Tipsday: Informal writerly learnings, Dec 26, 2021-Jan 1, 2022

January 4, 2022January 2, 2022 / Melanie Marttila

It’s the first tipsday of 2022! Posts generally decline over the holiday weeks, so it’s a bit of a slow start. Still, get your fill of informal writerly learnings, such as they are. We should be back on track next week.

Stephanie BwaBwa helps you set up your authorial calendar for success. Then, Olivia Fisher says, it’s time to be finished with your novel. Gabriela Pereira interviews Charlie Jane Anders about crafting a dynamic short story. Then, Disha Walia shares six psychologically-proven tricks to end procrastination. Finally, Heather Campbell shares five tips to build a consistent writing practice. DIY MFA

The best movies of 2021. Like Stories of Old

Kris Maze helps you build your author platform with these five social media trends for 2022. Then, all the regular contributors share their one word to guide their writing journeys in 2022. Writers in the Storm

Why Grey’s Anatomy’s Dr. McDreamy isn’t dreamy. The Take

Kristen Lamb offers a simple formula for the life you want.

Chuck Wendig offers his writer’s resolution for 2022: the necessary act of selfishly seeking joy. Terribleminds

Oren Ashkenazi analyzes five unnecessary world additions in popular stories. Mythcreants

A Tomorrow. Shane Koyczan

Jane Friedman provides this handy list of new publishers and agents in 2021. The Hot Sheet

Katy Waldman: what Lois Lowry remembers. The New Yorker

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you found 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, Apr 28-May 4, 2019

May 7, 2019May 5, 2019 / Melanie Marttila

Another week has passed. Console yourself with some informal writerly learnings.

Kathryn Craft shares five reasons it may be time to leave your writer’s group. Later in the week, Julie Glover asks, if your story was a fairy tale, which one would it be? Writers in the Storm

Alexa Donne offers this writing hack: the rule of three.

Brunonia Barry gives you some straight talk about the morning after. Donald Maass looks at the first five lines. Elizabeth Huergo is consciously framing the story. Annie Neugebauer explores what happens when risks go wrong. Barbara Linn Probst shares the results of a survey: why do readers love some novels? Writer Unboxed

Abigail K. Perry examines another of James Scott Bell’s signpost scenes with number nine: the doorway of no return (the second). Brenda Joyce Patterson takes a deep dive into flash fiction. DIY MFA

Jami Gold considers the power of character arcs.

Chris Winkle wants to help you plan your story’s opening passages. Then, Oren Ashkensazi lists seven signs a sequel will be bad. Mythcreants

Alexandra Alter reports on the success of Canadian chain Indigo south of the border. I’m all for the success of Canadian business, but I prefer my book stores to be book stores and the success of Chapters/Indigo domestically is driving many independent book stores out of business or keeping them from opening their doors in the first place. The New York Times

Shane Koyczan’s powerful “Places.”

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you found something to help you progress in your creative journey.

Come back on Thursday for your weekly dose of thoughty.

Until then, be well!

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 4-10, 2018

February 13, 2018February 11, 2018 / Melanie Marttila

Here, once again, are your informal writerly learnings!

Jessi Rita Hoffman stops by Jane Friedman’s blog to help you prune hedge words and inflation words from your writing.

K.M. Weiland offers four tips for writing to your right audience. Helping Writers Become Authors

Jael McHenry: on commitments, participation, and the writing community. Writer Unboxed

Donald Maass shows you what happens when worlds collide. Writer Unboxed

Nancy Johnson joins the Writer Unboxed team: the question your novel answers.

Gabriela Pereira takes her turn in the Writers Helping Writers coaching corner. Writing by design, part two: pattern and repetition.

Back on DIY MFA radio, Gabriela interviews Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi: understanding the emotional wound.

Kristen Lamb: great stories are addictive by design.

Janice Hardy offers seven tips for creating believable fantasy and science fiction worlds. Fiction University

Fae Rowan shares a simple tip to help get rid of saggy middles. [But … will it work on ma belleh—lol?] Writers in the Storm

Jami Gold looks at the editing process and what every writer needs to know to improve.

Backtracking a bit to give you episode 1 of Ask a Puppet (Mary Robinette Kowal). Seriously hilarious.

Mary Robinette Kowal shares her writing process in honor of her birthday.

Roz Morris shares three paradoxes of a slow writing process. Nail Your Novel

Chuck Wendig: yes, you can hiss without sibilance. Terribleminds

Breaking their usual pattern of constructive critique, Oren Ashkenazi reviews five novels with strong throughlines for Mythcreants.

Shane Koyczan – Resolution

Jessica Stillman: why you should surround yourself with more books than you’ll ever have time to read. Inc.

E CE Miller shares 21 love letters by authors to inspire you on Valentine’s Day. Bustle

Ryu Spaeth: an education through Earthsea. New Republic

Michael Blanding reports on how plagiarism software unveiled a new source for eleven of Shakespeare’s plays. And no, before the histrionics start, Shakespeare did not plagiarize. The New York Times

Jill Lepore explores the strange and twisted life of Frankenstein. Amazing. Truly. The New Yorker

Krista D. Ball revisits Joanna Russ’s “How to Suppress Women’s Writing” after 35 years. Thought-provoking and anger-inducing. Reddit r/fantasy

Jamil Smith writes about the revolutionary power of Black Panther. Time

I hope your week got off to a great start. Be well until Thursday 🙂

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, July 2-8, 2017

July 11, 2017July 9, 2017 / Melanie Marttila

It’s time for your dose on informal writerly learnings 🙂

K.M. Weiland continues her most common writing mistakes series with part 60: flat plots. Helping Writers Become Authors

Later in the week, Kate continues her series on the do’s and don’ts of storytelling according to Marvel with a look at Guardian of the Galaxy, volume 2: how to ace the first act in your sequel.

As a follow up to her last post on critiquing, Jane Friedman helps you recognize patterns in the way you respond to criticism.

Then, Gary Zenker guest posts on DIY MFA: a new approach to critique.

Larry Brooks stops by Writer Unboxed to discuss the big lie about writing compelling fiction.

As a follow up to Larry’s post, Anna Elliott asks, what’s your truth? Writer Unboxed

Donald Maass explores characters light and dark. Writer Unboxed

Parul Macdonald uncovers the world of a literary scout and international rights. Writer Unboxed

Abigail K. Perry joins the DIY MFA team: how to make you character descriptions do double duty.

Stacey B. Woodson shares five writing lessons from thriller master David Morrell. DIY MFA

Gabriela Pereira interviews Sarah Dessen for DIY MFA radio.

Marielle Orff shares five ways to get to know your characters better. DIY MFA

Emily Wenstrom offers some email marketing tips. The Write Life

Jami Gold gives us one simple trick to avoid the opening page infodump.

Janice Hardy continues her birth of a book series with testing the idea. Fiction University

Then, Janice visits Writers in the Storm: what do you want your readers to wonder about?

Chris Winkle covers five more dualities that can replace good and evil. Mythcreants

Bryan Hutchinson explains how to become a prolific writer while holding down a day job. Positive Writer

Sophie Playle: where is your budget for book editing best spent? Liminal Pages

Sarah Fox shares seven things editors wish authors knew. Well Storied

Jeremy Szal shares his tips for writing a successful query letter. Fantasy Faction

Caroline Leavitt: when the writing mentor becomes the mentee. The Millions

Anne Lamott: 12 truths I learned about life and writing. TED Talks

Jarred MGuiness says writing is the only magic he still believes in. TEDxEaling

Folklore Thursday takes a look at how iron became the enemy of the fairy folk.

Shane Koyczan: the weather.

And that is how we Tipsday.

See you on Thursday for some mental corn popping thoughty.

Be well until then!

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Sept 11-17, 2016

September 20, 2016September 18, 2016 / Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Tipsday is chock full of informal writerly learnings!

K.M. Weiland digs into subtext and gives practical examples for how you can identify and apply subtext in your stories. Helping writers become authors

Later in the week, Kate shares more lessons from the MCU: how to choose the right antagonist for your story.

Roz Morris offers an exercise to show how you can shape your tone in your novel. Nail your novel

Vaughn Roycroft discusses the importance of storytelling in turbulent times. Writer Unboxed

Sara Letourneau helps you find the “why” behind your story. DIYMFA

David Corbett helps you fill linguistic holes with some super fun words. Writer Unboxed

Carly Watters shares four ways to write better dialogue.

Jami Gold: when is backstory necessary? Later in the week, Jamie returns with tips on balancing your story elements.

Margie Lawson offers her rule #17: finessing backstory. Writers in the storm

David H. Safford guest posts on Writers Helping Writers with advice on hunting down story holes using a novel journal.

Janice Hardy continues her blog tour on Marcy Kennedy’s blog. Create an editorial map to make revisions easier. This is, incidentally, part of my process 🙂

Karen Woodward explores short story structure.

Gabriela Pereira interviews Jerry Jenkins on DIYMFA radio.

Christine Frazier compares Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Better Novel Project

Janet Reid shares six reasons she said “no,” recently.

Frances Caballo guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog. A social media strategy that works: CARE about your readers.

Tim Grahl shares his perspective on the effectiveness of Facebook as a marketing tool for authors.

Authors offer their best writing tips. The Guardian

The Baltimore Sun shares John E. McIntyre’s “trigger warning” from his editing class at Loyola University, Maryland.

Moira Donegan covers the Emily Books Symposium session: what is women’s writing? The Awl

Kerry Gold’s L’affaire Galloway explores the UBC incident in its context and subtext (because there’s so much that hasn’t been stated). The Walrus

Janet Reid shares her thoughts on the difference between racism and using potentially offensive language in context in response to one college’s unequivocal idea of cultural sensitivity.

Mary Robinette Kowal offers a textile metaphor for cultural appropriation.

Jim C. Hines unpacks Lionel Shriver’s speech on cultural appropriation.

And here’s Foz Meadows’ response to Lionel Shriver.

Related (because it occured at the same literary festival): a journalist quotes a writer without permission. Liz Spayd for The New York Times.

Award news! Sunburst Award winners announced!

Literary Hub interviews the Biblioasis Bookstore in Windsor.

Wordstock, Sudbury’s literary festival. Nov 3-5, 2016. CBC

Canadian literati are coming to Sudbury for Wordstock. South Side Story

Last week marked the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth. Here are a couple of the articles that were posted in tribute.

The dark side of Roald Dahl, by Hephzibah Anderson. BBC
David L. Ulin: Roald Dahl’s twisted, overlooked stories for adults. The New Yorker

Shane Koyczan: 152 (audio only)

Wasn’t sure where to put this mixed bit of news. Sad to have lost him, but end-of-life issues are never simple and I honour his right to make this decision. Author W.P. Kinsella ended his life last week under Canada’s new assisted dying legislation. The Guardian

Take a look at Salvador Dali’s paintings of Alice in Wonderland. The Earth Child

Seanan McGuire digs into Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin. Tor.com

Joel Minty offers advice to first-time readers of Steven Erikson’s Gardens of the Moon. Tor.com

Alex Brown reviews the fall 2016 television SFF line up for Tor.com.

Germaine Lussier reports that Disney’s new production of A Wrinkle in Time has its lead. i09

The Curiosity is a fairy tale film about selkies 😀 Germaine Lussier for i09.

Connie Verzak offers some fodder for Droughtlander sufferers. The Daily Record

Hope you enjoyed, my creative friends.

See you on Thursday for some thoughty 🙂

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

March 1, 2016March 1, 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: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 14-20, 2016

February 23, 2016February 23, 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.

Chuck Wendig: Pay the fucking writers.
Kristen Lamb: Shame on you, AOL/Huffington.
Porter Anderson: Amazing disgrace. Writer Unboxed.

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

Two literary losses this week.

Harper Lee dies at 89. The New York Times.
Then, Umberto Eco dies at 84. The Guardian.

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

February 2, 2016February 2, 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: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, May 17-23, 2015

May 26, 2015 / Melanie Marttila / 3 Comments

Seems like I’m all about the Writerly Goodness lately 🙂

Not all hybrid publishers are created equal. Jane Friedman in Publishers Weekly.

Here’s K.M. Weiland’s post and podcast on the perfect midpoint.

Avoid false suspense unless you want to ruin your climax. Katie’s Wednesday post.

How to silence your inner critic and defeat your writing demons. The Write Life.

Jules Feiffer in conversation with Neil Gaiman. Publishers Weekly.

The Publishers Weekly podcast: Rose Fox and Mark Rotella interview Naomi Novik.

Two Kurt Vonnegut articles from Open Culture: Eight tips on how to write a good short story, and how to write with style.

For Lois. Shane Koyczan’s poem from Superman to Lois. LOVE.

Female literati pick summer’s best books. Harper’s Bazaar.

Nine great science fiction books for people who don’t like science fiction. i09.

20 obscure English words that should make a comeback. Matador Network.

For balance: Fifteen words you should eliminate from your vocabulary if you want to sound smarter. The Business Insider.

Ballagàrraidh: The knowledge that you have been domesticated. The dictionary of obscure sorrows.

Is this what Shakespeare really looked like? BBC News.

This artist combined different cats and birds to create a whole new class of gryphons 🙂 Tumblr.

Check out these gender flipped Disney characters from Yue “Sakimi Chan” and then check out the links to Yue’s work on Deviant Art and Tumblr. UpRoxx.

How about these historically accurate Disney princesses? Buzzfeed.

The Huffington Post shares this list of ten things you may not know about Sailor Moon.

Who’s the best new superhero, The Flash, or Marvel’s latest incarnation of Daredevil? Salon.

Ok. So there was this big thing on the interwebz last week about the latest rape scene in Game of Thrones. I don’t want to get into the controversy, but I will present a number of posts on both GoT and Outlander and how the sexual violence portrayed in them differs.

As ever, you’ll have to decide for yourselves.

George R. R. Martin responds to criticism of Sansa’s rape scene in Game of Thrones. The Huffington Post.

Tobias Menzies shares his experience playing Black Jack Randall on Outlander. He’s terrifying in the role, by the way. Such an amazing actor. The Vulture.

Scotland Now recaps Outlander, episode 15.

How Outlander got it right and how Game of Thrones got it wrong. Playboy.

IndieWire weighs in on Outlander vs. Game of Thrones.

And a bonus: Never go anywhere without a Murtaugh! Q&A with Duncan Lacroix on playing Murtaugh. Access Hollywood.

See you on Thursday 🙂

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