Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 49

So You Think You Can Write

Tweet

Harlequin is hosting an online writing conference this week. Conference FAQs.

"Visit the week of Nov 7-11 to meet the Harlequin editors via blogs, live chats, podcasts, webinars, tweets and more. Discover what makes a great romance story and how to sell your winning submission!

…We'll offer both basic level and master classes-something for everyone. You'll pick up tips on writing craft, the latest trends in romance, and how to get from opening page to a published book.

Here's the theme...

"Veglia," Giuseppe Ungaretti

Tweet

Veglia

Cima Quattro il 23 dicembre 1915

Un'intera nottata

buttato vicino

a un compagno

massacrato

con la sua bocca

digrignata

volta al plenilunio

con la congestione

delle sue mani

penetrata

nel mio silenzio

ho scritto

lettere piene d'amore

Non sono mai stato

tanto

attaccato alla vita

–Giuseppe Ungaretti

She's a Little Bit Country…Vintage Erotica Covers

Tweet

Fanfiction Linkgasm

Tweet

Today's linkgasm compiles some stories that I think might be enjoyable to those who don't normally read fanfiction.

[image error]

Before the End of All Things by C.J. Marlowe – a contemporary take on Hamlet and Ophelia.

The Quiet Padawan by torch – a "fusion" story in the style of Georgette Heyer, in which Obi-Wan Kenobi searches for a Jedi Master. "…all knights and masters without padawans were required to take a regular part in the training of those students who were as yet without a master, in...

Happy Halloween from 1914

Tweet

"The Return," John Freeman

Tweet

The Return

I heard the rumbling guns. I saw the smoke,

The unintelligible shock of hosts that still,

Far off, unseeing, strove and strove again;

And Beauty flying naked down the hill

From morn to eve: and the stern night cried Peace!

And shut the strife in darkness: all was still,

Then slowly crept a triumph on the dark—

And I heard Beauty singing up the hill.

–John Freeman

The Circle of (Convention) Life

Tweet

This post first appeared at the Novelists, Inc. blog.

On October 14th, I was on a train from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. so I could attend CapClave, sponsored by the Washington Science Fiction Association.

It's a fairly small conference if you're used to behemoths like Dragon Con. CapClave usually features two tracks of panels and one of readings, as well as some special events and of course a dealers' room. You might well ask me why I might want to attend, as a professional; what b...

Kindle Lending

Tweet

I have successfully lent a Kindle book!



A friend of mine in Minneapolis recently purchased a used Kindle. We share many tastes in romance and speculative fiction, so we decided to give the lending function a try. We went through our respective lists of e-books and compared what we had. It was a little amusing to see that we had several of the same books already.

The major flaw of Kindles, as most people know, is that they use a proprietary format for e-books, and only allow sharing...

Myers-Briggs Characterization

Tweet

If you missed it on Friday, at The Criminal Element I chatted about Maria Duenas' novel The Time in Between.

And now, fun with personality tests!



If you're ever feeling at a loss about a character – either one you've already created, or one you need to create – an excellent way to jumpstart your thought process is to look at the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. MBTI basics.

Various tests to determine your character's Type can be found on the internet, for example here and here.

You can...

"The Island of Skyros," John Masefield

Tweet

The Island of Skyros

Here, where we stood together, we three men,
Before the war had swept us to the East
Three thousand miles away, I stand again
And hear the bells, and breathe, and go to feast.
We trod the same path, to the selfsame place,
Yet here I stand, having beheld their graves,
Skyros whose shadows the great seas erase,
And Seddul Bahr that ever more blood craves.
So, since we communed here, our bones have been
Nearer, perhaps, than they again will be,
Earth and the...