Riley Adams's Blog, page 91

April 8, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 40,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and see the character and location name generators!

Subscribe for free to writing tips delivered to your inbox.

Business / Miscellaneous

How to Start Your Own Publishing Company: @erikaliodice

Business Musings: Process: @KristineRusch

Is Writing Your Side Hustle? 4 Steps to Take Before Going Full Time @nfallontaylor

3 Author Behaviors Which Will Kill Your Career: @angee

How to Save for Retirement When You’re a Freelance Writer: by Mandy Gardner @hopeclark

Success with Audiobooks: What You Need to Know: @audiovoices #IndieAuthorFringe

Find And Serve Your Niche For Long Term Success: @chrisbrogan @thecreativepenn

Why 1 Writer Stopped Chasing the Bestseller Lists: @marieforce

Business / Taxes

Tax Tips for Writers: @LisaLondon3

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Schedule Your Time in 4 Simple Steps: @JanalynVoigt

Accountability for our progress (video): @ScholarlyFox

Tracking your writing time: @RIngermanson

If you don’t write when you don’t have time, you won’t write when you do have time: @McgannKellie

Quick Fixes to Spend More Time Writing: @cksyme

The Major Danger of Confusing Projects and Goals: @MichaelHyatt

6 Practical Ways To Plug Time Leaks For More Writing Time: @10MinNovelists

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / When to write

How to Wake Up Early and Be Productive: @Ava_Jae

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Does Your Writing Need a Literary Palate Cleanser? @Janice_Hardy

3 reasons for writer’s block: @jasonbougger

How a Thank You Note Got 1 Writer Through Writer’s Block: @juliepens @WritersDigest

5 Secrets for Overcoming Fear and Anxiety as Writers: @shahw1 @TheIWSG

Elements of Plot Structure: Fire Up Your Stalled Novel: @WritetoDone

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

10 Film Scores to Listen to While Writing: @GiveMeYourTeeth @LitReactor

7 tips to get our writing done: @beprolifiko

6 Elements to Becoming a More Productive Writer: @Mad_Hat_Writer

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Teaching Writing: On the Pitfalls of Hiding Out: @LannyBall

What Stress Can Do For You: @sowulwords @DIYMFA

3 Self-Care Tips For Writers: @rsmollisonread

5 Ways Ernest Hemingway Had It Easier: @BobEckstein @WhereWritersWin

5 Lit-Friendly Cities You Can Expatriate To: @chris_shultz81 @LitReactor

Readers Report Hearing Characters’ Voices: by Jackson Frons @ElectricLit

Cartoonist @amykurzweil On Drawing Inherited Trauma: by Julia Purcell

Who Is the Best Fake Novelist on TV? @ElectricLit

Writing to Survive: A Father on the Death of His Young Son: by Stéphane Gerson @lithub

How to Write Without Approval: Reasons to Keep Writing When it’s Tough: @AGHackney

Where to Find Opportunities to Teach to Supplement Your Writing Income: @ericmaisel @JaneFriedman

Simplicity: The Value of Quiet: @emi1y_morgan

How to Be Taken Seriously as a Writer: @KateMColby

How to Write When the Going Gets Tough: @missriki @LitReactor

8 Highly Unusual Writing Residencies: @knownemily

How to Survive a Creative Writing Workshop: @wickerkat @LitReactor

What’s with writers and late blooming? @DebraEve

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Spaces

4 Keys to Create Space to Write: @lornafaith

Genres / Fantasy

Why Fantasy Writers Should Embrace Their Heritage: by Andrew Falconer @mythcreants

How to Write Urban Fantasy – 6 Magical Tips: @writeturninfo

Using Mythic Elements in Your Stories: by Anne Marie Gazzolo @mythicscribes

Genres / Historical

16 Things All Historical Fiction Writers Need to Know: @IGLAbooks

Genres / Horror

Pieces of a horror writer: @pederson_lucas @jimbomcleod

Genres / Literary Fiction

5 Pieces of Bad Advice Literary Fiction Writers Get About Publishing: @MikeSahno @annerallen

Genres / Mystery

The 3 Mistakes Thriller Writers Most Often Make: @HesterAuthor @SignatureReads

Activism as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Plotting a Mystery: Work Backwards from the Climax: @CockeyedCaravan

How to Plot a Mystery: Set Up the Villain Fake-Out: @CockeyedCaravan

Writing the Crime Scene: Poison: @repokempt

Cosmetic surgery as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Genres / Non-Fiction

How To Use Story In Your Non-Fiction Author Business: @MelissaAddey

How to use ebooks to build your non-fiction niche: @jayartale #IndieAuthorFringe

Genres / Poetry

Speculative Poetry: Science Fiction and Fantasy in Verse: by Randi Anderson @WritersDigest

Genres / Romance

The Triangle of Romantic Suspense: @Allison_Brennan

5 Ways to Write Romance With Respect: @angelajames

4 Reasons Romance Novels Are an Important Form of Literature: @JodyHedlund

10 reasons readers fall hard for Christian Grey: @ACRoseAuthor @RWANYC

Promo / Ads

How 1 Writer Sold 100x More of Her Book Series: @GlynnisCampbell

Promo / Blogging

The guest blogging audience most novelists don’t know about: @sandrabeckwith

Tips for writers who want to stop blogging: @karinabilich

How Blogging and Other Content Marketing Helps Writers Get Noticed: @lornafaith

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

What the Heck is Copywriting Anyway? @bryancohenbooks @TheIWSG

How Great Book Descriptions Can Help Sell More Books: @Bookgal

7 Tips for Writing a Book Description: @WritersAfterDrk

Promo / Book Reviews

7 Ways To Deal With That Dreaded Bad Review: @PhreyPress

Promo / Connecting with Readers

5 Ways to Show Your Readers You’re Their Perfect Match: @EmilyWenstrom

Promo / Crowdfunding

How Patreon Works for Writers: @crazyauthorgirl

Promo / Miscellaneous

Why Book Clubs are the New Book Tour: @nmeierwrites @WomenWriters

Promo / Newsletters

20 Actionable Email Marketing Tips for Bloggers: by Pawan Kumar @WritetoDone

Promo / Platforms

How To Build Your Own Online Platform: @Bang2write

Promo / Pricing

10 Factors to Consider When Using Your Book as a Freemium: @bookmarketing @Bowker

Promo / Social Media Tips

Getting the Most out of a Twitter Pitch Event: @SpunkOnAStick

Using Instagram Stories to Build Reader Engagement: @tinytashhxo @penguinusa

Stop Focusing on Follower Count: 5 Things to Do Instead: @Andrea_Dunlop @JaneFriedman

3 Unconventional Ways To Use Social Media To Effectively Find Your Readers: @DanBlank @thecreativepenn

Promo / Websites

7 Vital Website Ingredients for Authors And Editors: @Belinda_Pollard

Set Up A Pro Author Website In An Hour Using WordPress: @PaulTeagueUK @IndieAuthorALLI

Sharing Your Purpose on an About Page for Your Website: @MarshaIngrao

Is Your Website Missing these Key Elements? @WriteNowCoach

Publishing / Miscellaneous

“Hire a professional indexer. The author… is the worst person for the job.” @Porter_Anderson @indexers

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Entertainment CEO to publishers: ‘learning from Angry Birds’: @Porter_Anderson @LauraNevanlinna

Wimpy Kid author finds success in Italy: @Porter_Anderson @wimpykid

Cambridge Editing Services: Editing in English as a Second Language: @emilykmarchant @Porter_Anderson

European book publishing: total market value of $38.4–$42.7 billion: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishers Weekly and Frankfurt Book Fair Open Nominations for 2017’s PW Star Watch: @Porter_Anderson

Russian Retailer LitRes Announces New Ebook Format: @Porter_Anderson

The Baileys Women’s Prize Shortlist: @BaileysPrize @Porter_Anderson

Global Book Fair Report 2017: ‘Propelling Rights Deals’: @Porter_Anderson @IntPublishers

Canadian Retail: Kobo Acquires Shelfie Technology: @Porter_Anderson @HudPeter

Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial Is Acquiring Spain’s Ediciones B @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Does Self-Publishing Make Sense for Scholarly Writers? @Porter_Anderson @DanielBerze

4 Surprising Things About Self-Publishing an Academic Book: @joshgans @ReedsyHQ

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

When is Your Manuscript Submission-Ready? @Ava_Jae

Is It Time, Dear Writer, To Ditch Your Literary Agent? @ChuckWendig

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

Manuscript Rejection Feedback: 3 Critiques to Heed (and 2 to Ignore): @Carocour @WritersDigest

5 Mistakes Writers Make Dealing With Rejection: by Michael Alvear @Bang2write

Publishing / Process / Distribution

An Alternative Solution for Book Distribution: @StreetLib : by Marco Croella and @davidpenny_

Publishing / Process / Legalities

How To Protect Your Creative Work: @KathrynGoldman @thecreativepenn

Why and how to copyright our books:

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

How to Identify & Avoid Some Common “Bad” Publishing Deals: @SusanSpann @RMFWriters

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Character Introductions: Introduction through surprise: @GoIntoTheStory

Flog a Pro: would you pay to turn the first page of this bestseller? @RayRhamey

Starting a Novel With Aftermath: @Kid_Lit

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

Is Your Antagonist A Match For Your Hero? @Writers_Write

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

The Structure of Character: @woodwardkaren

Discovering a Characters’ Secrets: @AuthorSAT

Creating Characters—7 Habits of Seriously Messed Up People: @KristenLambTX

Tips for Making Your Characters Talk: @jessicarpatch for @DaniPettrey

Writing Craft / Characters / Supporting Characters

The Importance of the Adversarial Ally: by Jeanne Cavelos @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Why Readers Quit #1: Nothing Happens: @DavidHSafford

Writing Craft / Dialogue

Check Your Character’s Dialect: @NovelEditor

8 Ways to Bungle Dialogue: @10MinNovelists

How to Correctly Punctuate Dialogue for Novels: @WritersAfterDrk

Writing Craft / Drafts

How to Compose the Perfect First Draft: @annkroeker

Writing Craft / Endings

The Finish Line for Your Novel and Tips for Wrapping it Up: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

The 1000 Day MFA: @shauntagrimes

How Audiobooks Can Improve Your Writing: @RichardRieman @RMFWriters

7 of the Great Platonic Loves in Literature: @carrievasios @ElectricLit

The Quiet Call to Action in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time: @charlottejv @SignatureReads

6 of the Most Fabulous Food Writers of All Time: @rosmance

8 TV Shows That Will Make You a Better Novelist: by Andrew Lowe @ReedsyHQ

12 of the Sweet Valley High Books’ Most Ridiculous Plotlines: @erincmccarthy

How to Escape in 9 Books: by Cara Hoffman @ElectricLit

Writing Craft / Literary Devices

5 Cases of Unfulfilled Foreshadowing: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants

Your Quick And Easy Guide To Theme, Allegory And Symbolism: by Hannah Collins @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

15 Ways to Earn Your Audience as a Writer: @ChuckWendig

14 Tips On How To Create Your Own Urban Legend: @woodwardkaren

Could a character be a paramedic if he were disabled? @scriptmedic

Putting Your Writing Through Its Paces: @ProWritingAid

Writing Craft / Pacing

4 reasons to use a time jump in your story: @Chris_Kokoski

Writing Craft / POV

Choosing a POV for your novel: @patverducci

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Story Structure’s Purpose for Readers: @JamiGold

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

BS Medical Tropes That Need to Die: Stealing Ambulances (With a Patient Still Inside): @scriptmedic

How to Do Your Own Medical Research: @scriptmedic

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

When Do I Spell Out Numbers? @BrianKlems @WritersDigest

Why We Love To Hate Grammarians: @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor

A refresher on verbs: @HopeTDougherty

Hyphenation: When Nouns Become Adjectives: @ProWritingAid

3 Cases of Dangling Modifiers: @writing_tips

Writing Craft / Revision

Tips for Surviving the Editing Journey: @SukhiJutla

How To Edit Description: @JillWilliamson

8 Ways to Troubleshoot a Scene-and 5 Ways Make It Fabulous: @KMWeiland

A Writer’s Guide To Ruthlessly Killing Your Darlings: @10MinNovelists

7 Reasons to Read Your Manuscript Out Loud: @10MinNovelists

6 Things Learned Rewriting an Old WIP: @KelsieEngen

Writing Craft / Scenes

10 Questions To Ask Before Writing An Interesting Scene: @10MinNovelists

Writing Craft / Series

Pros, Cons, and Tips for Writing a Novel Series: @AuthorDeb Raney

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Including Background Scenery: by Wendy Thomas @CSLakin

Writing Craft / Tropes

Things Your Writing Teacher Never Told You: Researching the Tropes: by Tina L. Jens @BlackGateDotCom

Writing Craft / World-Building

Society in Story: by Aaron Miles @FantasyFaction

Writing Tools / Apps

The Fuss-Free Beginner’s Guide To Scrivener: @ClaireABradshaw

Comparing Dropbox and Google Drive: @MarshaIngrao

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

Writing Doubts (Writer Worksheet): @EvaDeverell

From My Blog:

How Flash Fiction Can Make You a Better Writer (and Where to Find It)

Reading More in 2017 – By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig In 2016, I worked in more reading than I had in …

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on April 08, 2017 21:02

April 6, 2017

Subscribe to Writing Tips Via Email

by Mike Fleming, @Hiveword

In my previous post about changes to the Writer’s Knowledge Base (WKB) I mentioned that a future feature would be the possibility of receiving emails brimming with writing links on a daily or weekly basis. Well, that future is now!

As are probably well aware, every day Elizabeth tweets links to great articles on writing. Every Sunday you can get the week’s worth of links via her Twitterific blog post. You can also search for these articles or browse them by category on the WKB. And now, you can also have them delivered right to your inbox on a daily or weekly basis.

To get these emails you’ll need a free Hiveword account so that the system can remember your settings. If you are not familiar with Hiveword it hosts the WKB but also has other tools for writers such as a novel organizer and name generators. Once you are signed in, click the Writer’s Knowledge Base logo and then click Categorized Emails. Or, save a few steps and just click here when you are signed in.

You are now presented with a page for selecting your desired delivery frequency and the article categories that interest you. Here’s a screenshot:

(Note: There are many more categories to choose from than the screenshot shows. You can see all of them here.)

Click Save once you’ve chosen a frequency and any number of categories. If you chose Daily delivery you will get an email every day with the article links from the previous 24 hours that match your category selection. It’ll show up in your inbox around 1200 GMT (that’s 8am Eastern time in the United States).

If you chose weekly delivery then you will get your email every Monday around 1200 GMT. As you might expect, the article window is the previous week.

I’d like to point out that your category selections will determine how many links you receive in an email or if you even receive an email at all on a given day. It’s really up to you as to how many links you receive. Elizabeth can tweet as many 20 articles a day but not every category gets covered each day so you can see how your number of links can vary. If you’re getting too many links to handle, simply dial back your category selection to put more of a laser focus on what you need at the moment. You can always change your categories at any time or even turn off delivery.

There ya go! Relatively short and sweet. I hope you like this capability and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Mike Fleming runs Hiveword which is a suite of online writing tools. The flagship product, Hiveword, is a free novel organizer.

Integrated within Hiveword is the Writer’s Knowledge Base and Knockout Novel which is a paid add-on from acclaimed writing coach James Scott Bell.

Free writing tips delivered to your email inbox via @hiveword and @elizabethscraig
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Published on April 06, 2017 21:02

April 2, 2017

Copyrighting Our Books

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

When I was first signing a book contract in 2008, I remember that the industry generally scoffed on writers worried about copyright issues. Some writers wondered if they should register a copyright on their manuscripts before submitting them to agents and publishers. There was even a line of thinking that authors could simply mail their manuscripts to themselves to acquire a ‘poor man’s copyright’ through the postal service.

Acquiring a copyright to send work to a reputable agent or publisher was indeed probably overkill. But the problem now is more insidious: there are cases where retailers like Amazon have challenged writers to prove a book’s content is theirs after receiving challenges from unscrupulous writers.

I’d been meaning to copyright my books for some time, but it became a higher priority after the copyright challenges became news. And I hopped right over to the US Copyright site after reading a post on Joanna Penn’s blog: an interview with attorney Kathryn Goldman. I recommend you read or listen to the entire post.

One of the things Kathryn Goldman brought up in the interview is that the US Copyright is a better deal than one in the UK, for instance. It’s $35 for a copyright in the US for the life of the copyright (a one-time fee). In the UK, it’s £65 for 5 years. According to Goldman, “if you have a registration in the United States and your country is a signatory to the Berne Convention, then you’re entitled to the protections that that country offers based on the U.S. registration.” That’s important information for international writers.

I found the copyright registration process easy, if not intuitive. I’ll go one step further: the US Copyright site reminds me of early websites in the late 1990s. It’s not a modern site, y’all. But once I got the hang of it, I zipped through quickly. I registered 11 books in probably 45 minutes time (and for a total cost of $385).

Since the site isn’t intuitive, I thought I’d walk you through my process on it. I’m a novelist without a coauthor for those who don’t regularly follow my blog.

I started at the Copyright site (the first page isn’t so bad, but just wait) and chose ‘literary works’. If you want the definition, they list it as “a wide variety of works such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, textbooks, reference works, directories, catalogs, advertising copy, compilations of information, computer programs and databases.”

You’ll need to create a user name and login.

Choose ‘register a new claim’ in the left sidebar.

Answer yes or no…for me, they were all yes. If you had a coauthor or were part of an anthology, your answers would be different. And I did register each work separately–I didn’t attempt to register an entire series under one copyright because my understanding from writer forums is that that wouldn’t work.

A pop up box pops up and you indicate you’ve read it and your book is eligible (give it a look-over to make sure it is).

Type of work: literary work

Check the box below.

Note: Keep hitting ‘continue’ at the top of the page or else you might accidently click ‘change application’ at the bottom of the page. As I mentioned earlier…the site is not intuitive.

Type in your title.

Mark if the book has already been published (mine all had…this is not a problem).

Indicate the nation of first publication, the year you wrote it, and the date it was published. Note: they want the month, date, and year (look it up on Amazon if you don’t remember). If you don’t put it in the MM/DD/YYYY format, it will kick you back to the previous screen with no explanation whatsoever. It took me a while to figure out what I was doing wrong.

List your author information: name, citizenship, and what part of the book you were responsible for (for me, this was limited to text. I didn’t design my own cover). There’s a spot for pen names here, too.

Add your address (we’re the claimant).

Limit your claim if it applies (it didn’t for me).

Provide contact information for anyone who wants permission to use your work (the ‘add me’ tab at the top is a shortcut and will fill in the information you listed previously).

Add your info in case the copyright office needs to contact you with questions (or use the wonderful ‘add me’ tab).

Add your name and info for the copyright certificate to be mailed to.

I skipped paying for special handling, but if you’re being challenged on your copyright of your work, this is an option to expedite matters. They claimed the process could take as long as 10 months…I certainly hope it doesn’t. I’m hoping it’s like the passport office…they always say it will take longer than it actually does.

Check the box and add your name to ‘sign’ the document.

Review your submission and then add it to the cart.

To repeat the process and add more books, click ‘add more services’. Otherwise, you can check out.

You can pay via bank draft or credit card.

Here’s the pain in the neck part for anyone who has printed versions of their books…you must mail them a hard copy (I sent them published books I had on hand).

If your books are only available in digital format or if the books are unpublished, you can submit files electronically. Here is the full list of requirements for sending a digital file:

“When is an electronic copy acceptable?

An electronic copy of the work being registered may be uploaded directly into eCO if it is within one of the following categories:

• Unpublished work

• Work published only electronically

• Published work for which the deposit requirement is identifying material

• Published work for which there are special agreements requiring a hard-copy deposit to be sent separately to the Library of Congress

For works where a hard-copy is required, you can still submit an application and payment by eCO and send copies of your work to the Copyright Office by the U.S. Postal Service or express courier.”

But don’t send them an epub or mobi file! They take:

.doc (Microsoft Word Document)

.docx (Microsoft Word Open XML Document)

.htm, .html (HyperText Markup Language)

.pdf (Portable Document Format)

.rtf (Rich Text Document)

.txt (Text File)

.wpd (WordPerfect Document)

.wps (Microsoft Works Word Processor Document)

As I mentioned, I had to send them printed books…my books didn’t meet any of the requirements for electronic submission. Before my next book comes out, you better believe I’m submitting it digitally.

At the bottom of the page, there’s a section for printing shipping slips. I clicked it and then clicked on the link they provided after they’d prepared the slips. We’re supposed to put one slip with each book (I attached them with rubber bands to the books) and then mail them to the address at the bottom of the slips.

We can check on the progress of our registration claim on their homepage in the ‘open cases’ link to the left.

Is it convoluted? Yes. Is it a pain? Most definitely.

But it’s not particularly expensive, especially considering the cost of everything else book-related.

Have you registered the copyright for your books?

I also wanted to let my blog readers know about a special offer (and I’m an affiliate for it). It’s called The Writer’s Bundle. The Write Life, a website for writers, is offering a deal this week only (starting today at 6 a.m. ET): a package they call The Writer’s Bundle.They’ve bundled together 10 ebooks, courses and tools on freelancing, novel writing, self-publishing, marketing, editing and more. Purchased separately, they’d cost nearly $1,700. But for the next four days, The Write Live is offering the entire package for just $99. Click here for more information or to download the bundle.

How and why to copyright our books:
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Photo credit: The Library of Congress via Visualhunt / No known copyright restrictions

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Published on April 02, 2017 21:01

April 1, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and see the character and location name generators!

Business / Miscellaneous

“Cataloging” Your Book : @MaryGillgannon @RMFWriters

How much should editing cost? @pubcoach

Does a Writer Really Need a Professional Development Plan? @AnnOttoAuthor @WomenWriters

15 Tips for Authors Running Webinars: @JFbookman

What To Do If A Website Has Stolen Your Work: @standoutbooks

7 Ways to Handle a Freelance-Writing Client Who Won’t Pay Up: @aliventures

How to Start Your Own Publishing Company: @erikaliodice

Business Musings: Process: @KristineRusch

Business / Taxes

Tax Tips for Writers: @LisaLondon3

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

What not to do at an author festival: @Elfwriter

Tips, dos and don’ts for attending writing conferences: @SusanKelley @TheIWSG

A Closer Look at April’s PubTechConnect Conference: @Porter_Anderson

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

When You Don’t Feel Like Writing: @victoria_grif7

Be the Encouragement to a New Writer: @JoEberhardt

5 Tips For Cultivating Creativity In Writing: @rsmollisonread

5 Tips to Help You Fall in Love with Creating Again: @emi1y_morgan

Notorious Literary Muses from Best to Worst: @knownemily

Music as The Writer’s Muse: @Caliskaniverse_

My 4-Step System for Hacking Your Creativity: @ink_and_quills

Why Writers Benefit from Using Creative Visualization: @VoicetoStory

How Objects Inspire Fiction: @AnneLParrish

Non-writing hobbies and habits that fuel writing: @AllieLarkin @WriterUnboxed

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

8 Ways To Read More, Even When You’re Deep Into Your Own Manuscript: @cnoepagan

How to Learn From Other Authors: @Janice_Hardy

No Amount of “Research” Can Take Hot Mr. Darcy Away From Us: @knownemily @lithub

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

A Mindful Guide to Email in 20 Minutes a Day: @zen_habits

How Productive Writers Start The Day: @sidsavara

5 Secrets to Writing Despite a Day Job: @JerryBJenkins

Schedule Your Time in 4 Simple Steps: @JanalynVoigt

Accountability for our progress (video): @ScholarlyFox

Tracking your writing time: @RIngermanson

If you don’t write when you don’t have time, you won’t write when you do have time: @McgannKellie

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

6 Self-Imposed Limitations That Prevent You from Publishing: by Elizabeth Lee

Got writer’s block? @Lin_Manuel has a playlist for you: @michaelschaub

5 Tools to Give You a Running Jump Over Writer’s Block: @foxcabane @JudahThinks

Does Your Writing Need a Literary Palate Cleanser? @Janice_Hardy

3 reasons for writer’s block: @jasonbougger

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Writing Process: Get it Organized, Get it Done: @davidpenny_ #IndieAuthorFringe

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

Success requires collaborators: @DanBlank

How to Turn Elements of Your Novel Into a Masterpiece: @ESimsAuthor @WritersDigest

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

The 5 Types of Teenage Writers, and the Best Ways to Teach Them: @lindseyleej @SignatureReads

Dare to Write: @annkroeker

Why You Can (And Should) Keep Writing When You Have Children: @aliventures

67 Rules for All Writers to Live By: @ToddBrison

Encouragement for the Mother Who Writes: @StephMorrill

Networking for Introverted Writers: @KathyEdens1 @ProWritingAid

When Your Hometown is Crammed With Aspiring Writers: @KathleenDonohoe

A 10-Minute Mind Cleanse: @EntryLevelRebel @Inc

Teaching Writing: On the Pitfalls of Hiding Out: @LannyBall

What Stress Can Do For You: @sowulwords @DIYMFA

3 Self-Care Tips For Writers: @rsmollisonread

5 Ways Ernest Hemingway Had It Easier: @BobEckstein @WhereWritersWin

5 Lit-Friendly Cities You Can Expatriate To: @chris_shultz81 @LitReactor

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Spaces

4 Keys to Create Space to Write: @lornafaith

Genres / Fantasy

Why Fantasy Writers Should Embrace Their Heritage: by Andrew Falconer @mythcreants

Genres / Historical

50 Great Details For the Setting Of Your Victorian Novel: @BrynDonovan

Genres / Horror

Horror Writing: Prevent the Romantic Storyline from Strangling the Scary: by Mac Childs @HorrorWriters

H.P. Lovecraft’s Process for Writing a Horror Story, or Any Piece of “Weird Fiction: @openculture

Pieces of a horror writer: @pederson_lucas @jimbomcleod

Genres / Literary Fiction

5 Pieces of Bad Advice Literary Fiction Writers Get About Publishing: @MikeSahno @annerallen

Genres / Memoir

How novelists adapt to writing memoir: @writerjeangill @MsBessieBell @Roz_Morris

Genres / Miscellaneous

What to Know Before Writing In A New Genre: by Paige Duke @standoutbooks

Genres / Mystery

Tips for better suspense: @SueColetta1

Defending dissertations as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Noir is the Perfect Genre for Telling a Millennial Story: @therealeharnett @lithub

8 Ways A Thriller differs from a Mystery: @woodwardkaren

The 3 Mistakes Thriller Writers Most Often Make: @HesterAuthor @SignatureReads

Genres / Non-Fiction

3 Copywriting Tips to Help You Sell More Nonfiction Books: @thecreativepenn

How To Use Story In Your Non-Fiction Author Business: @MelissaAddey

Genres / Romance

The Triangle of Romantic Suspense: @Allison_Brennan

5 Ways to Write Romance With Respect: @angelajames

Genres / Screenwriting

A screenwriter’s analysis of “Arrival”: @CockeyedCaravan

Character Introductions in Screenwriting: @GoIntoTheStory

Promo / Ads

Book Marketing: Using Amazon Ads to Grow a Newsletter List: @ArtConnectsUs @thecreativepenn

How 1 Writer Sold 100x More of Her Book Series: @GlynnisCampbell

Promo / Blogging

The guest blogging audience most novelists don’t know about: @sandrabeckwith

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

Improve Your Book Descriptions and Audience Targeting: @JaneFriedman #IndieAuthorFringe

What the Heck is Copywriting Anyway? @bryancohenbooks @TheIWSG

Promo / Book Reviews

Real Writers Get Bad Book Reviews. Here’s Why That’s OK: by Michael Alvear @thewritelife

‘You Have Such an Ugly Baby’: Tactfully Reviewing Books You Don’t Love: @iamagemcrystal

Promo / Miscellaneous

Writer, Promote Thyself: @cathychall

Why EVERY Author Needs a Media Kit: @damselwriter

Planning the Perfect Release: The Arc List: @JAHuss

What’s New On Your Marketing List? @mollygreene

DIY: Online Education as Book Marketing: @JaneFriedman

Promo / Platforms

How To Build Your Own Online Platform: @Bang2write

Promo / Podcasts

6 Best Podcasts For Writers Who Want to Sell More Books in 2017: @cksyme

Promo / Social Media Tips

9 Facebook Posts We Don’t Need to See From Authors: @Gabino_Iglesias

Instagram Stories: How to Create Engaging Stories: @Mike_Stelzner @SMExaminer

20 Quick Pinterest Marketing Tips: @KarenBanes

Why 10 Genuine Social Media Followers are Better Than 10,000 Fake Ones: @cksyme

Getting the Most out of a Twitter Pitch Event: @SpunkOnAStick

Using Instagram Stories to Build Reader Engagement: @tinytashhxo @penguinusa

Stop Focusing on Follower Count: 5 Things to Do Instead: @Andrea_Dunlop @JaneFriedman

Promo / Websites

7 Vital Website Ingredients for Authors And Editors: @Belinda_Pollard

Publishing / Miscellaneous

“Hire a professional indexer. The author… is the worst person for the job.” @Porter_Anderson @indexers

Publishing / News / Amazon

Confessions of a paid Amazon review writer: by Yuyu Chen @Digiday

Publishing / News / International Publishing

UK’s International Literature Showcase Names 2017 Participants: @Porter_Anderson

Russian Librarians Warn of Crisis in Library Consolidation Plans: by Eugene Gerden @pubperspectives

UAE’s Sultan Al Qasimi and Brazil’s Luiz Schwarcz Lead LBF’s Intl. Excellence Awards: @Porter_Anderson

Titles Translated from 11 Languages: The 2017 Man Booker International Longlist: @Porter_Anderson

Why e-readers were a disruptive innovation in the US, but not in Japan: by Mark E. Parry and Tomoko Kawakami

Intl Publishers Assoc to Visit Georgia, Where Publishers Are ‘Heading to Annihilation’ @Porter_Anderson

British Comics Publishers in Changing Marketplace: ‘We Want To Do More Comics’: @MarkPiesing @richjohnston

A French-and-Arabic publishing exchange agreement signed in Paris: @Porter_Anderson

2017 Copyright Outlook: ‘Precarious for Rightsholders’ : @Porter_Anderson @MJHealy

Industry Notes: BookExpo Audio ‘Tea,’ Canada’s BookNet-Kobo Contest, and UK’s ‘Media Medic’ @Porter_Anderson

Entertainment CEO to publishers: ‘learning from Angry Birds’: @Porter_Anderson @LauraNevanlinna

Wimpy Kid author finds success in Italy: @Porter_Anderson @wimpykid

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Successful Self-Publishing? 5 Important Tips for New Authors: @theorganicwoman

Does Self-Publishing Make Sense for Scholarly Writers? @Porter_Anderson @DanielBerze

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

When is Your Manuscript Submission-Ready? @Ava_Jae

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

5 Tips for Querying & Choosing a Literary Agent: @BriannaShrum @WritersDigest

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

How 10 Years Producing “Car Talk” Helped A Writer Deal with Rejection: @louiecronin @WriterUnboxed

The 8 Most Common Reasons 1 Editor Sends a Rejection: @MissConstance21 @DIYMFA

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Can Changing Your Book Covers Really Help You Sell More Books? @ADStarrling

Publishing / Process / Distribution

Get Your Books Into Bookstores With Ingram Spark: @andysbromley @rcutlerSpark #IndieAuthorFringe

How to Get Your Book Distributed: What Self-Published Authors Need to Know: @JaneFriedman

Publishing / Process / Legalities

How To Protect Your Creative Work: @KathrynGoldman @thecreativepenn

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

Vetting publishers: @RWANYC

Publishing / Process / Translation

Swedish Translator Sarah Death on the Translation Business Today: @DennisAbrams2

Vote for Your Favorite French Books Translated to English: The Albertine Prize: @Porter_Anderson

Writing Craft / Beginnings

8 Awful Ways To Start A Novel: @10MinNovelists

Character Introductions: Introduction through surprise: @GoIntoTheStory

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

18 Ways To Write An Emotionally Abusive Villain: @10MinNovelists

Is Your Antagonist A Match For Your Hero? @Writers_Write

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

62 Character Flaws for Creating a Well-Balanced Character: @ev_scarlett

Make Your Story Richer with In-depth Knowledge of Your Characters: @ReeseRyanWrites

Clothing tells us much about a character: @monicamclark

Walk a Mile in Your Characters’ Shoes: @bryngreenwood @WriterUnboxed

The Structure of Character: @woodwardkaren

Discovering a Characters’ Secrets: @AuthorSAT

Creating Characters—7 Habits of Seriously Messed Up People: @KristenLambTX

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

How to Characterize Love in Your Writing: @WordDreams

Writing Craft / Characters / Supporting Characters

Large Character Casts: How to Put your Characters Temporarily Elsewhere: @ev_scarlett

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Reasons to avoid using dreams in fiction: @jasonbougger

Writing Craft / Dialogue

Action and Dialogue in Storytelling: @WritingForward

Check Your Character’s Dialect: @NovelEditor

8 Ways to Bungle Dialogue: @10MinNovelists

Writing Craft / Diversity

How “Sensitivity Readers” From Minority Groups Are Changing the Book Publishing Ecosystem: @xwaldie @Slate

Writing Craft / Endings

How to Write an Unforgettable Ending: by Neil B. Tafani @mythicscribes

The Finish Line for Your Novel and Tips for Wrapping it Up: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

Tips for better backstory: @10MinNovelists

Character Background: 5 Backstory Writing Tips: @nownovel

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

Margaret Atwood on What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Means in Today’s World: @MargaretAtwood @nytimes

Tabletop Gaming and Storytelling: @judyblackcloud

The 1000 Day MFA: @shauntagrimes

How Audiobooks Can Improve Your Writing: @RichardRieman @RMFWriters

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Staying Organized While You Write and Finish Your Book: @writeabook

3 Vital Elements of Craft: Subplots, Scenes and POV: @hanque99 @MCBookTours

How to tell if your writing is improving: 4 easy tips: @Peter_Rey_

Making ‘artful audio stories’: tips for talking to strangers: @wendelpatrick1 @AaronHenkin @Transom_org

Organizing Your Novel: @PBRWriter

Write Exciting Stories About Boring Things: @helpfulsnowman
“In writing, there’s more than 1 way to do just about anything”: @cathyyardley

Writing Craft / Pacing

4 reasons to use a time jump in your story: @Chris_Kokoski

Writing Craft / POV

A Simple Trick to a Stronger First Person Narrative: @Janice_Hardy

Choosing a POV for your novel: @patverducci

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Using the Forbidden Love Masterplot: @RobinRWrites

Two Types of Writers: Plotters and Pantsers: @Amandajwills @reedsyhq

Story Structure’s Purpose for Readers: @JamiGold

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

4 Ways to Prevent Incorrect Tense Issues: @sacha_black

Using Repetition to Produce Parallel Structure: @writing_tips

Hyphenation Rules for 35 Prefixes (and 1 Suffix): @writing_tips

Commonly Confused Commas: by Laura Fineberg Cooper

When Do I Spell Out Numbers? @BrianKlems @WritersDigest

Writing Craft / Revision

When Your Book Is Such A Mess You Don’t Know If It’s Worth Editing: @StephMorrill

Tips for Surviving the Editing Journey: @SukhiJutla

How To Edit Description: @JillWilliamson

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

3 Ways a Critique Group Will Boost Your Writing: by Gayla K. Hiss @NovelRocket

Writing Craft / Scenes

10 Questions To Ask Before Writing An Interesting Scene: @10MinNovelists

Writing Craft / Series

Pros, Cons, and Tips for Writing a Novel Series: @AuthorDeb Raney

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

7 Tips On Writing Realistic Settings: by Emma Johnson @WritersEdit

Does Your Character Description Create A Powerful Image? @michael_hauge @AngelaAckerman

Writing Craft / Synopses

Tips for Writing a Synopsis: @Ava_Jae

Writing Craft / Voice

4 Lessons for Discovering Your Writing Voice: @PaulaSMunier @WritersDigest

Writing Tools / Apps

The Fuss-Free Beginner’s Guide To Scrivener: @ClaireABradshaw

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

Writing Doubts (Writer Worksheet): @EvaDeverell

Writing Tools / Resources

Time-saving tasks you can use with Find and Replace: Part I: https://t.co/Jm20A2fboQ and II: by Lisa Lines

The new Amazon Author Insights site (via @AmazonKindle ):

Scrivener Corkboard Templates for Calendars, Timelines, More: @EvaDeverell

Writing Tools / Thesauri

Character Motivation Entry: Overcoming Abuse and Learning To Trust: @AngelaAckerman

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on April 01, 2017 21:01

March 30, 2017

Reading More in 2017

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

In 2016, I worked in more reading than I had in 2015. I love reading, but for some reason in 2015 I ended up with a bunch of abandoned books (I’m not one of those who feels I must finish reading a book I’m not enjoying).

Not only do I love reading, I know that reading makes me a better writer. That’s why I’m pushing myself to read even more in 2017 than I did last year. I’ve got new ways to make that happen, which I thought I’d share with you.

There are a few things that I’ve done differently:

Used a Goodreads account. I opened a Goodreads account under a different name so that I wouldn’t appear to be using the site to promote other books–I only wanted to use it as a reader. I’ve learned that it’s a very helpful site when it comes to reading. So frequently I’d read a book and then forget the author or title. This way, I can follow authors and learn when they have new releases. Goodreads also sends me newsletters with suggestions for other books to check out.

Spent more time at the library. I got out of the habit of writing at the library in 2015 because I was being productive at home. But I’ve found that I can make even more progress on my book…plus find things to read, myself.

Taken advantage of my Amazon Prime Kindle First benefit. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can choose between four (usually) selections for free each month. There have been some good choices. Even better, some of the choices have helped me read books in genres I might not otherwise have read.

Used OverDrive more. This ties into my library time, but it’s online. I request books from my library’s OverDrive site. Popular titles have a waiting list, but I never seem to stay on it very long before getting the book. It’s delivered right to my device and I don’t have to worry about returning it to the library.

Used an extension to find out whether a book I’m interested in is at my library. Jane Friedman mentioned this cool extension in one of her Electric Speed newsletters. It’s called Library Extension and currently just for Chrome browser users. When you’re browsing books on Amazon, it will check your library’s catalog to let you know if the book is available (check first to make sure your library is supported–they support 3200).

Develop ‘for later’ lists and wishlists to always have something to read next. It’s not the reading that takes the time…it’s the finding something to read. This is ironic, since there have never been more books on the market. But not all books are good fits. Not every book makes me want to sit down and read.

What are your reading plans for 2017?

Reading more in 2017:
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Published on March 30, 2017 21:01

March 26, 2017

How Flash Fiction Can Make You a Better Writer (and Where to Find It)

by Fred Johnson, @FredBobJohn

In our non-stop world of tweets, tags, and text messages, it’s often difficult to find the time and motivation to sit down and read (let alone write!) a full-length novel. Even short stories can fall flat in terms of their ability to reflect the pure speed and transience of modern life.

Enter flash fiction. This relatively modern form describes very short fiction, with pieces normally clocking it at below a thousand words. With so few words to play with, writers of flash fiction have to cram meaning and emotion into as few words as possible. The most famous example is commonly attributed to Ernest Hemingway and is only six words long:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Powerful stuff indeed. But here’s the kicker: flash fiction, beyond being a pleasure to read, can make you a better writer, no matter what you’re writing.

This is because flash fiction is all about using every last word and wasting no space whatsoever, which is an incredibly important skill for a writer to cultivate. Learning the value of brevity can help you get better, whether you’re writing short stories, novels, articles, blog posts, reviews, commercial copy… anything really.

Even better, flash fiction takes very little time to read and write. You can embrace brevity and write flash fiction during your break at work, on the bus, or before you go to bed. Better still, it can be a great way to test out ideas or to dip a toe into a different genre–if one piece doesn’t work, it’s no big deal, but if another does, you can develop that piece and use it as the foundation for a longer text.

With all this in mind, here are some great platforms and communities to help encourage you, give you some inspiration, and provide some top-notch reading material.

Flash Fiction Online

Flashfictiononline.com is an online magazine that publishes a new issue every month. It publishes varied works of between five hundred and one thousand words and, in addition, releases anthologies intermittently.

Issues are available to read online for free or to purchase in ebook format. Even better, the magazine has a good team of editors who ensure that only high quality work gets through. A great place to start if you’re after longer flash fiction.

Fifty Words

Fiftywords.com publishes fifty-word stories in a feed on their website. Run by one person, the site’s stories vary in quality, but when each one is only fifty words long it doesn’t take long to find the good ones. Definitely worth a look.

Six Word Stories

Cutting down the wordcount to an even more extreme degree, the sub-Reddit r/sixwordstories deals, as the name suggests, in six-word stories. Taking inspiration from the Hemingway story I mentioned earlier, Six Word Stories is an open forum for people to share their own stories and comment on those of others. This being the case, quality varies massively, but it’s a good site to visit if you’re curious to see how much can fit into six words.

Terribly Tiny Tales

At once a seasonal magazine, community, and social media site, terriblytinytales.com is a massive and long-standing platform for those interested in flash fiction. They release a tweet-sized story every day, and explore different ways in which readers and writers can collaborate together. Submitting is easy and the community is friendly. Give it a go!

Spartan

Spartan is a small-but-growing literary magazine dealing in minimalist prose. Alongside traditional Carver-esque minimalism, Spartan also publishes flash fiction. The magazine’s published pieces are available for free online, and every year the team release a print anthology in limited numbers. Again, submitting your own work is easy and can be very rewarding.

Quiet Pine Trees

One of my favourite platforms for flash fiction, Quiet Pine Trees lives primarily on Twitter (as @QuietPineTrees) but is also on Tumblr (as quietpinetrees.tumblr.com.) The curator produces tweet-length short fiction of consistently impressive quality, publishing to both Twitter and Tumblr. Many of the pieces have a sci-fi or speculative twist, but there’s something here for every lover of flash fiction.

So, those are my favourite spots for flash fiction. Next time you find yourself with a spare half hour, why not break out a pen and have a go yourself? Your work will thank you for it–regular injections of flash fiction (whether you’re writing or reading) will help keep you sharp, ruthless, and on-point. Say goodbye to waffle!

How flash fiction can make you a better writer (by @FredBobJohn ):
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Fred Johnson is an editor for Standout Books, where he helps authors take their manuscripts from good to perfect.

He also writes fiction and poetry, and can be found on Twitter @FredBobJohn.

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Published on March 26, 2017 21:01

March 25, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and see the character and location name generators!

Business / Miscellaneous

2016 Novelist Income Survey Final Results and Data: @jimchines

“Cataloging” Your Book : @MaryGillgannon @RMFWriters

How much should editing cost? @pubcoach

Does a Writer Really Need a Professional Development Plan? @AnnOttoAuthor @WomenWriters

15 Tips for Authors Running Webinars: @JFbookman

What To Do If A Website Has Stolen Your Work: @standoutbooks

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

What not to do at an author festival: @Elfwriter

Tips, dos and don’ts for attending writing conferences: @SusanKelley @TheIWSG

A Closer Look at April’s PubTechConnect Conference: @Porter_Anderson

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

Jumpstart Your Writing Career in 2017: by Fae Rowen

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Dear Writer: Why You Need to Get Out into the World: @emi1y_morgan

How to Use Essential Oils: A Guide for Writers: @claireswinarski @thewritelife

When You Don’t Feel Like Writing: @victoria_grif7

Be the Encouragement to a New Writer: @JoEberhardt

5 Tips For Cultivating Creativity In Writing: @rsmollisonread

5 Tips to Help You Fall in Love with Creating Again: @emi1y_morgan

Notorious Literary Muses from Best to Worst: @knownemily

Music as The Writer’s Muse: @Caliskaniverse_

My 4-Step System for Hacking Your Creativity: @ink_and_quills

Why Writers Benefit from Using Creative Visualization: @VoicetoStory

How Objects Inspire Fiction: @AnneLParrish

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

5 Strategies For When You Don’t Have Time For Your Dream: @10MinNovelists

5 Tips for Turning Your Day Job into a Secret Writing Office: @GiveMeYourTeeth @LitReactor

A Mindful Guide to Email in 20 Minutes a Day: @zen_habits

How Productive Writers Start The Day: @sidsavara

5 Secrets to Writing Despite a Day Job: @JerryBJenkins

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

6 Self-Imposed Limitations That Prevent You from Publishing: by Elizabeth Lee

Got writer’s block? @Lin_Manuel has a playlist for you: @michaelschaub

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Putting the “Professional” in Professional Writer: @KelsieEngen

How to Write Better Faster (podcast): @cksyme

Writing Process: Get it Organized, Get it Done: @davidpenny_ #IndieAuthorFringe

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

Success requires collaborators: @DanBlank

How to Turn Elements of Your Novel Into a Masterpiece: @ESimsAuthor @WritersDigest

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

How to Overcome Unique Challenges as a Highly Sensitive Writer: @colleen_m_story

The 5 Types of Teenage Writers, and the Best Ways to Teach Them: @lindseyleej @SignatureReads

Dare to Write: @annkroeker

Why You Can (And Should) Keep Writing When You Have Children: @aliventures

67 Rules for All Writers to Live By: @ToddBrison

Encouragement for the Mother Who Writes: @StephMorrill

50 Great Details For the Setting Of Your Victorian Novel: @BrynDonovan

Make Writing Dreams Come True: @Lindasclare

“In writing, there’s more than 1 way to do just about anything”: @cathyyardley

Genres / Historical

Genres / Horror

Horror: Strategies for Hiding and Revealing Your Antagonist: by Mac Childs

Horror Writing: Prevent the Romantic Storyline from Strangling the Scary: by Mac Childs @HorrorWriters

H.P. Lovecraft’s Process for Writing a Horror Story, or Any Piece of “Weird Fiction: @openculture

Genres / Memoir

How novelists adapt to writing memoir: @writerjeangill @MsBessieBell @Roz_Morris

Genres / Miscellaneous

On Representation in RPGs: @booksofm @jimchines

Genres / Mystery

Pedigreed families as elements in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Tips for better suspense: @SueColetta1

Defending dissertations as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Noir is the Perfect Genre for Telling a Millennial Story: @therealeharnett @lithub

8 Ways A Thriller differs from a Mystery: @woodwardkaren

Genres / Non-Fiction

3 Copywriting Tips to Help You Sell More Nonfiction Books: @thecreativepenn

Genres / Poetry

Poet Activists Throughout the Years: @My_poetic_side

Genres / Science Fiction

How To Become A Master of Writing Science Fiction: by Ryan Turpin @SciFi_Addicts

Genres / Screenwriting

A screenwriter’s analysis of “Arrival”: @CockeyedCaravan

Character Introductions in Screenwriting: @GoIntoTheStory

Genres / Young Adult

How to Write With a Teen Voice: @Janice_Hardy

Promo / Ads

3 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Ads: @LarryAlton3

Is Paid Advertising Right For Your Book? @pbackwriter @OrnaRoss #IndieAuthorFringe

Book Marketing: Using Amazon Ads to Grow a Newsletter List: @ArtConnectsUs @thecreativepenn

Promo / Blogging

What use are blog analytics? They tell an interesting story: @sgc58

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

Improve Your Book Descriptions and Audience Targeting: @JaneFriedman #IndieAuthorFringe

Promo / Book Reviews

Real Writers Get Bad Book Reviews. Here’s Why That’s OK: by Michael Alvear @thewritelife

‘You Have Such an Ugly Baby’: Tactfully Reviewing Books You Don’t Love: @iamagemcrystal

Promo / Crowdfunding

How Crowdfunding Allows You to Experiment Outside Your Genre: @emilygrosvenor @JaneFriedman

Promo / Miscellaneous

Planning the Perfect Release Marketing Tip Video Series: @JAHuss

An agent on hiring a publicist: @Janet_Reid

Use Short Stories to Market Your Novel: @jamesscottbell @StonehamPress #IndieAuthorFringe

Writer, Promote Thyself: @cathychall

Why EVERY Author Needs a Media Kit: @damselwriter

Planning the Perfect Release: The Arc List: @JAHuss

What’s New On Your Marketing List? @mollygreene

DIY: Online Education as Book Marketing: @JaneFriedman

Promo / Podcasts

6 Best Podcasts For Writers Who Want to Sell More Books in 2017: @cksyme

Promo / Social Media Tips

On Using Memes to Market Books: @RogerDColby

7 Ways To Get More Out Of Pinterest: @woodwardkaren

Your Guide to Picture-Perfect Instagram Book Marketing: @Bookgal

9 Facebook Posts We Don’t Need to See From Authors: @Gabino_Iglesias

Promo / Speaking

5 Strategies for Dealing with Speaking Anxiety: @Exec_Speak @livequiet

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Why the Internet Didn’t Kill Zines: @jennydeluxe @nytimes

Advice on Writing a Novella Collection: @pattywrites on @NovelRocket

Publishing / News / Amazon

Confessions of a paid Amazon review writer: by Yuyu Chen @Digiday

Publishing / News / International Publishing

IPA’s Michiel Kolman on China: ‘A $10 Billion Concern’: @Porter_Anderson @michielams

Hay Festival plans a new children’s literature festival for October: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

The Expanded British Book Awards: @Porter_Anderson @Porter_Anderson

UK’s International Literature Showcase Names 2017 Participants: @Porter_Anderson

Russian Librarians Warn of Crisis in Library Consolidation Plans: by Eugene Gerden @pubperspectives

UAE’s Sultan Al Qasimi and Brazil’s Luiz Schwarcz Lead LBF’s Intl. Excellence Awards: @Porter_Anderson

Titles Translated from 11 Languages: The 2017 Man Booker International Longlist: @Porter_Anderson

Why e-readers were a disruptive innovation in the US, but not in Japan: by Mark E. Parry and Tomoko Kawakami

Intl Publishers Assoc to Visit Georgia, Where Publishers Are ‘Heading to Annihilation’ @Porter_Anderson

British Comics Publishers in Changing Marketplace: ‘We Want To Do More Comics’: @MarkPiesing @richjohnston

A French-and-Arabic publishing exchange agreement signed in Paris: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Successful Self-Publishing? 5 Important Tips for New Authors: @theorganicwoman

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

How to Escape the Slush Pile by Brandon Taylor @ElectricLit

3 Questions to Ask Before a “Revise and Resubmit”: @besscozby

How to Stay Positive on Your Path to Getting a Book Published: @almccall @thewritelife

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

5 Tips for Querying & Choosing a Literary Agent: @BriannaShrum @WritersDigest

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

How 10 Years Producing “Car Talk” Helped A Writer Deal with Rejection: @louiecronin @WriterUnboxed

The 8 Most Common Reasons 1 Editor Sends a Rejection: @MissConstance21 @DIYMFA

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Can Changing Your Book Covers Really Help You Sell More Books? @ADStarrling

Publishing / Process / Distribution

Get Your Books Into Bookstores With Ingram Spark: @andysbromley @rcutlerSpark #IndieAuthorFringe

How to Get Your Book Distributed: What Self-Published Authors Need to Know: @JaneFriedman

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

Vetting publishers: @RWANYC

Publishing / Process / Translation

Swedish Translator Sarah Death on the Translation Business Today: @DennisAbrams2

Vote for Your Favorite French Books Translated to English: The Albertine Prize: @Porter_Anderson

Writing Craft / Beginnings

What “Starts with Action” Really Means: @angiehodapp

What Penguin Random House Editors Look for on an Opening Page: by Phil Stamper-Halpin

8 Awful Ways To Start A Novel: @10MinNovelists

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

How To Make The Reader Trust Your Villain: @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

3 Character Development Questions for Writing About Jobs You’ve Never Done: @jeffelk

Take Your Character to Work Day: @nicoleva @HighlightsFound

62 Character Flaws for Creating a Well-Balanced Character: @ev_scarlett

Make Your Story Richer with In-depth Knowledge of Your Characters: @ReeseRyanWrites

Clothing tells us much about a character: @monicamclark

Walk a Mile in Your Characters’ Shoes: @bryngreenwood @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

How to Characterize Love in Your Writing: @WordDreams

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

Why Should Your Readers Care About Your Protagonist? 11 Questions to Find Out: @thewritingkylie

Writing Craft / Characters / Supporting Characters

Creating Stunning Side Characters (and Why They Matter): @SeptCFawkes

Large Character Casts: How to Put your Characters Temporarily Elsewhere: @ev_scarlett

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Are You Making These Common Fiction Writing Mistakes? @KMWeiland #IndieAuthorFringe

Reasons to avoid using dreams in fiction: @jasonbougger

Writing Craft / Dialogue

Tighten Up Your Dialogue: @patverducci

Action and Dialogue in Storytelling: @WritingForward

Writing Craft / Diversity

Representation Matters: A Literary Call To Arms: @tinytempest

Writing Craft / Endings

How to Write an Unforgettable Ending: by Neil B. Tafani @mythicscribes

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

On Writing Flashbacks (video): @Ava_Jae

Tips for better backstory: @10MinNovelists

Character Background: 5 Backstory Writing Tips: @nownovel

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

Authors on Illness: 5 Books Destigmatizing Cancer: @lequincampe

9 Stories That Continue After the Adventure: by Stubby the Rocket @tordotcom

Margaret Atwood on What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Means in Today’s World: @MargaretAtwood @nytimes

Tabletop Gaming and Storytelling: @judyblackcloud

Writing Craft / Literary Devices

How To Strengthen The Theme Of Your Book During Edits: @StephMorrill

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Staying Organized While You Write and Finish Your Book: @writeabook

3 Vital Elements of Craft: Subplots, Scenes and POV: @hanque99 @MCBookTours

How to tell if your writing is improving: 4 easy tips: @Peter_Rey_

Making ‘artful audio stories’: tips for talking to strangers: @wendelpatrick1 @AaronHenkin @Transom_org

Organizing Your Novel: @PBRWriter

Writing Craft / POV

Writing in third person limited: @jasonbougger

A Simple Trick to a Stronger First Person Narrative: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

4 Reasons Why Authors Shouldn’t Be Nice In Their Stories: @10MinNovelists

Using the Forbidden Love Masterplot: @RobinRWrites

Two Types of Writers: Plotters and Pantsers: @Amandajwills @reedsyhq

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

The Oxford Comma: Great For Listing, Pontificating, And Winning Court Cases: @colintdwyer @NPR

3 Cases of Too Many Commas: @writing_tips

4 Ways to Prevent Incorrect Tense Issues: @sacha_black

Using Repetition to Produce Parallel Structure: @writing_tips

Hyphenation Rules for 35 Prefixes (and 1 Suffix): @writing_tips

Writing Craft / Revision

8 Tips for Seeing Your Novel with “Fresh Eyes”: @HarrietWriter @WomenWriters

When Your Book Is Such A Mess You Don’t Know If It’s Worth Editing: @StephMorrill

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

3 Ways a Critique Group Will Boost Your Writing: by Gayla K. Hiss @NovelRocket

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

7 Tips On Writing Realistic Settings: by Emma Johnson @WritersEdit

Does Your Character Description Create A Powerful Image? @michael_hauge @AngelaAckerman

Writing Craft / Synopses

Tips for Writing a Synopsis: @Ava_Jae

Writing Craft / Tension

Ratcheting Up The Tension: by Shawn Coyne

How To Create Conflict Between Multiple Antagonists: by Hannah Collins @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Voice

How an Environmental Science Background Helped 1 Writer Find Her Writing Voice : @katebrandes3

4 Lessons for Discovering Your Writing Voice: @PaulaSMunier @WritersDigest

Writing Tools / Apps

BuzzTrace: A New Platform To Help Writers Find Their Readers: @buzz_trace @sabsky

Apps, Tools & Plugins for Indie Authors in 2017: @CaballoFrances

Writing Tools / Resources

Time-saving tasks you can use with Find and Replace: Part I: https://t.co/Jm20A2fboQ and II: by Lisa Lines

The new Amazon Author Insights site (via @AmazonKindle ):

Writing Tools / Thesauri

Character Motivation Entry: Being Acknowledged and Appreciated By Family: @AngelaAckerman

From My Blog:

Listing Your Books With Google Play – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Although I was late to sell my bo…

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on March 25, 2017 21:03

March 23, 2017

Amazon Author Insights

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Amazon Author Insights is a new author-facing Tumblr site to help both new and established writers find writing-related resources and Amazon services for writers in one spot.

I was asked by Amazon to be a beta-tester for the site and to contribute some of its content (here are a couple of my posts on building an author platform and Kindle Instant Preview).

There are tabs for writers looking for information on writing, publishing, and marketing.

Amazon Tools and Services Page

One of the most helpful things about the site are the links to Amazon’s tools and services. I’ve always felt as if it was tricky to find everything Amazon offers all in one place (out of sight, out of mind for me.)

Although I’d heard about Amazon’s free screenwriting tool online, for instance, I’d never run across it, despite the time I spend on Amazon. I think that’s because when I’m on Amazon, I’m either on Author Central or KDP bookshelf/reports and not searching the site. I’m no screenwriter, but it was interesting to see they offered peer collaboration, auto-formatting (a nice plus), and the ability to submit finished scripts directly to Amazon Studios. For scripts in the brainstorming stages, they also offer Amazon Storybuilder.

I wasn’t at all familiar with Comixology before spending time on the Amazon Author Insights site. If you draw as well as write (I wish I could!), you could submit your comic or graphic novel to be considered for publication.

You can propose your book to Amazon to be considered for translation via their AmazonCrossing site.

Fan fiction writers can self-publish their works through the site.

And, of course, you can find links to CreateSpace, Goodreads, ACX and other Amazon sites on the page.

Have you explored the different tools and services at Amazon? Or were you like me and unaware that some of them existed? Seen their new site?

The new Amazon Author Insights site (via @AmazonKindle ‏):
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Published on March 23, 2017 21:03

March 19, 2017

3 Vital Elements of Craft: Subplots, Scenes and POV

by Hank Quense, @hanque99

Today, author Hank Quense offers tips on three vital elements of the writing craft: subplots, scenes, and POV.

Integrating subplots naturally:

I’ve seen subplots mishandled many times. When this happens, the subplots interfere with the main plot.

The trick is how you approach subplots. They are by their nature “subordinate.” Subplots have a defined space within the novel; they can’t just be thrown into the story any which way the author feels like it. If you have more than one subplot you have to categorize them from most important to least important. The subplots are then nested within the main story line. Like this: after the characters are introduced and the plot problem recognized, a scene from Subplot A can be added. After a number of scenes from the main plot and an occasional one from Subplot A, Subplot B is introduced. More Main plot scenes are broken up by scenes from Subplots A and B. Then Subplot C is begun. Now the bulk of the story continues with the subplot scenes dropped in to break up the Main plot.

When the story approaches the climax, Subplot C is finished first. The Main plot continues and Subplot B is closed out. The Main plot moves closer to the climax and Subplot A is finished up. Now the way is clear for the reader (and the author) to concentrate on the story’s climax.

It is not good form to have a subplot continue beyond the climactic scene from the main storyline. Once the climax of the main plot is reached and the validation scene shown, the story is over. The reader will no longer be interested in the outcome of a subplot. This means the validation scene is the end of the story. Don’t keep adding scenes from subplots.

Another caveat is this: If the story starts out with a scene or two from a subplot, the reader will get confused and assume the subplot is the main plot.

The most important elements of scene design:

Every scene should have four elements in it: setting, sensory information, a goal and an emotional arc.

The setting may not be needed if the scene occurs in a place that has already been described. If the place is new to the reader than the setting should be described. This is often done in the opening sentence or two using omniscient point-of-view.

Sensory information such as taste, smell or feel is optional, but include the roar of traffic or the smell of wood smoke can add details to the scene.

A scene goal is mandatory unless the scene characterizes a character. The goal of the scene is to move the reader and the story closer to the story’s climax. This goal doesn’t have to be reached in the scene. It may take a number of scenes to reach the goal but each scene must advance the story closer to the scene goal and the story’s climax. If the scene doesn’t characterize someone or have a goal, then it’s just excess words and should be deleted or revised.

An emotional arc is mandatory in all scenes. The main character in the scene has a starting emotional point. By the end of the scene, that emotion must change. It can be more positive or more negative, but it must change. A scene with no emotional change isn’t a satisfactory read.

Why must their be an emotional arc? To jerk the reader around. Readers love to see emotional highs and lows and they appreciate being jerked around. It’s what separates okay stories from great stories.

Choosing the POV for your story:

This is a personal decision every author has to make with each story. I prefer third person limited. I have written a few stories in first person, but it doesn’t feel natural to me. Of course, omniscient point-of-view is the easiest one to use because you can’t make a POV violation like you can with third person limited or first person. Omniscient is an obsolete way of writing an entire story, so a writer’s choice really comes down to third or first person. I think the choice depends upon which one the writer is more comfortable with. Fortunately, there are no wrong choices here.

How do you integrate subplots into your story or choose POV? Have you checked your scenes to see if they have 4 major elements in them?

Author @hanque99 on 3 vital elements of craft (via @MCBookTours ):
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Creating Stories concentrates on developing characters including such rarely discussed requirements such as a dominant reader emotion and the character’s biography.

Plots are also covered in depth and a number of graphics are included to illustrate complex points. Another topic discusses subplots and how to utilize them and how to nest them within the main plot.

A separate chapter discusses the relationship between the plot and the emotional arcs.

Other topics covered are character arcs, scene design, point-of-view, writing voice.

About the Author:

Hank Quense writes humorous and satiric sci-fi and fantasy stories.

He also writes and lectures about fiction writing and self-publishing. He has published 19 books and 50 short stories along with dozens of articles. He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject. He is currently working on a third Moxie novel that takes place in the Camelot era.

He and his wife, Pat, usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas.

You can connect with Hank on his Amazon Author Page.

You can check out the schedule and follow Hank’s tour by clicking HERE.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

This tour-wide giveaway is for five (5) eBooks of CREATING STORIES and three (3) print copies of the author’s MOXIE’S PROBLEM (U.S. entries only). The prizes are courtesy of the publisher. The giveaway will end at 12 a.m. (EST) on Tuesday, April 18.

To enter, click on the Rafflecopter widget below and follow the instructions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Published on March 19, 2017 21:02