Ania Ahlborn's Blog, page 2

7 Ways To Cut A Novel Without Losing Anything Important

ARTICLE BY ROZ MORRIS VIANAIL YOUR NOVEL

‘Help, an agent has told me I need to cut 25,000 words from my novel!’ I get a lot of emails like this – from writers understandably wondering where on earth to start.

What is too long?

In commercial publishing there are accepted lengths for books, ranging from 70,000 to 100,000 according to genre and audience. These conventions are created as much by the economics of distribution as reader preference, but they are pretty entrenched and can be dealbreaker...

Tales of Violent Poltergeists

ARTICLE BY ALAN BOYLE VIA LISTVERSE

Usually, the biggest danger you face with a ghost is the need to change your underwear. But the tormented spirits of the dead aren’t always friendly. As we learned from that movie with Patrick Swayze, sometimes the dead can learn to interact with our world. These restless spirits are called poltergeists, and according to the stories, sometimes they can be incredibly violent. The ghosts in this list are ones you definitely don’t want hanging around your kitch...

Writing Lessons Inspired by Famous Writers

ARTICLE VIA WRITERS DIGEST

I was 16 when I visited the cabin where Mark Twain wrote “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” the short story that launched his career. It left such an impression on me that I began seeking out other literary landmarks. By now, I’ve been to all the famous places, such as Thoreau’s Walden Pond and Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, as well as lesser-known gems, like Jack London’s ranch (pictured at right).

Every time I visit a site, I leave enlivened and...

Terrifyingly Creepy Hotels

ARTICLE BY MIKE DEVLIN VIA LISTVERSE

By their very nature, hotels are designed to teem with life, such as men on business trips, honeymooning couples, and tourist families with gaggles of sticky-faced children. Hotels should appear warm and welcoming, their employees indulgent to your every need. But when business dips and owners can no longer afford to keep the doors open, the building’s inviting atmosphere dissipates. Lobbies once choked with people become yawning and shadowy. Wandering down...

Thickening Skin: 6 Tips for Taking Criticism

ARTICLE BY ROBBIE BLAIR VIA LITREACTOR.COM

Beginning writers are often told that they need to develop a thick skin. No one bothers to tell them how this is done or what exactly having “thick skin” means. Let me try to help. To start, here’s a working definition:

Having athick skinmeans you are able to: stare down criticism and make it work for you; set aside your ego for long enough that your pride doesn’t disrupt your work; and listen to criticism, understand it, and then completely ignore it...

Creepy Urban Legends From Around The USA

ARTICLE BY OLIVIA ANDERSON VIA LISTVERSE

Admit it, you still get a chill when you think back to the urban legends of your youth. Every child hears the stories: masked maniacs, ghosts, alien abductions. And they all must be true, because they totally happened to a friend of a friend’s cousin’s girlfriend. Why would you need more proof than that?

10 The Suscan Screamer

Is there anything creepier than a dead bride? Apparently not, because stories of these tragic ladies crop up all over the world. O...

Leaping Into The Unknown

When writers who are just starting out ask me when it gets easier, my answer is never. It never gets easier. I don’t want to scare them, so I rarely say more than that, but the truth is that, if anything, it gets harder. The writing life isn’t just filled with predictable uncertainties but with the awareness that we are always starting over again. That everything we ever write will be flawed. We may have written one book, or many, but all we know — if we know anything at all — is how to write...

Vengeful Ghosts In Folklore And Mythology

ARTICLE BY MICHAEL VAN DUISEN VIA LISTVERSE

People often refer to ghosts as the dead who have unfinished business here on Earth. However, not all of that business is good, and there are stories from every culture of ghosts who seem to want nothing other than revenge against the living, usually for no reason other than spite or anger.

10. Carl Pruitt

Folklore: American

In June of 1938, a man named Carl Pruitt was said to have uncovered his wife’s infidelity, and in his own bed no less. Distraught...

The Days When You Don’t Feel Like Writing

ARTICLE BY CHUCK WENDIG VIA TERRIBLEMINDS

Those are the days you have to write.

Even if it’s nothing, even if it’s crap, you’ve got to carve the words onto the page. Even if it’s only a hundred words, even if you only get to move the mountain by a half-an-inch, you’re still nudging the needle, still keeping that story-heart beating, still proving to yourself and to the world that this is who you are and what you do.

They say you can’t get blood from a stone but squeeze a stone hard enough, you’l...

The Odd Habits and Curious Customs of Famous Writers

ARTICLE BY MARIA POPOVA VIA BRAIN PICKINGS

Famous authors are notorious for theirdaily routines— sometimes outrageous, usually obsessive, invariably peculiar. InOdd Type Writers: From Joyce and Dickens to Wharton and Welty, the Obsessive Habits and Quirky Techniques of Great Authors(public library) — the more dimensional and thoroughly researched counterpart to Mason Currey’sDaily Rituals— Brooklyn-based writerCelia Blue Johnsontakes us on a guided tour of great writers’ unusual techniques, pr...