true crime

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, May 8-14, 2022

/ Melanie Marttila

Celebrate the coming of the weekend by getting you mental corn popping.

Livia Gershon considers the cosmopolitan culture of the Gullah/Geechees. JSTOR Daily

True crime and the theatre of safety. Princess Weekes

Charles Maynes and Alina Selyukh: Russia’s Victory Day celebrations take on new importance for Kremlin this year. NPR

Sylvia Hui and Aamer Madhani report that G7 leaders mark VE Day stressing unity and support for Ukraine. Associated Press

Ehsan Popalzai and Irene Nasser: Taliban decree orders women in Afghanistan to cover their faces. CNN

Libby Cathey reports that US senate republicans block bill that would codify Roe vs. Wade abortion rights. ABC News

Graham Lee Brewer: US counts Indian boarding school deaths for the first time but leaves key questions unanswered. NBC News

Hong Kong’s John Lee: ex-security chief becomes new leader. BBC

The editors curate their best articles to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. JSTOR Daily

You don’t own your partners. The Ultimatum, love, and possession, analyzed. Khadija Mbowe

Bastian Fox Phelan says female facial hair is not uncommon. What happens when we make it visible? The Guardian

Terry Nguyen says trends are dead. Vox

Clark Quinn: gamification, or … Learnlets

Arman Khan says that work thing is probably not urgent. Vice

George Monbiot says that the secret world beneath our feet is mind-blowing—and the key to our planet’s future. The Guardian

Ellen Gutoskey lists 11 elements with names inspired by folklore and mythology. Mental Floss

The new black hole image explained by an astrophysicist. Dr. Becky

Nicole Mortillaro: astronomers reveal first image of the monster black hole at the heart of our galaxy. CBC

We may be wrong about planet formation. SciShow Space

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you took away something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Aug 15-21, 2021

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

You’ve made it through Monday! Reward yourself with some informal writerly learnings 🙂

Vaughn Roycroft is living with unpublished characters. Then, Barbara O’Neal is finding the particular. Barbara Linn Probst considers writing: is it an art, identity, or profession? Why not all three? Later in the week, Porter Anderson gets provocative about flights of self-censorship. Then, Kelsey Allagood explains how creation myths affect character motivation. Writer Unboxed

Princess Weekes explains how true crime reveals the corruption and failures of the legal system. Melina Pendulum

K.M. Weiland explains why you should always identify your characters, pronto. Helping Writers Become Authors

Jane (herself) says, the value of book distribution is often misunderstood by authors. Then, Tiffany Yates Martin shares the secret to a tight, propulsive plot: the want, the action, the shift. Sangeeta Mehta interviews agents Michelle Brower and Jennifer Chen Tran about whether you should publish with a small press. Jane Friedman

Related: E.J. Wenstrom shares what she’s learned in six years of small press publishing. Elizabeth Spann Craig

Story structures: In medias res. Reedsy

Melinda VanLone offers some advice for branding a series. Then, Lisa Norman lists seven things every author website needs. Miffie Seideman offers some helpful advice on writing about drugs: Fentanyl 101. Writers in the Storm

Andrea Turrentine shares two key factors in successfully outlining stories. Live, Write, Thrive

Rayne Hall lists 11 reasons you should submit your short stories to anthologies. Then, Janice Hardy wonders, why ask why? Because your readers will. Bonnie Randall considers the risks and rewards of uncommon narrative structures. Fiction University

Nathan Bransford advises what to cut when your book is too long. Nathan Bransford

Seven-point story structure. Reedsy

Ambre Dawn Lefler wants you to be a conference guru. Then, Susan Francis Morris explains how writing helped her live life after trauma. Later in the week, LA Bourgeois offers five ways to trick yourself into writing. DIY MFA

E.J. Wenstrom explains why we need ADHD representation in fiction. Terribleminds

Christina Delay is breaking free. Writers Helping Writers

Chris Winkle: what do writers need to describe? Then, Oren Ashkenazi analyzes five characters with the wrong skill set. Mythcreants

Why it’s time to write out the nag. The Take

Angie Hodapp introduces us to the trinity of premise, plot, and prose. What happens when one is missing? Then, Kristin Nelson shares 14 reasons why agenting is harder now than it was 20 years ago. Pub Rants

Nina Munteanu: to boldly go where no human has gone before ….

Rebecca Thomas explores Mi’kmaw language in poetry collection: I Place you into the Fire. CBC’s The Next Chapter

Vicky Qiao reports that Ojibway journalist and author Tanya Talaga to write three new nonfiction books. The first will be published in 2023. CBC

Thank you for taking the time to visit. I hope you took away something to support your current work in progress.

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