams that you can use to check your novel’s pacing. Nail your novel.

Becca Puglisi also tackles novel pacing for Writers Helping Writers.

K.M. Weiland offers four tweaks that will help you write original stories and characters. Helping writers become authors.

C.S. Lakin looks at scenes as capsules of time. Live, write thrive. She added establishing your setting to her Scene Structure series later tin the week.

Jami Gold helps us find the right balance in story description.

C.S. Plocher shows us what we can learn from J.K. Rowling’s series grid. The Better Novel Project.

Janice Hardy explores how to build internal and external core conflicts. Fiction University.

Chris Winkle shares some tips about narrating dreams and visions. Mythcreants.

The 49th Shelf shares a round-table discussion about world building.

Oren Ashkenazi offers some tips for writing a diverse story. Mythcreants.

Marcy Kennedy writes about valuing yourself and your work. Remember that thing from last week? Yeah. More of that.

Jim C. Hines discusses the importance on not only having anti-harassment policies at cons, but also of enforcing them.

Heather Webb explores how a writer lives with yearning on Writer Unboxed.

Dan Blank advises us to create every day. Life is chaotic. There is no time but now. Writer Unboxed.

And here’s another Dan Blank video. Invest in relationships, not blueprints.

 

Jessie Burton writes about her journey, as a creative, through depression and anxiety.

Kirsten Oliphant guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog on how authors can use Pinterest best.

Then Jane posted on Writer Unboxed about a common misunderstanding authors have about web sites.

Brent Underwood goes behind the scam to discover what it takes to become a “bestselling” author on Amazon. The Observer. The answer? $3 and five minutes.

Jamie Raintree helps you design your writing career from the top, down. Writers in the Storm.

Mark Medley profiles Jennifer Robson, the most successful Canadian author you’ve never heard of. The Globe and Mail.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, read in the original Akkadian. Open Culture.

Just a quick reminder about the importance of the Oxford comma. The Poke.

Electric Lit shares an infographic analyzing the 15 most populated novels. Guess what? A Song of Fire and Ice isn’t the worst offender 😉

An accented tour of the British Isles:

 

How to be a person. Shane Koyczan.

 

A first look at five new character portraits for season two of Outlander. It’s getting closer! Yahoo!

And that’s it until Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 14-20, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

Pub news, literary deaths, and videos, oh, my!

The big issue of the week: The Huffington Post is proud that it doesn’t pay its writers.

Related: How do writers get paid in a world addicted to free? Kristen Lamb.

Two literary losses this week.

K.M. Weiland shares five important ways storytelling differs between novels and movies. Later in the week, she posted about hacking readers brains by using all five senses in your description. Finally, she explains why cool for cool’s sake character traits are not, in fact, cool.

Roz Morris wonders whether you’ve left an important scene out of your story.

C.S. Lakin shows us the benefits of breaking down scene structure into three parts. Later, she looks at scenes as segments and capsules of time.

Densie Webb explores writing as compulsion on Writer Unboxed.

Andrea Phillips guests on Terribleminds: Throw everything at the wall. On the messiness of modern careers.

Christine Frazier analyzes fight scenes on The Better Novel Project.

Christian Cameron shares his thoughts on faith, piety, and writing about religion.

Foz Meadows: we can’t just adapt science fiction and fantasy novels—we have to transform them. Tor.com

Dan Blank started his own YouTube channel (and, yup, Ima share all of them):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Porter Anderson reviews the progress of Shelfie and Bitlit at three years.

Catherine Ryan Howard updates us on the progress of her two novel deal.

Jim C. Hines: My mental illness is not your inspirational Post-it note.

Haruki Murakami writes about how he became a running novelist. The New Yorker.

Phylogenetic analysis suggests that fairy tales are much older than we thought. Phys.org

The good people of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast interview Beth Revis.

 

I really like Shane Koyczan’s poetry. Here are several samples for your listening enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

Valentine laments the lack of original book titles. The Guardian.

Mental Floss lists 15 things you may not know about Beatrix Potter.

Altas Obscura shares 15 real-world locations of science fiction dystopias.

Buzzfeed lists 27 products for book lovers.

And that was Tipsday.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, 24-30, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

The video frenzy has calmed down, but the space has been filled with all kinds of Writerly Goodness!

Your NaNo novel is a hot mess. K.M. Weiland explains how to approach revision and editing.

Katie posted later in the week about how to write realistic fight scenes and later still with the number one problem with backstory (and how to fix it).

Outlining your scenes will help you write a great novel. C.S. Lakin.

Sue returned with another entry in her scene structure series: understanding the truth about character arcs.

Roz Morris gives us a simple way to understand show, not tell.

Everyone is all about structure, the outline, and planning rather than pantsing. Well, I’m proud to identify as a plantser. Steven James explains to Writer Unboxed readers how abandoning your outline can improve your story.

Bonnie Randall guest posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University writing about matching actions and emotions.

Christian Cameron writes about war, violence, and killing characters.

Cara Sue Achterberg shares how she added a touch of fantasy to her novel. Author First.

Don’t worry, it only gets harder. Dan Blank explains why it’s important to keep your focus where it belongs. Writer Unboxed.

Kameron Hurley considers kindness and conventions. Later in the week, she’s committed to the drop and offers a few words of advice on non-compete clauses and rights grabs.

The politics of justice: Identity and empire in Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Trilogy. Liz Bourke for Tor.com.

Renee Baum helps us to see writing as surgery for the soul. The Elephant Journal.

The Book of Kells is now free to read online. It’s a masterwork of medieval illumination. Trinity College Dublin.

Jake Rossen asks, why do books have blank pages? Mental Floss.

There’s a new Beatrix Potter story to be published after 100 years. CBC.

Eight words reveal the sexism at the heart of the English language. The Guardian.

Stephen Fry, Ina McKellen, and Melvyn Bragg share their stories for this new online course, Literature and mental health. The Independent.

Hit Record: a different kind of social media. Check it out. It looks awesome.

Shane Koyczan’s Crush:

 

Outlander casts Brianna for season two. The Hollywood Reporter.

It was a good week. Here’s to another!

See you Thursday 🙂

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Jan 17-23, 2016

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

There’s as much for you to watch as there is for you to read 🙂

Roz Morris shares three paradoxes of writing life.

Set up and pay off, the two equally important halves of foreshadowing. K.M. Weiland.

Jan O’Hara explores the ethical implications of the writing life with nods to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a disturbing psychological experiment. Writer Unboxed.

Janice Hardy explains the difference between setting and world building. Fiction University.

Kim Bullock is desperately seeking darlings (to kill). Writer Unboxed.

Chuck Wendig has some thoughts for mid-career authors. Terribleminds.

Carly Watters explains how you can write for the market (not to trends) and write for yourself.

Joanna Penn discusses publishing trends in 2016 with Jane Friedman.

 

Jannifer Garam shares the secret of writing when no one gives a shit. Brilliant!

Hugh Howey offers his advice on how to become a writer. The Wayfinder.

Chris Winkle details the perils of land travel before engines for Mythcreants.

How authors can employ supernatural elements in a non-fantasy story. Authors First.

Carol Daniels shares her experience writing a strong indigenous heroine in response to the pain of history. Quill & Quire.

Iconic science fiction editor David G. Hartwell (yes, the same man who presented The History of SF at CanCon in October) has died. Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Making Light (with links to other tributes).

Kathryn Cramer, David’s wife, wrote this touching post: till death did us part.

Authors call for a boycott on literary festivals that don’t pay. Nadia Khomami for The Guardian.

Jeannine Hall Gailey is disturbed by the plight of the amazing disappearing woman writer. The Rumpus.

Anne Thériault writes about mental illness and the male gaze in the figure of the sexy, tragic muse. Guerilla Feminism.

Plans are in the works for the 162 Arts Hub, a gathering place for artists, centering on indie cinema, right here in Sudbury! Our Crater.

Lisa Cron presents her Wired for Story TED Talk:

 

The storytelling animal. Jonathan Gottschall’s TED Talk at Furman:

 

Shayne Koyczan. Turn of a light. So love this.

 

Mental Floss lists 25 words that are their own opposites. They’re called contronyms.

The Park of Monsters is featured on Atlas Obscura. There’s a literary connection.

Marco Kalantari made this epic science fiction short film called The Shaman. You need to watch it. A-MA-Zing!

When Nichelle Nichols met Martin Luther King Jr.:

 

Fantasy Fiction Focus interviews Suzy Vadori.

 

I hope something gave you that special little bit of writerly advice you need to take your WiP to the next level.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, December 13-19, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

Here’s your Writerly Goodness for the first day of winter, 2015.

K.M. Weiland offers four ways to reignite your sense of wonder in your writing.

Later in the week, Katie shared three smart tips for structuring powerful scenes.

Roz Morris wonders how much you talk about your work in progress?

I’m fond of the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) and similar assessments. Jami Gold shares some MBTI resources in her exploration of personality and how it affects writing process.

Janice Hardy offers some strategies for describing your first person narrator. Fiction University.

Angela Ackerman discusses how to use weather to create mood, not clichés on Writers in the Storm.

Carly Watters explains why we need time, fear, and talent to make it as writers.

Amy Craft explores the science behind the best way to read for CBS News.

Kids should read whatever they want, whenever they want. Rachel Cordasco for Book Riot.

Tech Insider shares six websites that let you download ebooks for free. You may not know about all of them.

Steven Pinker reveals some of the most misused word in the English language. Business Insider.

Scrabble’s Anagram Christmas turns negatives into positives 🙂

 

X-rays reveal the secrets of medieval books. Medieval Books.

Mansplaining Lolita. Rebecca Solnit for LitHub.

Buzzfeed shares 38 literary quotes that may help you when you’re feeling down. ‘Tis the seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Blastr shares Arthur C. Clarke’s top 12 science fiction movies.

Den of Geek celebrates the dogs of speculative fiction.

Molly Templeton reviews the first episode on SyFy’s The Magicians (based on Lev Grossman’s novels) for Tor.com. Phil and I caught it and were very impressed. Looking forward.

Leah Schnelbach liked the SyFy adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End well enough, but Phil and I weren’t impressed. Now Phil is a scientist and a SF purist, so his reaction was understandable. My disappointment? Not so much. I’m still working it through, but I think it has something to do with the storytelling decisions made. The critical error in my estimation (so far)? Whose story is it? What character is there from beginning to (almost) end? Karellan. That’s who. Now that’s a story I would have liked to see. It would have been a bigger departure from the book than what SyFy gave us, but I think it would have been better. That’s just my opinion, though.

Because the costume makes the period drama part of Outlander shine, Frock Flicks is giving us droughtlander sufferers a sneak peek at the season two wardrobe.

Good words to you, my friends. The light is returning! Or maybe it’s just the Earth turning/tilting? Meh. Precession and all that.

See you in two days for some Thoughty on Thursday 🙂

Tipsday