Riley Adams's Blog, page 16

February 10, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

LitLinks are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 70,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers. While you’re there, check out the Writer’s Digest award-winning Hiveword novel organizer.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here. Follow the WKB on Facebook here.

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Published on February 10, 2024 21:01

February 4, 2024

What Constitutes Success for a Writer?

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The subject of success . . . mostly how to get it . . . is a popular one for writers. When I pulled the word up in the WKB, it had close to 24,000 entries. I remember there was a book that came out a few years ago that delved into the idea that there were similarities, or coding, that distinguished bestselling books.

Having a bestseller is definitely one marker of success. Making a living off of writing is another.

But there are many other markers of success.

Yours may not include publication at all. It might be to start or maintain a writing habit.

It might be to finish a book you started years ago.

It might be to have something to share with family and close friends.

It might be a writing project you keep to yourself, something that is meaningful for your eyes only.

It might be just to experiment and see what it’s possible for you to create.

It might be to heal from a painful time in your life.

The goals for writing are different for every person. And, no matter what your goal is, if you meet it, you’re a success.

How do you view success as a writer?

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Published on February 04, 2024 21:01

February 3, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

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Published on February 03, 2024 21:01

January 28, 2024

Keeping Up With Writing And Business

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

No matter if you’re traditionally published or self-published, you’ll be dealing with lots of writing-related business. Having done both, though, I know you’ll have a bit more as a self-published author, especially if you’re going wide and publishing in lots of formats.

Sometimes, family and friends are a little sketchy on what that entails. Sometimes, I get so wound up in it myself that I can’t even relate all the things I might do in a day. Some of my writing-related business relates to book production (communicating with my editor or cover designer, emailing or texting IngramSpark or Draft2Digital with any hiccups I experience, etc.). Sometimes it relates to publishing wide (getting a book formatted and covered for translation, auditioning narrators for audio, approving audio, dealing with any issues). Sometimes it’s work to promote my books (running ads on Amazon or Facebook, updating my website, writing a newsletter, responding to readers, scheduling social media).

Whatever it is I’m wrangling in a day, I try to balance out the creative work and the business work. Here are a few tips for doing that:

Get your writing done first. For me, this is a non-negotiable. If I don’t knock out my writing first, I’ve learned that my day can get totally hijacked along the way. And business-related stuff can be such a rabbit hole that it can be one of the things that hijacks our writing.

Don’t try to tackle too much business at once. When you’re facing a lot of business-related work, it’s tempting to jump in and just keep going until you’ve finished. But sometimes business tasks can be so complex and overwhelming that it’s better to break it down into manageable bits to keep burnout at bay.

Use a timer and set a time limit. You may have the opposite problem from tackling too much business at once; you might not want to tackle it at all. If that’s the case, set your timer for a quick session to get started. Say you’re going to get started with Amazon ads, for instance. That’s going to involve some research before you run advertising on the platform. Divide the task into a few pieces: look up free Amazon ads courses online, read/watch/listen to the course for 15 minutes at a time, create ad copy, run the ad. Setting a timer helps make the different tasks less onerous and ensures you’re not going to get too sucked up into the process.

Keep notes. Some of this stuff can be complex. Whenever I’m learning something new, I always think it was such a bother that I’ll be sure to remember how it all worked next time. This never seems to happen! Now I take notes in Evernote or OneNote to remind me of all the steps I need to take the next time I do the task.
How do you keep up with your writing and business-related tasks? What have I missed?

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Published on January 28, 2024 21:01

January 27, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

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Published on January 27, 2024 21:01

January 21, 2024

4 Odd Writing Tips That Really Work

by Rose Atkinson-Carter, @Reedsy

Like many writers out there, I have my favorite strategies when it comes to my craft, from setting realistic goals to carrying a notebook with me everywhere I go. But whenever I feel stuck in a rut, I try to do something new — shaking things up, after all, is the best way for me to approach my writing from a new perspective.

In this post, I’m going to share four writing tips that I consider strange but also always reliable. If you’re struggling with your work at the moment or just want to know what my tried-and-true strategies are, read on!

1. Write when you’re tired or sleepy

An hour after the sun rises, I typically get out of bed and shuffle over to my desk, a freshly brewed cup of coffee in one hand. But when the words just aren’t flowing, I leave writing until after dinner or right before bedtime.

Have you ever tried writing in a completely exhausted state? While you probably won’t find yourself composing very polished and refined sentences, there’s something wonderful about writing without a filter. When I’m fully awake during a writing session, I tend to fixate on self-editing; instead of steadily moving my story forward, I’ll obsess way too much over word choice and sentence structure.

So, whenever I feel like I’ve been unproductively working for too long on the same section, I switch things up and work at night. This helps me get more words down without revising my writing every other minute! Then, I can go back to what I’ve written the following day and clean things up.

2. Write using an unconventional font

What’s your favorite font to use while typing away on your computer? Are you an Arial person or more of a Times New Roman fan? I typically use Georgia or EB Garamond, but when I’m in a frazzled headspace, Comic Sans is my preferred font.

Comic Sans doesn’t have the best reputation — in fact, countless people around the world have openly expressed their hatred for it, and you should certainly be concerned if you ever see it on the cover of a book — but if you want to get the words flowing, an unconventional font just might be your best bet.

Whenever I use a silly-looking font that’s stripped of pretension, it becomes easier to write whatever comes to mind without feeling the need to edit every sentence right away. There’s something about a more casual font that encourages me to take risks and be okay with making goofy mistakes, so why not try it yourself? You’ve got nothing to lose!

3. Take a dance break

Picture this: you’re sitting at your desk, eyes strained after spending an unknown amount of hours in front of your computer, and nothing you read or hear makes sense anymore. What do you do? You could call it a day – but if you don’t want to just yet, try taking a dance break.

The thought of you randomly dancing to some upbeat music might seem silly at first, but trust me on this one. Moving your body has so many benefits, from relieving tension and stress to increasing energy. It also helps your body release hormones known as endorphins, which are known to boost one’s mood.

Whenever I want to quickly get out of a slump, I force myself out of my chair and dance to my favorite songs for around ten minutes. Once I return to my desk, I feel less frustrated, more energized, and ready to focus on the task at hand!

And remember, if dancing’s not your thing, you could always try brisk walking, running, jumping jacks… anything that’ll get your heart rate up!

4. Write your story backwards

If you’re like me, you probably gravitate towards a chronological approach when it comes to penning a story. But what happens when writer’s block hits and you’ve been staring at the same page for days, maybe even weeks? Well, that’s where my last odd tip comes in.

Instead of letting yourself reach a point where you want to rip your hair out, try skipping all the way to the end of your story, then work backwards. Write the very last scene or chapter, then write the one before it, and so on. Even if you’re relying on a story template, you can approach its various parts in a non-chronological order.

Let’s pretend you’re composing a cozy mystery and reveal the killer’s identity in your book’s last chapter. You could write the whole story from beginning to end, but what would happen if you compose the big reveal first, and then work on each preceding chapter until you’ve reached your book’s first chapter?

This could help you find more motivation to write due to the novelty of the situation, and who knows? It may even help you find more ways to subtly hint at the killer’s identity or hidden motive! By working your way backwards, you’ll have already written how your story ends, which will give you a chance to think deeply about all the events and clues that build up over time until that grand finale.

And there you have it — my favorite odd writing tips that always help me out of a slump. How about you? What are some of your time-tested techniques that other writers might consider unconventional?

Rose Atkinson-Carter is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace and blog that helps authors with everything from finding the best creative writing courses to hiring a ghostwriter and more. She lives in London.

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Published on January 21, 2024 21:01

January 20, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Business / Miscellaneous 8 Qualities of a Great Book Editor: by Andrea Moran @livewritethrive Creative Planning for Authors and Poets: by Orna Ross @JaneFriedman Common Mistakes Freelancers Make Early in Their Careers: @RobynRoste Review Of My 2023 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn: @thecreativepenn Business Musings: Out of Print: by Kristine Rusch Subscriptions And The Creator Economy With Michael Evans: @thecreativepenn Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous Frankfurt’s 2026 Guest of Honor Czechia Opens Translation-Focused Planning: @JaroslawAdamows @pubperspectives @book_fair German Nonfiction Prize Receives 191 Titles for Its 2024 Cycle: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives London Book Fair Names Its 2024 Charities of the Year: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Morgan Entrekin on ‘That 30-Year-Old Hanging Out’ at Frankfurt: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives @book_fair Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting Setting Writing Goals – Keeping it Simple: @AlexJCavanaugh
@theiwsg One New Year’s Resolution: by Debbie Burke @killzoneauthors Write Goals That Work: @WriteNowCoach Meet Your Writing Goals This Year with These Valuable Tips: @LynnHBlackburn @ediemelson Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration 31 Writing Prompts For January 2024: @MiaJouBotha @writers_write Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Quotes Helpful Writing Advice from the Pros: @ruthharrisbooks Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers 7 Novels About Characters Driven by Their Cravings: by Garnett Kilberg Cohen @electriclit 10 Books About Nonhuman Consciousness : by Bennett Sims @electriclit Writers: Reading in the New Year: 5 Stories About Embracing Found Family: @colerush1 @tordotcom 5 Stories Showcasing the Resilience, Dedication and Valor of Women: @WF_WRITERS @booktrib Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block 3 Tips For Writing When Overcome By Writer’s Block: by E. M. Sherwood Foster Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life How to Write With a Cat: @SMCarriere Aerospace Engineer Uses Science Background to Craft Fantastic Tales: @howard_lovy features @adeena The Benefits of the Written Word Upon the Worried Mind: by Vincent Mars Conquering Writer Doubt: by Erin K. Larson-Burnett @theiwsg 19 Strategies to Help Writers Stop Overthinking: @ninaamir One Word to Guide Your Writing Journey in 2024: from Writers In The Storm 5 Steps To Keep Your New Year’s Writing Resolutions: @thejkstudio Productivity, Deadlines, and the Creative Soul: by Lisa Norman The Benefits of a Slow Start to the Year: @lisatener When Will You Be a “Real Writer”? @foxprinted Easy Solutions for When Writing Gets Too Darn Difficult: by Lynette M. Burrows What type of writer and reader are you? @SueColetta1 Genres / Horror Female Characters in Horror: @MandSMagazine Genres / Mystery The Many Poisons of Crime Fiction: by Valona Jones @crimereads Planting Clues: @mandsmagazine The Global Appeal of Noir: @MandSMagazine Overwhelm as an Element in Crime Fiction: @margotkinberg An Argument for the Unintentional Villain: by Lauren Nossett @crimereads Jury Duty as an Element in Crime Fiction: @margotkinberg Goal Setting as an Element of Crime Fiction: @margotkinberg Genres / Screenwriting Story Checklist: Do the characters consistently have to choose between goods or between evils instead of choosing between good and evil? @cockeyedcaravan Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting Crafting the Perfect Author Bio: A Guide for Fiction and Non-Fiction Writers: by Laurence O’Bryan Promo / Miscellaneous Bake Marketing Into Your Writing Process: Publishing for Profit with Orna Ross and Anna Featherstone: @indieauthoralli 7 Strategies for Social Media Marketing: by Steven Capps Publishing / Miscellaneous The 21 Creative Planning Principles: @indieauthoralli Fly on the Wall Press Joins Publishers Association Climate Pledge: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives US: AAP Announces Support for an AI-Certification Nonprofit: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Richard Charkin on 2024: Why Publishing Matters: @rcharkin @pubperspectives Publishing / News / International Publishing Canada Calls for AI Input; Publishing’s Needs Still Unmet: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Shortchange Self-Publishing: @FrugalBookPromo Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing Do you need a book proposal “cheat sheet”? – @LisaEBetz Writing Craft / Beginnings Can You Start a Novel With Dialogue? (Here Are 9 Novels That Do!): @BrynDonovan Writing Craft / Characters / Development Exploring Character Backstory: from Sara’s Writing Tips Character Type & Trope Thesaurus Entry: Bad Influence: @beccapuglisi Writing Craft / Common Mistakes Telling Yourself to Show: How to Identify Flat Scenes: @janice_hardy Writing Craft / Conflict What Exactly is Conflict? Conflict’s True Form: @septcfawkes Writing Craft / Drafts How to Write a Quality First Draft: @KrystalNCraiker The Crappy First Draft: @aprildavila Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film Seven Writing Lessons From Sherlock Holmes: by Oren Ashkenazi The Lesson That Superhero TV Shows Keep Learning: by Charlie Jane Anders @tordotcom Writing Craft / Literary Devices Tips to Help You Find Your Fiction Story’s Theme: @lornafaith Writing Craft / Miscellaneous Writing: What’s a Story Chain? @lindasclare Why You Want to Become a Better Self-Editor: @ScreenWryter13 Writing Child or Teenage Characters: from Sara’s Writing Tips How to Write an Essay: Tea with VODKA: by Kamm Prongay @diymfa Violence in Fiction: 6 Archetypes: @KMWeiland 7 Tips to Having Characters Speak to the Dead: @cyallowitz Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting The 3 Types of Plot Goals: @septcfawkes @davidfarland Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research Writing through the generations: The Baby Boomers: @gmplano Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar Commonly Misused ‘F’ Words: @harmony_kent @storyempire 16 Tricky Cases of Uncommon Plurals: @writers_write Writing Craft / Settings and Description Real Places with Fictional Names: by Marilynn Byerly One Well-Chosen Detail: Write Juicy Descriptions Without Overwhelming Your Reader: @aprildavila @janefriedman Writing Craft / Voice Trying to Find My Voice on the Page: On Self-Doubt and Finding the Confidence it Takes to Write: @VirginiaPye @lithub Switching Writing Voices: @AnneJanzer Choosing Your Voice: @Clea_Simon @careerauthors

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Published on January 20, 2024 21:01

January 14, 2024

Reading in the New Year

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Here’s something writers can get behind as a goal for 2024: reading more. With all the work we do on the writing and promo ends of things, sometimes refilling our well with books can get lost in the shuffle.But reading is important for writers for lots of reasons . . . books help nourish our creativity, inspire us, and help teach us story structure and other skills.

Here are a few tips for getting the most out of reading in 2024.

Tips for reading more

Keep a TBR (to be read) list. You’ll always have a plan for what you’re reading next.

Set yourself up for reading on the go with digital books. Instead of scrolling through social media, read your book instead. Prefer paper? Be sure to grab your book when you’re walking out the door.

Read with your ears. Audiobooks are great for commutes, exercising, and housework and can be checked out of the library.

Find books to read using Goodreads (I have an anonymous account there, in addition to my public one) or places like Reddit. Or visit your local library in person or online. I check out dozens of books a year on Overdrive through my library.

Tips for reading as a writer

Read a lot in your genre. This helps with genre conventions and what readers expect.

Read broadly outside your genre. Sometimes reading challenges, like this one, are useful for that.

Make notes to yourself about what you’ve read and your thoughts about the books.

A tip for reading in general

If you’re reading something and not looking forward to picking up the book again, find something else to read. There are too many awesome books out there to keep plugging through a book that’s not connecting with you.

***

Do you have anything you’re looking forward to reading this year? How do you make time for reading?

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Published on January 14, 2024 21:01

January 13, 2024

LitLinks

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

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Published on January 13, 2024 21:01

January 7, 2024

The Magic of Metaphor

by Hugh Cook

A quick look our everyday language indicates that metaphor is an essential part of our casual conversations. Metaphors roll off our tongues as easily as, well, falling off a log.

Consider the following:

Negotiations between the company and the union are now on thin ice.

That salesman’s promises seem hollow.

After her accident my sister feels a bit fragile.

I haven’t golfed for a while and my game’s really rusty.

Metaphor pervades our everyday speech without our even consciously thinking about it. Think of the many ways we use parts of the human body as metaphors: we speak of the arm of the law; the eye of a storm; the mouth of a river; the foot of the bed; the hands of a clock; the legs of a chair.

Or consider how we describe ideas by using food as a metaphor, so that we say, “What you said in our argument left a bad taste in my mouth,” or “He spoke so fast it was hard to digest it all,” or, “His denial of global warming consists of some pretty half-baked ideas.”

Since we use metaphor frequently in our everyday speech, it’s no surprise that we also use metaphor pervasively in our writing. Metaphor is not just a device to spice up our poetry or prose, or an ornament to make our writing more colorful. Metaphor is a basic tool of comprehension, a strategic instrument of understanding.

We’ve all experienced the feeling that the most effective way to say what we mean is by way of a metaphor; at times the quickest route of comprehension goes through the detour of metaphor. That’s probably what Emily Dickinson meant when she said, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant / Success in circuit lies.”

One of the amazing things about metaphor is that out of the many possible associations a metaphor can evoke, the mind—like a chicken pecking the wheat and leaving the chaff— automatically tends to select the right comparisons and rejects the irrelevant associations. In fact, we’re so used to hearing metaphors that we immediately intuit the figurative, rather than the literal, meaning.

If metaphor is indeed a basic means of comprehension that lies at the heart of the way in which we communicate, how can we use it more effectively in our writing? What, precisely, does metaphor do for our writing? I will mention five advantages of metaphor, which I will illustrate with examples. And I will offer examples from a variety of literary forms—poetry, fiction, drama—to illustrate the variety of literary genres in which metaphor can be used. (As you’ve seen, I include simile under the larger heading of metaphor).

1.Metaphor compresses, compacts, condenses, allowing us to say a great deal in a few words. When Robert Burns says, “O my luve is like a red, red rose,” our minds immediately intuit a number of associations for the poet’s lady: she is beautiful, fresh, fragrant, natural, healthy, passionate—the rose is not “yellow” or “white,” not even just “red,” but “red, red.” Maybe, even, if you think of thorns, she exudes a hint of danger.

2.Metaphor allows us to express intense emotion without resorting to the twin dangers of abstraction or sentimentality. When Macbeth is informed, in Act V of the play, that Lady Macbeth is dead, he states, “She should have died hereafter,” and laments:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.

All the metaphors running through this passage work powerfully to convey to us Macbeth’s emotions regarding the brevity of life and his realization that after his murderous drive for power life is meaningless. Through the metaphors, Shakespeare avoids an abstract polemic on this topic. The passage also illustrates well the writing principle for fiction that if your character’s emotions are extremely strong at a given moment, it is usually best not to describe the emotions directly.

3. Metaphor allows us to describe a character in fiction in a way that allows the writer to obey the mantra “show, don’t tell.” When Flannery O’Connor, in her story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” says of the children’s mother that she had “a face as round and innocent as a cabbage,” the metaphor not only describes the character physically, it conveys a distinct attitude towards the mother as well. As Janet Burroway points out in her book Writing Fiction, “a soccer ball is also round and innocent; so is a schoolroom globe; so is a streetlamp. But if the mother’s face had been as round and innocent as any of these things, she would be a different woman altogether.” Now, with the metaphor of a cabbage, O’Connor suggests qualities of a countrywoman, of heaviness, of innocence and perhaps of a lack of intelligence. In other words, a judgment about the character is being conveyed. But the reader draws the judgement, rather than feeling the author is being judgmental or harsh.

Similarly, notice how Washington Irving uses metaphor to describe Ichabod Crane in his classic short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”:

He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weathercock, perched upon his spindle neck, to tell which way the wind blew.

Clearly, the tone Irving conveys here through metaphor and hyperbole is comic satire.

A similar use of metaphor and hyperbole, although in a much kinder and gentler tone, is Anne Tyler’s memorable characterization of a woman in her novel The Beginner’s Goodbye: “An aging girl, was what she was, and had been from earliest childhood. Her shoes were Mary Janes, as flat as scows in order to minimize her height. Her elbows jutted like coat hangers, and her legs descended as straight as reeds to her Ping-Pong-ball anklebones.”

In short, metaphor is an effective means of both describing a fictional character, and of shaping the reader’s response to that character as well.

4. Metaphor allows us to illustrate or explain a complex thought or an abstract idea. For instance, in order for us to understand the complex phenomenon of a cause creating an effect, which in turn becomes a cause that creates an effect, which again in its turn becomes a cause creating an effect, we use the appropriate metaphor of a “domino effect.” Many complex ideas in the natural sciences are explained by way of metaphor. Eighteenth century science, for example, explained the complex relationship that exists between a Prime Mover, humankind, and the natural world as a “clockwork mechanism.”

5. Metaphor gives us delight, usually because of the element of surprise at the unlikeness, yet the likeness, of the two things being compared. Think again of the delightful metaphors in some of the examples above. The poetry of seventeenth-century poet John Donne is filled with such ingenious comparisons, as in his poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.”

One of the more delightful poems I’ve received from my creative writing students is the following poem “Catlife.” Read it and you will be delightfully startled by its surprising comparison:

The life I leave when I see you

bides its time with an arched back,

waits with expectant eyes,

broods with a twitching tail.

The life I see when I leave you

lies in a weary gray lump,

limply resists picking up,

and lands feet up when dropped.

In closing, let me suggest a number of writing exercises that use metaphor as an effective means of communicating. (On the internet, look up the poems I mention).

1.Write a poem which is unified through a single extended metaphor, as in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” or Linda Pastan’s poem “Jump Cabling.”

2. Write a poem which contains a number of metaphors for one thing, as in Mark Irwin’s “Icicles,” or in Sylvia Plath’s “Metaphors”—be forewarned: Plath’s poem is a complex riddle! See if you can solve it. A hint: count the number of lines, and the number of syllables in each line. (Feel free to email me for the answer if you don’t see it and you’re feeling extremely exasperated: hughcook212@gmail.com).

3. In a novel or a short story you’re writing, use original metaphor to describe one of your characters, or to indicate authorial tone towards that character, be that tone critical, satirical, or gentle and kind.

4. Write a poem or a piece of prose that explores the metaphoric possibilities within a color. Write down all the emotional associations that the color evokes. For example, red suggests anger, passion, heat, and so on. Consider, for instance, how Nathanel Hawthorne uses these associations to describe Hester Prynne in his classic novel The Scarlet Letter. The color white suggests purity, emptiness, blankness, and so on. Think of how powerfully Herman Melville discusses associations of the color white in “The Whiteness of the Whale” chapter in his great novel Moby-Dick. Don’t be afraid to include your very personal associations with the color; then write a poem or a piece of prose that incorporates these associations.

5. In the script of a play, have one of the characters express deep feeling, not by naming the feeling, but by using metaphor.

Hugh Cook holds an MFA in fiction writing from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He has published two books of short stories and two novels. Readers can obtain his recent novel Heron River at

Amazon and at Barnes and Noble . Send him a query at hughcook212@gmail.com.

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Published on January 07, 2024 21:01