Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 132

Using Track Changes to Revise an Outline

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Over the last couple of years, I’ve transformed into a (very reluctant) outliner.  Long story short, I royally screwed up a couple of books really close to deadline when I’d pantsed them, and with the schedule I’m on, I decided I couldn’t afford mistakes anymore.  Or maybe it’s just that my heart couldn’t afford them since I’m sure my blood pressure shot through the roof.

So I outline.  My outlines are completely conversational, in paragraph form, and cover the whole story from start to finish.  More about my process of outlining in this post from last August.   More about what I feel the pros and cons are for outlining in this post from February.

There are definitely elements of outlining that I don’t enjoy.  One of the things that I’ve never liked about outlining—the fact that when I go off my outline, which is during every single story, I either confuse myself later while editing, or I feel really disorganized by having my story sprout off in different directions.

For some reason, it never occurred to me until lately that I could just use Track Changes in Microsoft Word to add my changes as comments in the margins.  This satisfied my need to keep organized without making me drastically revise my outline.

Uses for comments in an outline:

I put the character description in a comment box to make it easy to locate later in the story.  It also contains that character’s full name (which I use Word to highlight so that it stands out even more).

I list the running subplots (as I think them up) in a comment box in the margins.  When I want a change of pace or feel as if the main story is progressing too quickly, the subplot comment helps remind me of the storyline.   Sometimes I’ll layer in subplots after the first draft is finished, sometimes I’ll write them as I go through.  Either way, the subplot marginalia helps keep it in mind.

I note major or minor changes to the plot in the comment boxes so that I can easily see where I changed course in a story. In the outline I’m currently working on, I decided less than halfway through the book to change the killer.  So as I worked through the outline, I added comments to the parts of the outline where I listed clues (which are now red herrings) and where I showed the killer’s motivation (which is also a red herring, since I changed the killer’s identity). This will ultimately help me at the end of the story when I look back through to make sure that there are enough clues to the murderer to keep the story fair for readers.

I also decided not to kill one of the previously outlined victims.  The death would be a near-miss, instead.  This also meant a little outline tweaking helped keep the change a lot tidier.

In addition, this process helps keep me from revising the outline, which just seems like a silly thing to do, considering the outline for my self-pubbed books is for my own benefit.  Revising an accepted outline for a trad-published book is pointless, too—because I’m not going to send it over to my editor.  I’d rather just explain later that I went off-outline when the completed draft is all spruced up and seamless.

At the top of my outline, I added a logline in the comment box.  It sort of keeps me focused and keeps me from wandering too much.  For more on creating your own logline, check out these resources: Gabriela Pereira’s “How to Write a Killer Logline,”  Allen Palmer’s  “How to Write a Logline,” and Laura Drake’s “The No-Stress Way to Create Your Story’s Logline.”

Sometimes I add random bits of ideas into the comment box.  Maybe I’m not sure exactly where I want them in the story, but I’ve got a neat description, setting, scrap of dialogue, or interesting piece of research that I want to incorporate…and that’s a better spot than setting up a different Word document and trying to remember the doc exists.

Just thought I’d share in case anyone else was interested in making quick changes to an outline (or just wants to have an easy way to find character descriptions, etc.)  For the outliners out there, what do you do, if anything, when you veer off your outline?

The post Using Track Changes to Revise an Outline appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Using Scrivener as a Blogging Tool:  http://ow.ly/yuELL @ninaamir

A critique of a story opening that needs work:  http://ow.ly/yuEwc @davidfarland

Find Dialogue Daunting? Expand Your Character-Talk: http://ow.ly/yuEea @LitCentralOC       

How to Use Subtitles for Targeted Book Marketing:  http://ow.ly/yuEHN @BookMarketer

Preserve Your Creative Energy:  http://ow.ly/yuEqM @JordanRosenfeld

One Weird Trick For Cutting Down Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/yuFQl @io9

Why book editors are so expensive:  http://ow.ly/yuFay  and  http://bit.ly/1nEwuKe @Belinda_Pollard

How 1 Writer Wrote 400K Words in a Year:  http://ow.ly/yuGI1 @jamietr

Empathetic correctness poses dangers for writers:  http://ow.ly/yuEXP @kristenlambtx

A Journey through Theme Development:  http://ow.ly/yuEjy @CSLakin

11 Questions for Crafting a Fiction Pitch:  http://ow.ly/yuEbf @rachellegardner

The creative warm up:  http://ow.ly/yzjx9 @tannerc

Trilogy Writing Tips: http://ow.ly/yzj4p  @alison_morton @womenwriters

How to Spell Interjections Used in Dialogue:  http://ow.ly/yzias @noveleditor

A Quick Guide to Writing Short:  http://ow.ly/yzi0d @byondpapr

5 Options for Background Noise When Writing:  http://ow.ly/yziXs @SandraPeoples

Write a thriller: Make it funny:  http://ow.ly/yzj32 @MattReesAuthor

Alternative History’s Distorted Mirror:  http://ow.ly/yzj8z @fantasyfaction

The Mindset Of Successful Indie Authors And Longevity As A Writer:  http://ow.ly/yuFiL @bob_mayer @thecreativepenn

5 Things 1 Writer Learned When Her Publisher Went Under: http://ow.ly/yuFT6 @KimeCurran

How to Create Your Own Infographic: http://ow.ly/yuEEp @wherewriterswin

The Perplexing Problem of Romance:  http://ow.ly/yuF6F @BarbaraONeal @writerunboxed

Book Marketing: It’s About Data, Not Promotion [Smart Set]: http://ow.ly/yuFmF @Janefriedman

Violent, dystopian children’s fiction is nothing new:  http://ow.ly/yswFl

Speechtags are of the devil (he said):  http://ow.ly/ysuPe  @JamesTuckwriter

Why is Climate Fiction So Controversial? http://ow.ly/ysvDk @claudenougat

How to Get Back to Writing After a Death in the Family:  http://ow.ly/yswJd

Organizing Ideas into an Outline:  http://ow.ly/ysuSz  @dr_christina

Resources for Writers: Microsoft Word: http://ow.ly/yNctR

7 Item To-Do List for Amazon Author Central Profile:  http://ow.ly/yswMk @Jason_Matthews

18 LinkedIn Best Practices for Writers: http://ow.ly/ysv8g @CaballoFrances

Why Getting Together with Other Writers Is Important:  http://ow.ly/ysvpY @JulieeJohnsonn

The irresistible rise of the short story:  http://ow.ly/ysuZB  @SamBaker

Successful Authors Don’t Keep Secrets:  http://ow.ly/ysvh8  @AshKrafton

What Motivates The Bad Guy? http://ow.ly/ysuMD @mooderino

Co-Authoring a Book:  http://ow.ly/ysv1s @AdriennGiordano

Become a Better Writer by Writing Daily:  http://ow.ly/yswzN @danasitar

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words:  http://ow.ly/ysuKY @Kid_Lit

8 Great Writing Tools to Keep You Motivated to Write:  http://ow.ly/ysv3e

Should Writers Compare Themselves to Other Writers?  http://ow.ly/ysvxV @noveleditor

Is Your Book Market-Ready? http://ow.ly/ypDry @thecadencegrp

4 Ways to Add Caffeine to Your Story:  http://ow.ly/ypEdJ @jodyhedlund

Sensory Description: Beyond the 5 Senses: http://ow.ly/ypDAg @amyjmcelroy

How to Sharpen Your Sentences:  http://ow.ly/ypDjn @JenniWiltz

10 Tips For Authors Promoting Their Books Online: http://ow.ly/ypDTR @bang2write

The Importance of Sentence Structure:  http://ow.ly/ypE29 @enderawiggin

5 Tips to Maximize Your Book’s Presence on Amazon:  http://ow.ly/ypDwY @thecadencegrp

36 writing tips from Stephen King:  http://ow.ly/ypDKs @whynotbooks

Underwriting Versus Overwriting: Just Write:  http://ow.ly/ypDYg @SarahMMcCoy @writerunboxed

It’s The Best Time On Earth To Be A Writer:  http://ow.ly/ypDa7 @jamesscottbell

How to fix flat characters:  http://ow.ly/ypD6Y from Clever Girl Helps

Generating Conflict in a Story:  http://ow.ly/ypDcj @shalvatzis

How to Write Anti-Heroes and Villains:  http://ow.ly/ypEjw  @Jackson_D_Chase

“Somebody Stole My Title!” http://ow.ly/ypDpA @HelenSedwick

Dos and Don’ts for Choosing a Title:  http://ow.ly/ypDNN @byondpapr

Clean illegal images from your blog before it’s too late:  http://ow.ly/ypDuR @HelenSedwick

Guest Blogging 101: http://ow.ly/ymVMU

How To Strike Creative Gold:  http://ow.ly/ymVHz @writetodone

How to Plan a Novel without Actually Outlining: 3 Tips from @NathanBransford http://ow.ly/ymW5p for @annerallen

An examination of @HughHowey ‘s “State of Self-Publishing”: http://ow.ly/yIjVV @Porter_Anderson”

How to write a novel to an outline and still be creative:  http://ow.ly/ymWfD @roz_morris

Telling The Tough Story:  http://ow.ly/ymW8u @btmargins

Having trouble with ‘show, don’t tell?’ Use a Word macro:  http://ow.ly/yH6wl  @CKMacLeod

20 Killer Errors In Your Screenplay’s Scenes: http://ow.ly/ymWlU @bang2write

7 Reasons to Write the Ending First:  http://ow.ly/ymWxE @writers_write

Consider cutting a paragraph before fighting to make it work:  http://ow.ly/ymWoV @vgrefer

Don’t Take it Personally:  http://ow.ly/ymWie @kcraftwriter

How to Write a Flat Character Arc: The 3rd Act:  http://ow.ly/ymWa7 @KMWeiland

Crafting the Perfect Critique Sandwich:  http://ow.ly/ymWvU @erin_bowman

4 Characteristics of Author Attitude and Why You Need Them:  http://ow.ly/ymWrt  @ninaamir

8 of the Best Screenwriting Forums and Message Boards:  http://ow.ly/ymVZu @screencrafting

Fiction University: The Cathartic Novel – an Editor’s Perspective:  http://ow.ly/ymWwZ

How technology rewrites literature: http://ow.ly/ymWdu @guardianbooks

5 storytelling techniques you can learn from good music:  http://ow.ly/yBvPK @JonAcuff

Being Different is Not a Disorder: Embracing our Exceptionalities, Eccentricities and Sensitivities:  http://ow.ly/yjRvi  @DouglasEby

8 Things That Will Derail Your Writing Goals the Fastest:  http://ow.ly/yjRso @ediemelson

Fear of Being Called a Fraud and Fear of Losing Your Creative Edge:  http://ow.ly/yjRkp @JessBaverstock

Subjunctive Mood:   http://ow.ly/yjRhk @CSLakin

How to format a script: the jargon explained http://ow.ly/yjQT1 @ideastap

The Top 10 Quotes About Coffee From Writers:  http://ow.ly/yjQYH @writers_write

How Much Backstory Do We Really Need? http://ow.ly/yjRm8  @JonSprunk

#FutureChat recap: Can publishers compete with Amazon?  http://ow.ly/yF6j7 @Porter_Anderson @TheFutureBook

#FutureChat recap: Can publishers compete with Amazon?  http://ow.ly/yF6j7 @Porter_Anderson @TheFutureBook

Writers: How “Automatic” Pistols Really Work: http://ow.ly/yjRor @ACFirestone

Crash Course in The Basics of Writing: http://ow.ly/yjRg3 @KimberleyGLittl

Make Your Character Reactions Twice as Interesting: http://ow.ly/yjRA8 @KMWeiland

10 Reasons Why You Should Know How To Format Ebooks:  http://ow.ly/yjQQE  @kaitnolan

Removing the Creeps From Romance:  http://ow.ly/yjQX4 @mythcreants

How to keep from getting stuck in Act Two: http://ow.ly/yjRCj @gointothestory

Superhero Nation: Learning Curves: An Alternative Approach to Superpower Limitation:  http://ow.ly/yjRiX

The Dangers of Dialect:  http://ow.ly/yjQRA @ava_jae

Zapping Those Crutch Words: http://ow.ly/yASpH @authorterryo

JK Rowling’s The Silkworm Shows What She Thinks of Publishing Industry | New Republic http://ow.ly/yCXrh @tnr

Beyond You’re vs. Your: A Grammar Cheat Sheet Even The Pros Can Use:  http://ow.ly/yiKLL @hayley_mullen

Writing Real Characters Amid Horrible Violence: Tips from a True-Crime Writer:  http://ow.ly/yD3WK @morsedan

5 mistakes writers make — writing tips from published authors:  http://ow.ly/yiMof @MilaGrayBooks

The Hidden Power of Layering the Right Desires in Your Story: http://ow.ly/yCVYa @writingeekery

Most of the Stuff You Need to Know to Edit Your Manuscript: http://ow.ly/yiMcx @BillFerris

Working Strategies for Display Ads:  http://ow.ly/yCVEe @SeeleyJamesAuth

7 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block:  http://ow.ly/yiMnm  @AndrewLConn

151 must visit writing websites:  http://ow.ly/yiMoX @nownovel

Freelance Writing–Secrets to a Query Letter That Sells:  http://ow.ly/yiMBQ @hopeclark

What Makes a Great Editor?- NYTimes.com:  http://ow.ly/yiKJY

Tools for Writers, reviews, how-to videos, and cheat sheets: http://ow.ly/yAS1C @ruthharrisbooks @annerallen

7 Ways to Grow Your Blog:  http://ow.ly/yARHD  @SusanKelley

Quick and easy promo from home: http://ow.ly/yiMkH @naturithomas

5 People Watching Tips:  http://ow.ly/yASHd @jemifraser @WriteAngleBlog

4 Reasons You Shouldn’t Try To Be Perfect:  http://ow.ly/yiM9P @KathrynMaeglin

Screenwriting Article – The Exceptional Element:  http://ow.ly/yhBMO @scriptshadow

9 Famous Authors Who Used Pen Names To Reinvent Themselves: http://ow.ly/yhBty @huffpost

Writing Basics:  Exposition:  http://ow.ly/yhChC  @Janice_Hardy

The Atavist Is the Future of Storytelling: http://ow.ly/yhBIc @jillkrasny @inc

All the links I shared last week: http://ow.ly/yzRxz . All the links I’ve ever shared (searchable): writerskb.com .

6 Ways to Outline Your Novel Faster:  http://ow.ly/yhBNv @KMWeiland

Creating A Creative Outline:  http://ow.ly/yhBLU @woodwardkaren

The Art of the Short Story:  http://ow.ly/yhBG4 @weifarer

Amazon–should we worry about its dominance in the marketplace?  http://ow.ly/yOHjM @passivevoiceblg @Porter_Anderson

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Resources for Writers—Microsoft Word

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Microsoft Word is an incredibly useful tool for writers—and one that I think is easy to overlook because we use it all the time.

Features that I use on a regular basis:

Highlighter.  I highlight problem areas that really don’t require explanation as I write my first draft.  This may be the fact that one of my characters doesn’t have a last name, or that a scene has gotten awkward or bogged down.  Maybe I don’t really even know what the problem is, but I want to highlight the area to figure out later.

Find/Replace:  This is very handy when I change character names in the middle of a manuscript. 

Find: I use the find feature to locate my favorite crutch words.  I tend to use just, some, and look a lot and want to find spots in my manuscript where I can remove the crutch word or maybe reword the sentence if needed.

Word’s Track Changes is a necessity when revising with an agent or editor and shows who made what changes or suggestions.  But I also use Track Changes during first drafts.  Instead of taking time looking up character details (are Lisa’s eyes green or blue?)  I add comments in the manuscript’s margins where I have a question.  Lately, I’ve been using the comments feature to change my outline, too.  More about that on Monday.  If you’re not sure how to use Track Changes, writer Jenny Hansen has a nice tutorial.

So…my uses have been fairly basic in the past.  But I’ve found some really interesting ways of using Word that other writers have employed.  Here are some of them:

Create a personalized AutoCorrect.  This one is from Hilary T. Smith.  Maybe you’ve got a character name that you always trip over when you’re typing.  You can program Word to automatically fill in the name whenever you type in a particular series of letters.

Combine different versions of a document (or incorporate beta reader changes and comments):  This helpful explanation is from Jami Gold. This is a helpful feature I’ve used several times when I’ve gotten changes from my editor and my beta reader and my agent.

View your manuscript in different ways. From Cheryl Reifsnyder.   As Cheryl puts it:



Full screen lets me write and edit without distracting menus.


View “side by side” allows me to move back and forth between two documents because they both appear on the screen. Side by side. Go figure.


Full page: This option will show you a full document page on your screen. It’s not ideal for reading text, but it’s a great way to scan a document for blank pages, chapter lengths, and formatting errors.


The REVIEW tab also offers different view options. If you’re using TRACK CHANGES or COMMENTS in the document, you can choose to have them visible or not—which can make it a lot easier to read the text.

Create a Macro that helps you show instead of tell:  This is a really cool way to help tweak your story to make it stronger. Corina Koch MacLeod from the Tech Tools for Writers blog explains: Copy the TellingWords macro, below, from Sub to End Sub and paste it into Word’s Visual Basic Application (VBA). When you run the macro, it will hunt down and highlight those telling words so you can tell them, I mean, show them who’s boss.

Writer Karen Woodward created a similar macro for adverbs.

Auto-outline as you take your story on a tangent.  Writer Martina Boone shows writers how to set up Word to track important changes as you write.

Other helpful posts regarding MS Word:

Using breaks properly (from Jenny Hansen).

Creating manuscript templates in Word—here and here (Jenny Hansen again).

A great list of keyboard shortcuts to use in Word (again, from writer Jenny Hansen…who is also a corporate software trainer).

Don’t have Microsoft Word? Digital Trends posted an article in May 2014, “10 Great Microsoft Office Alternatives” for those who don’t have Office.

Do you use MS Word to write your manuscript?  How do you customize it for your own use?

And–Happy 4th of July to all my US readers!  Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday/long weekend.

The post Resources for Writers—Microsoft Word appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Writing Real Characters Amid Horrible Violence: Tips from a True-Crime Writer

By Dan Morse, @morsedan,  author of The Yoga Store Murder

In 2011, as a reporter for The Washington Post, I covered the most violent of murders in the least likely of places. Someone had slashed, stabbed and struck Jayna Murray more than 331 times in the back of a high-end yoga store. The killer used more than six weapons, including a hammer, wrench, knives and a jagged steel bar used to display merchandise. That dichotomy – complete mayhem in a place of peace and Zen – got me thinking about writing a book about the case.

To pull readers along for 300-plus pages, though, I needed detailed scenes that not only advanced the plot, but also built out very real characters. After all, readers of non-fiction are like readers of mysteries; they want to get to know people as they turn each page.

To write such scenes, I first laid a foundation of detailed reporting. I got some good breaks. I was able to read 11,000 text messages pulled from the killer’s phone, which offered direct dialogue and candid thoughts. I conducted repeated interviews with detectives – at police stations, bars, and back patios. Those characters formed the core of the book – the killer and the cops. I also spent a lot of time with Jayna Murray’s family, who helped me understand Jayna and how devastated the murder had left them.

During one interview, David Murray, Jayna’s dad, started speaking about the last time he’d seen his daughter alive. He lives in Houston, and was staying at Jayna’s condominium just outside of Washington DC. In my mind, I saw David’s story going to a place that could be easily conveyed in a scene: Jayna driving David to the airport, the two of them going inside and lingering before take-off. But that’s not what happened. On the morning David was to leave, Jayna had a lot of packing to do for a planned trip to a wedding. So David took the subway to the airport. It was only later, when I wrote the scene, that I had one of those oh-yeah-that-axiom-again-forehead-slapping moments: The truth is almost always more interesting than what writers hope the truth to be. And it’s that nuanced truth that builds out characters.

In this case, as readers of the book were starting to know by page 120, David and Jayna were strong, independent people. David had served as a Special Forces officer in Vietnam, then gone on to manage oil drilling sites around the world. Jayna went bungee jumping to celebrate her 30th birthday, and was two months shy of getting her MBA and pursuing a career in corporate marketing. The two were so close they didn’t need drawn-out goodbyes – they’d be on the phone soon enough, seeing each other again soon enough. A parting that was understated seem to fit them.

So here is how I closed out that scene, picking up from the day before, when the two had met in North Carolina so they could see off Jayna’s brother Hugh, who was being deployed to Iraq. David took the occasion to spend some extra time with Jayna.

He drove back with her to Washington – just the two of them, talking in her car while driving north. Subjects swung from politics to pacifism to David’s questions about the principles of marketing as they applied to specific business projects. “Why do you say it that way?” he’d ask. David could sense Jayna’s fears for her brother Hugh. They were well-placed: Iraq was chaotic, even if it was no longer at war. And her brother would be moving around, the most dangerous thing to do there. David, of course, knew all about combat. “Hugh is going to be fine,” David told his daughter.

Time was ticking on their visit. As they got into Washington, David drove Jayna by a friend’s house so she could pick up a bridesmaid dress. The two planned to get a few hours of sleep before their flights the next morning – David back home to Houston and Jayna to Minnesota, for a wedding. But when it was clear Jayna needed more time to finish packing that morning, David said he didn’t need a ride to the airport. He hugged his daughter good-bye. “I love you,” they said to each other.

David walked out of the condo and two blocks to a subway stop. It was January 20, 2011, and the last time he’d see his daughter.

Struggling through engineering classes at Vanderbilt University, Dan Morse decided to give sports-writing a go at the campus newspaper. It proved a better fit. In his junior year, he tried out for the football team – going on to write a year’s worth of columns chronicling his trials, tribulations and deep bruises as a slow but poor route-running wide receiver. After graduation, Morse combined his engineering degree with writing and, as if it had been well-planned, took a position at Civil Engineering magazine in New York. Who among us can forget his prescient 1989 piece on waste-water treatment disposal regulations: “Sludge in the Nineties.”

Wanting to know how other things worked – crime, politics, business – Morse sought a reporting position at more than 50 newspapers. Exactly one of them offered him a job, The Alabama Journal, an afternoon daily in Montgomery, Ala., where Morse settled in as a cops reporter. He moved on to that city’s morning paper, The Advertiser, covering state politics and becoming a Pulitzer Prize finalist for stories on the Southern Poverty Law Center. From there, he moved to The Baltimore Sun,  The Wall Street Journal, and, in 2005, The Washington Post. (Some of his favorite stories, and the most interesting people he has met, can be viewed here.)

Morse grew up with four siblings in Urbana, Ill., where his parents still live. He is married to Dana Hedgpeth, a fellow Post reporter. They have a daughter named C.C.

Purchasing Links: Amazon
Dan’s Twitter
Dan’s Facebook Page
Website

The post Writing Real Characters Amid Horrible Violence: Tips from a True-Crime Writer appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

5 Tips to Gain Confidence and Overcome Writer’s Doubt: http://ow.ly/y9kmW @adderworld

Real Life Diagnostics: Weaving in World Building Details. How Much is Too Much? http://ow.ly/y80VH @janice_hardy           

How to Hack the Habit of Creativity:  http://ow.ly/y81gA

So You Want to Write a Picture Book for Children? http://ow.ly/y9kOU @Nimpentoad

Write Your Characters to Life:  http://ow.ly/y9kex @SheriWrenAuthor  @SouthrnWritrMag

Publishing Too Soon:  http://ow.ly/y816M @womenwriters

Tips for making pop culture references in our books:  http://ow.ly/y9k37 from Clever Girl Helps

Tips for writing an emotionally heavy scene:  http://ow.ly/y80YU from Clever Girl Helps

Punctuating Dialogue:  http://ow.ly/y9k9C @LitCentralOC

Tweet THIS, Not That! 12 Things Not to do on Twitter: http://ow.ly/y81bQ @mollygreene  @annerallen

Media Options for Transmedia Storytelling:  http://ow.ly/y9nlI @cherylrwrites

Resources for Writers: WKB and Ebook Services Professionals: http://ow.ly/ywlVa

One Writer’s Journey  From  Highbrow To Commercial Sell-Out:  http://ow.ly/ybXEy @NicoleTrilivas @xojanedotcom

C.S. Lewis on the 3 Ways of Writing for Children and the Key to Authenticity in All Writing:  http://ow.ly/ybWPN @brainpicker

The Secret Weapon of YA/NA Writers:  http://ow.ly/ybX7c  @NakedEditor

Quotes from @HughHowey ‘s Facebook chat: http://ow.ly/ybYEk

Working-class fiction has been written out of publishing:  http://ow.ly/ybXo6 @guardianbooks

12 Food-Related Tips To Fuel Your Writing Career:  http://ow.ly/ybWl6 @pubcoach

10 Trends in Book Marketing for 2014:  http://ow.ly/ybX9E @TargetMktng

The Accidental Non-Linear Series:  http://ow.ly/ybWEa @LaurieBoris

Psychological Benefits of Writing: Why Richard Branson & Warren Buffett Write Regularly:  http://ow.ly/ybXye @entmagazine @GregoryCiotti

Is Querying for an Agent is a Waste of Time?  http://ow.ly/ybXQg @brunsdavid

25 Secrets Of Publishing, Revealed:  http://ow.ly/ybZ8X @MikeRUnderwood for @ChuckWendig

9 Literary Magazines for New and Unpublished Writers:  http://ow.ly/ybWUL @A_WritersStudio

How Not to Release a Self-Published Novel:  http://ow.ly/ybYWF  @cmskiera

College Libraries Push Back as Publishers Raise Some E-Book Prices:  http://ow.ly/ybXjH @chronicle

To Pseudonym or Not to Pseudonym:  http://ow.ly/ybWuG @CEMcKenzie1

How Not To Be a Diva Debut Author:  http://ow.ly/yhBGT @TheLitCoach

Social media basics for authors: simple and effective book promotion tips:  http://ow.ly/yhBlt @amberstanley0

Copying an eBook from Cover to Cover:  http://ow.ly/yhBiU @hyperallergic

3 Tips to Enhance Your Marketing Efforts:  http://ow.ly/yhBU2 @marygkeeley

10 Steps To Provide a Helpful Critique http://ow.ly/yhBsk @Shirl_Corder

5 Tips for Creating a Lead Character Your Audience Will Really Care About:  http://ow.ly/yhBAF @dianedrake

What a good writer needs most:  http://ow.ly/yhBn5 @joelachenbach @washingtonpost

What Do Your Characters Know? http://ow.ly/yhBkc @Massim0Marin0

Beyond the Great Idea:  http://ow.ly/y9kjT @JulieEshbaugh

Top 3 Things to Cut From Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/y9jZs @WritersEdit

How to Validate Your Characters’ Traits:  http://ow.ly/y9k68 @shalvatzis

Character Eye Descriptions: The Window to Your Story:  http://ow.ly/y9kSa @SharlaWrites

When You Start Comparing Yourself To Other Writers… http://ow.ly/y9kUs @carlywatters

Overwhelmed by Character and Plot Development? Place and the Novel’s Plot: http://ow.ly/ytW8g @megwolfewrites

Scrivener – Your Happy Ending:  http://ow.ly/y7Onv  @Gwen_Hernandez

7 Tools to Hook Your Reader:  http://ow.ly/y7OE6 @monicamclark

Book Cover Copycats: Is It Flattery or Copyright Infringement?  http://ow.ly/y7PjF @angelaackerman

6 Reasons Why English Writers Should Self-publish in Germany:  http://ow.ly/y7OQs @MissLeontine

Creating Authentic Character Emotions http://ow.ly/y7OKF @C_Herringshaw

How to fail at being a writer:  http://ow.ly/y7Qvc @Kelsye

Reviving Dead Stories :  http://ow.ly/y7RD3 @horrortree

The @HachetteBooks-@PerseusBooks deal: http://ow.ly/yqshT  @Porter_Anderson @TheFutureBook

How 1 writer wrote a novel while battling writer’s block:  http://ow.ly/y7Ryp @freya_north

The Laborers of Work-for-Hire Crime Fiction Writing:  http://ow.ly/y7Pmq @BrashBooks

5 Tips for Researching Your Book’s Competition (and Why You Should): http://ow.ly/y7QAO @loftliterary

7 Signs Your Book Idea is Worth Publishing: | Wise Ink: http://ow.ly/y7Q0r

7 Things Every 21st Century Writer Needs To Do: http://ow.ly/y7OB8  @PHOENIXmagUK

The one big reason authors need to blog:  http://ow.ly/ytgoj @Belinda_Pollard

Should boys read boys?  http://ow.ly/y7Qmf  @GdnChildrensBks

Which POV starts the story and when to introduce other characters:  http://ow.ly/y7Rk1 @CaitLondon

Why Backstory is the Spine of Your Story:  http://ow.ly/y7PTU @Sonali_Dev

Thinking of Self-Publishing? Put These Books in your Self-Publishing Tool-kit http://ow.ly/y7RH0 @susankayequinn

Barber shops and salons as settings in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/yqFh9 @mkinberg

Free Book Promotion Web Sites – 15 of the Best:  http://ow.ly/y3I02 @travisnward

Why Your Book Deal Is Just the First Step:  http://ow.ly/y3INj @LizandLisa @writerunboxed

This Is Your Brain on Writing:  http://ow.ly/ysuIk @carlzimmer @NYTimes

How to Write a Flat Character Arc: The Second Act: http://ow.ly/y3IaJ @kmweiland

Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them:  http://ow.ly/y3IFI @angelaackerman

9 Common Exposition Questions Answered:  http://ow.ly/y3HLk @bang2write

5 Differences Between TV and Screenwriting: http://ow.ly/y3IVi @jacobkrueger

You Know You’re a Writer When… http://ow.ly/y3Iip @lifelaughtrlove

4 Kinds of Sentences Every Writer Should Remember:  http://ow.ly/y3HR8 @a_wrighton

3 reasons 1 writer has fallen in love with writing short stories:  http://ow.ly/y3IRe @mlouisalocke

Expand Our Senses and Improve Our Descriptions: http://ow.ly/y3I6w @jamigold

What Makes a Character Sympathetic? This Video Essay Explains: http://ow.ly/y3IHd @nofilmschool

Eat Lightning, Write Thunder: Writing Lessons From Rocky Balboa: http://ow.ly/y3IKI @helpfulsnowman

The Moment In Your Story That Changes Everything:  http://ow.ly/y3HOr @InkyBites

5 Tips for Writing a Synopsis that Shines:  http://ow.ly/y3IlY @marygkeeley

Writing Basics: What is Conflict? http://ow.ly/y3I92 @janice_hardy

4 Ways To Rock Goodreads’ New ‘Ask The Author’ Feature:  http://ow.ly/y3I39 @ebooksandkids

Festivals and fairs as settings in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/ypGva @mkinberg

Is life really keeping us from writing? The inspiring story of Robert Louis Stevenson: http://ow.ly/y2OUD @rxena77

Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing: You Need An Agent to Sell Overseas | http://ow.ly/y2PBC @deanwesleysmith

Why Hiring An Editor For Your Book Is Unavoidable: ://ow.ly/y2PqX @selfpubreview

4 Observations On Publishing From a Former Penguin Exec.:  http://ow.ly/yoVUK @Porter_Anderson @raffers

Why ‘Read My Book!’ Doesn’t Work…And What To Do Instead:  http://ow.ly/y2PaQ @badredheadmedia

Poisons: How to Use Them:  http://ow.ly/y2PxX @mythcreants

Getting Unstuck When Writing a Novel:  http://ow.ly/y2PFg @WritersCoach

How to Motivate Your Characters http://ow.ly/y2PQ4 @AJHumpage

Resources for describing skin color:  http://ow.ly/y2PJf

Traditional or independent, publishing teamwork counts:  http://ow.ly/yoVDi @Porter_Anderson @EmilyMandel

Tips for Character Voice:  http://ow.ly/y2Pp8 from Clever Girl Helps

Different Worlds:  http://ow.ly/y2OZN @fantasyfaction

Romance 101: Stranded Stories:  http://ow.ly/y2PA3 @_ImAnAdult

A Warts-and-All Guide to Kickstarter: What Works and What Doesn’t:  http://ow.ly/y2PiH @SeanPlatt

5 Applications That Make a Writer’s Life Easier:  http://ow.ly/y2Pn9 @JessicaMeddows

Email List Building Series: The Set Up, Start to Finish (Using Aweber):  http://ow.ly/y2P7I @writerplatform

Are Authors Scared to Write Diverse Books? http://ow.ly/y2PuC @roniloren

Hanging On: The Surefire Way to Get Your Editor to Kill You: http://ow.ly/y2Ph0 @behlerpublish

Creating a Business Philosophy:  http://ow.ly/ymBLr

De-Stress Your Writing Life – Fear of Committing and Fear of Criticism:  http://ow.ly/y1UNL @jessbaverstock

Using Different Tools to Explore New Directions in Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/y1VTs @LesannBerry

Either Or, Neither Nor:  http://ow.ly/y1UUm @CSLakin

Resources for Writing a Potent ‘Inner Story’ in Your Book:  http://ow.ly/y1V88 @writeabook

Planning with Your Pants on | Indie Jane:  http://ow.ly/y1UXt

Why Can’t We Resist Retellings?  http://ow.ly/y1VmH  @jessisreading.

Modernizing the Classic: 3 Attributes of a Successful Adaptation: http://ow.ly/y1VPb @DIYMFA

Where to Find Royalty-Free Music:  http://ow.ly/ym9bS @SpunkOnAStick

Why we shouldn’t wait to be published:  http://ow.ly/y1VdO @jeffgoins

Creative People: Personality and Mental Health:  http://ow.ly/y1US3 @DouglasEby

Reasons for incorporating body language:  http://ow.ly/y1V1M from Clever Girl Helps

Thinking With Your Hands:  http://ow.ly/y1V9O @JulieKWms2013 @MartinaABoone

Is Your Indie Book Violating Copyright Laws? http://ow.ly/y1VNN @JordanMcCollum

World Building for Writers Through Map Making:  http://ow.ly/y1Vqf @Skytale_Writer

Stages of Editing:  http://ow.ly/y1Vhs  @heatherbmoore

The No-Stress Way To Create Your Story’s Logline: http://ow.ly/y1VfS @PBRWriter

How to Show a Character’s Internal Journey: http://ow.ly/y1Vo3 @jamigold

Talent is an uncomfortable topic for writers:  http://ow.ly/yjNNw @Porter_Anderson @writerunboxed

5 Ways to Stand out with Humor in Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/y0UZJ  @JordanDane

Behind the App: The Story of Scribd:  http://ow.ly/y0UPb @andyorin

3 Quick Cures For Common Writing Woes:  http://ow.ly/y0UF8 @writersrelief

Bad Writing: The 6 Horsemen of the Writepocalypse:  http://ow.ly/y0UrK @speechwriterguy

Why 1 writer rejected her publisher:  http://ow.ly/y0UJj @JordanMcCollum

Writers: Owning Your Voice:  http://ow.ly/y0Ubg @woodwardkaren

Not all books and not all subscription services are created equal:  http://ow.ly/y0UXZ @MikeShatzkin

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Resources for Writers—WKB and Ebook Services Professionals

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve gotten several emails from writers lately, pinging me for resources…which makes me think maybe I could do a better job spotlighting various resources on my blog.  So, as a summer series, I’ll be focusing on different sites that I use as a resource, myself.

Today will be slightly different—I’ll be focusing on two writer resources that I have a hand in.  I know I mention the Writer’s Knowledge Base here on Sundays…but if you’re a blog reader who doesn’t ordinarily read posts on weekends, then I’m not sure you’d be familiar with it.

Mike Fleming of Hiveword (a web-based novel writing organizer) contacted me years ago after reading on my blog that I was frustrated with the short shelf life of tweets on Twitter and that I was interested in a way to make the content I linked to searchable for writers.  He had an idea for a search engine for writers…and I had links to content.  So he created the Writer’s Knowledge Base.  You can search for free for thousands of writing-related topics…and all the results are articles that I have personally curated and shared on Twitter.  More about how the WKB came about in this post, on the WKB site.

The next resource is one that I frequently neglect to mention here, although I do link to it on Twitter every 10 days or so…the Ebook Services Professionals spreadsheet that I maintain.  The spreadsheet came about when I started self-publishing in 2011.  I had a tough time tracking down cover designers, formatters, and independent editors.  At the time, it was mainly a word of mouth thing…a writer would drop a name of a designer or editor on their blog and writers would click over to the site.  I decided to start a database, link to it on Twitter, and invite designers, editors, and formatters to send me their information for inclusion.

To best use the database, writers should compare fees, references, or portfolios to find a good fit for their genre, budget, etc.

Hope these help.  Now it’s your turn—any cool resources for writers that you’d like to share here?

The post Resources for Writers—WKB and Ebook Services Professionals appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Creating a Business Philosophy

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Self-publishing means running a small business.  For me, it’s been a trial by fire.  Fortunately, as in many small businesses, I had a bit of a slow period, starting out.  This bought me a little time to figure out what the heck I’m doing.  After all, I was an English major, not a business major.

When the business started picking up, I made a few good calls.  One of them was to get an accountant. Another was the realization that I definitely needed to subcontract for skilled help with everything from website design to formatting to covers.

I spoke with another small business owner recently and she gave me a tip that really struck home for me. I was explaining that occasionally I felt scattered—sometimes because I’m asked to do things that seem worthwhile opportunities but don’t really work with my general “big picture.”  These are distractions that are disguised as opportunities. Sometimes they seem like a good way to get exposure—but the amount of work and effort that I know I’d put into it would be so much more than I’d get out of it.  These have taken myriad forms over the years—non-fiction pitches from traditional publishers, group blog invites, invites from trad. publishers to contribute to anthologies, invitations to teach writing courses, and panel invites from conference organizers.

I’ve turned them all down.  I knew they were going to take me on a tangent.  But I felt…guilty.  As a parent, I think guilt is a way of life. But it didn’t feel good, professionally.  I followed my gut, but I wondered if maybe my gut was just chicken or something.

This business owner told me to create a business philosophy or manifesto for myself.  And then follow it.  Let it guide me in my decision-making.  And, when I’m presented with an opportunity…or distraction… that I should measure it up against my philosophy and feel confident enough to say: this doesn’t fit the plan.

Rejecting opportunities means opening up time to follow the path that I feel is more productive.  A chance to focus my efforts.  And as I work to develop my own business philosophy, I know that it’s going to basically revolve around writing books while curating material for other writers.

To anyone who actually took business classes in school, this may seem like a no-brainer. But it was fairly revolutionary for me…create an official plan.  Reject opportunities that aren’t in line with the plan.

If anyone else is thinking about coming up with a business philosophy , I’ve found some interesting links on the topic:  Mike Vardy’s Lifehack post, “10 Insanely Awesome Inspirational Manifestos” and Jocelyn K. Glei’s post for 99u, “5 Manifestos for Art, Life & Business.”

How do you stay focused on what’s important to you, as a writer?

Image: MorgueFile: Gracey

 

The post Creating a Business Philosophy appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Facebook Ads: Should Indie Authors Buy Them?  http://ow.ly/xV9PZ  @CaballoFrances

Must Publishing Always Take Sides?  http://ow.ly/yhjBE @Porter_Anderson @RLLafevers @thoughtcatalog

How to Build A Contact List To Grow A Relationship With Your Readers:  http://ow.ly/xV8T3 @ebooksandkids

Exploring Story Worlds – How to get the most out of your research:  http://ow.ly/xV98J @writers_write               

If your family hates it when you write:  http://ow.ly/xV9gd @kristaphillips

8 Things Not to Do When Pitching to an Agent:  http://ow.ly/xSfdQ @LynnetteLabelle

10 Tips for Writing with Babies at Home:  http://ow.ly/xSich @PatheosPagan

6 Subtle Ways to Increase Tension in Your Writing:  http://ow.ly/xShi4 @RachelPhifer1

Bait-and-Switch for Self-Published Authors:  http://ow.ly/xSh9e @victoriastrauss

How to Write Female and Male Characters:  http://ow.ly/xShcA @LissyWrites

Book launch checklist:  http://ow.ly/xSh1Y  @Kelsye

Will I ever feel like a “Real” Writer?  http://ow.ly/xSfhS  @Alison_Stone

Why Living Hard Is Way Easier Than Writing Hard:  http://ow.ly/xSinq @Authorlaura

Summer Writing for You, the Teacher:  http://ow.ly/xSi78 @BethMooreTCRWP

Getting an Agent by Self-Publishing Your Manuscript: What Some Agents Think:  http://ow.ly/xShyx @lindaepstein

How to write characters who are different than you:  http://ow.ly/xSheI @sarahselecky

33 Unusual Tips to Being a Better Writer:  http://ow.ly/xShoe  @jaltucher

From White Page and Dark Space, Miracles Occur:  http://ow.ly/xSflI @CLRozelle

6 Types of Character Flaws: http://ow.ly/xShr7 @mythcreants

Character Generators:  http://ow.ly/xSh89

What are English Light Novels? A Stop For All To Learn About LN:  http://ow.ly/xSh5e @OrganizationASG

Pan Macmillan’s Lloyd at FutureBook Hack:  Ask what you can do for readers:  http://ow.ly/yaJ0j @TheFutureBook  @Porter_Anderson

Thematic Significance Statement Defines Every Story Decision:  http://ow.ly/xSeJU @plotwhisperer

Quick Tips: Adverbial Dialogue Tags:  http://ow.ly/xSePW @Savage_Woman

Query Question: more bad info, this time on self-pub and series:  http://ow.ly/xSeV2 @Janet_Reid

Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing: I Have To Sell Books Quickly: http://ow.ly/xSeGC @deanwesleysmith

Differentiation: A Book Marketing Must:  http://ow.ly/xSeco @hanque99

Fast-Growing Independent Publishers, 2014:  http://ow.ly/xSeSH @PublishersWkly

The Art of Writing for Games – Serving the Masters:  http://ow.ly/yaGHD @timsbrannan

Quick Look: Writer Pro for iPad: http://ow.ly/xSegu @iPadInsightBlog

A Trick for Keeping Your Plot (and Story) on Target:  http://ow.ly/xSekl @Janice_Hardy

Fiction Craft– Focusing the Camera:  http://ow.ly/xSeF0 @wendylawton

Embracing the Digital Revolution:  http://ow.ly/y2TzM @KristiBelcamino

In Defense of Typos:  http://ow.ly/xSenO @io9

Yawn No More: Americans and the Market for Foreign Fiction:  http://ow.ly/xSe6c @pubperspectives

Your Character is Lying:  http://ow.ly/xSexX @JulieEshbaugh

The Emotion of Changing Your Mind:  http://ow.ly/xSeN2 @mooderino

You Wrote a Book. Now What? http://ow.ly/xSeuT @jodyhedlund

How to Tell if Your Story is On Target: What’s —Your Book About in ONE Sentence?  http://ow.ly/xSeAF @kristenlambtx

Writer’s Block? Use a Random Generator:  http://ow.ly/xSerV @jamigold

Challenges that modern crime writers face in keeping stories credible:  http://ow.ly/y7Z3h @mkinberg

When You Start Writing (Again) Only for You:  http://ow.ly/xQnCF @novaren

Dissecting Your Characters: http://ow.ly/xQon6 @TerriLAustin

Novel Avoidance Syndrome:  http://ow.ly/xQnlt @VictoriaLamb1

So You Want to Write a Love Triangle:  http://ow.ly/xQm9g @shay_goodman

5 Ways to Create Conflict in Your Story:  http://ow.ly/xQpyY @screencrafting

So You’ve Decided to Hire a Freelance Editor:  http://ow.ly/xQpt1 @WritingRefinery

The Top 9 Writing Mistakes And How To Fix Them:  http://ow.ly/xQpp6 @FutureofInk

How to Critique Others’ Writing:  http://ow.ly/xQpO8 @writerdiaries

Writing Fiction: Facts v. Feeling:  http://ow.ly/xQodx @lindasclare

15 questions for your beta readers — and to focus your own revisions:  http://ow.ly/y7ITy @JodieRennerEd

5 Mistakes on the Way to Publishing Success:  http://ow.ly/xQo2Q @CarmenConnects

7 things the most-highlighted Kindle passages tell us about American readers: http://ow.ly/xQnXh @voxdotcom

Best Books on Songwriting: http://ow.ly/xQn9f @natefancher

Written to Death:  http://ow.ly/xQmU1 @VaughnRoycroft @writerunboxed

3 Ways to Pitch Your Novel (but not in the trash):  http://ow.ly/xQo8E @lindasclare

Good Writing: No Matter Your Genre:  http://ow.ly/xQnxA @JordanRosenfeld

The False Divide Between Book Promo and Author Promo:  http://ow.ly/xQnsn @SharonBially @writerunboxed

Are you in danger of losing your readers’ suspension of disbelief? http://ow.ly/xQpBT @standoutbooks

Write Out Loud: How to Start Podcasting:  http://ow.ly/xOui3 @cbramkamp @ninaamir

Scenes, Sequels, Sequences and Acts:  http://ow.ly/xOvmp @woodwardkaren

When to Hire an Editor :  http://ow.ly/xOuer @Savage_Woman

Scene: Fast or Fast-Paced? http://ow.ly/xOtOv @fictionnotes

3 Things to Know About Exposition & Telling: http://ow.ly/xOuKE @victoriamixon

How to prepare for the call:  http://ow.ly/xOura @writerdiaries @ava_jae

Is Instagram Effective for Writers?  http://ow.ly/xOwNR @carolewyer

How Can Your Characters Make Others Believe Them? http://ow.ly/xOtMF @skyefairwin

Should Secondary Characters Change? http://ow.ly/xOuz1 @mooderino

Location, Location, Location:  http://ow.ly/xOuoo @janet_gover @womenwriters

4 story openings that put people off (and how to avoid them):  http://ow.ly/xOuE3 @standoutbooks

Your Creativity Is like Any Other Muscle:  http://ow.ly/xOv0n @99u

Do publishers see the value in audio?  Listen for the consumer.  http://ow.ly/y2T0A @Porter_Anderson @TheFutureBook @editoratfaber”

When you need a sidekick in your novel:  http://ow.ly/xOu1G @writers_write

Choosing a look (Theme) for your WordPress site:  http://ow.ly/xOu7S

Concocting Fiction from Fact: Using Research to Tell Better Stories:  http://ow.ly/xOwLd @KeithCronin

5 Tips to Set a Better Scene:  http://ow.ly/xOtV4 @novelrocket

Husband and wife sleuths in crime fiction: http://ow.ly/y3Fh9 @mkinberg

8 Ways to Beat Writer’s Block: http://ow.ly/xMsq3 @NatRusso

30 Famous Authors On Writing in Plain Language :  http://ow.ly/xMqc4 @writers_write

Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing: Put The Book Up and Leave It. | http://ow.ly/xMpQn @deanwesleysmith

FutureBook Hackers at work: Did we tell them enough?  http://ow.ly/y2Tki @TheFutureBook  @Porter_Anderson

11 Terrible Book Covers to Scare You Off Reading:  http://ow.ly/xMqaj @MaxKnoblauch

How Audiobook Narration And Production Works (podcast):  http://ow.ly/xMpTq @thecreativepenn

‘A Letter to Aspiring-Writer-Me from  Debut-Novelist-Me’: http://ow.ly/xMuCu @nataliasylv @writerunboxed

10 Quick Ways to Feel Better With Fiction:  http://ow.ly/xMpYy @tolstoytherapy

How to Vary Your Characters’ Voices: http://ow.ly/xVajS @LitCentralOC

7 tools of dialogue: http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-7-tools-of-dialogue @jamesscottbell

The Worse Advice You Can Take About Writing:  http://ow.ly/xV8HO @DanaLeipold

Writers: Track Your Analytics and Measure Your Success:  http://ow.ly/xV9XQ @CaballoFrances

5 Key Ways to Create a Character’s Distinct Voice:  http://ow.ly/xV9cb @JordanDane

2 Dialogue Death Sentences & How to Get a Stay-of-Execution:  http://ow.ly/xV9xx @MarcyKennedy

How To Be A Writer 101:  http://ow.ly/xVatQ @davalynnspencer  @SouthrnWritrMag

Semi-Professonally Pairing Books With Wine:  http://ow.ly/xV9Jz @susangilmore

7 Reasons The Stuff You Post On Social Media Should Also Be On Your Website: http://ow.ly/xV93b @jspector

How to Know If You’re Editing Too Soon:  http://ow.ly/xV8MI @losapala

Finding Motivation to Write:  http://ow.ly/xV8PJ @maziebones

Scene Break vs. Chapter Break: How Do You Know? http://ow.ly/xVbs5 @ava_jae

3 Reasons You Need a Pen Name:  http://ow.ly/xVbw5 @robinrwrites

How Do You Make a Good Story Worthy of Getting Past the Gatekeeper? http://ow.ly/xVb9n  @karencv

3 tips for better scenes: http://ow.ly/xVcjw @lindasclare

Narrative Arc: Shaping Your Story:  http://ow.ly/xVbX7 @fcmalby

How to Start Writing When You Won’t Start Writing: http://ow.ly/xVbCV @M_Richmond21

Themes That Develop Organically in Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/xVc9U @CSLakin

Narrative Voice:  http://ow.ly/xVaMZ @JoeMoore_writer

Story Structure… for Television:  http://ow.ly/xVbZP @storyfix

The 5 best incentives authors can use to build an email list:  http://ow.ly/xVbKu @alexhemus @standoutbooks

Unforgettable Writing: Use all 5 Senses to Add Emotion:  http://ow.ly/xVbeY @OrlyKonigLopez

The Author Monthly Planner: A Freebie to Organize Your Writing and Marketing Life:  http://ow.ly/xVc4V @duolit

Do You Need to Rethink Your Author Website’s Key Elements? http://ow.ly/xVaUH @Janefriedman

Why the Where Matters:  http://ow.ly/xVbkI @sarahrcallender @writerunboxed

When You Write In Multiple Points of View:  http://ow.ly/xVaZ0 @Margo_L_Dill

An Easy Exercise for Coming Up With Novel Ideas:  http://ow.ly/xVbRu @Janice_Hardy @nownovel

4 Common Non-Fiction Title Cliches:  http://ow.ly/y0Ugm @stevebenjamins

Self-Publishing Offers Hope for Diverse Authors Shut Out by Traditional Publishers:  http://ow.ly/y0UMa @miralsattar

‘Every hour a glass of wine’ ––the female writers who drank:  http://ow.ly/y0Uwq @olivialanguage @guardianbooks

Reunions in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/yhk2j @mkinberg

How To Conduct An Author Interview:  http://ow.ly/y0Ue2 @write_practice

Will The Success Of Ebook Subscription Services Be Good For Publishers, Authors And Readers? http://ow.ly/y0Uke @jdgsaid

What 1 writer learned about landing an agent:  http://ow.ly/y0TYw @MartinaABoone

Tips for creating a great villain:   http://ow.ly/y0U2x @nownovel

Not all books and not all subscription services are created equal:  http://ow.ly/y0UXZ @MikeShatzkin

Fine-Tuning a Manuscript–Comma Usage:  http://ow.ly/yi727

Marketing Your Book Abroad? How About A Buddy System?Matchmaking for Writers: http://ow.ly/yhjpz @Porter_Anderson @mmatting

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Fine-Tuning a Manuscript–Comma Usage

Guest Post by Jack Smith

In fiction what is “correct” is what works—what creates strong characters, drives the story, and creates the appropriate tone.  This applies to grammar and mechanics as well.  I’ll have to admit, I do tend to be a bit schoolmarmy about the conventions of grammar and mechanics, but I also recognize when it’s important to depart from the standard handbook.  A bullet train of comma splices might be desirable if you’re attempting to capture run-on thought.   No punctuation at all might also be.  When I’m editing my own work, as well as the work of others in my role as Fiction Editor for The Green Hills Literary Lantern, I tend to notice the following kinds of grammatical issues: subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, misplaced modifiers, and, of course, matters of punctuation, which includes commas, semi-colons, colons, apostrophes, parenthesis—and more.

I’ll limit my comments here to commas.  According to strict handbook rules and conventions, where should you use commas?

Before coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet) between main clauses
After long phrases (generally 5 words or more) introducing main clauses
After subordinate clauses beginning with because, if, after, whereas, etc.

(Not before subordinate clauses that come after main clauses)

Between coordinate adjectives that modify a noun (e.g., tall, lanky man)
With appositives (e.g., James, a smart and ambitious man, has some serious goals.)
With direct address (e.g., All right, James, let’s discuss this.)

There are more comma issues to consider (non-restrictive and restrictive, for instance), but I won’t go into those.  Let’s stop here.

Now, let’s say that you break handbook rules and conventions governing comma usage.  Let’s say that your narrator states:

When James a man with a desire to obtain an education went to the city he usually went to a museum attended a concert or saw a play maybe it was Shakespeare maybe it was contemporary but he was let us say a great pursuer of the arts of all kinds.

Certainly from a strict schoolmarm perspective, this passage is loaded with comma “errors”—F work, for sure.  Let’s look just at the comma usage—please ignore wording and anything else that might bother you.  Stick to the comma question, and note where the standard handbook would call for comma insertions:

“When James, a man with a desire to obtain an education, went to the city, he usually went to a museum, attended a concert (,) or saw a play; maybe it was Shakespeare—maybe it was contemporary—but he was, let us say, a great pursuer of the arts of all kinds.

Notice that I placed parentheses around one comma since here it is optional.  I used dashes to set off “maybe it was contemporary,” but I could have used commas. As to the rest, note commas around the appositive, the comma after the introductory subordinate clause, and the comma after the first item in the series.  If I had used a comma before “maybe,” I would have a comma splice—a mechanical error by strict handbook rules.  A comma is called for in the parenthetical phrase “let us say.”

Notice that not a single word is changed is this “corrected” version, and yet there’s a different feel achieved by supplying the commas, isn’t there?  The first version is more loose and informal, the second more structured and formal.  If your narrator is uneducated, perhaps the first version is better.  Of course, these are two extreme versions; perhaps you leave out only few commas.  Leaving out the comma after the introductory subordinate clause probably wouldn’t affect the tone very much.  (And one could argue, even by strict handbook standards, it’s not that much of an “error” as long as the sentence is clear. On the other hand, if you leave out one of the commas in the appositive, that would certainly be a handbook error—and even appear to be a mistake to one who isn’t a handbook nut.)  The comma splice wouldn’t have that much of an effect either.  But here’s the point: The more you abide by, or bend, the rules and conventions, the greater the effect on style and tone—and the voice of your narrator.   And keep in mind that the numerous rhythms and beats of words, phrases, and clauses, and even the appearance of the language itself on the page, the way passages are measured out, comma by comma, semi-colon by semi-colon, period by period—all this has a cumulative  effect on your reader.  Sometimes it’s hard to say exactly what that is, but as a reader you feel it.

There is no absolute right and wrong in fiction writing.  It’s what works.  When fine-tuning, use the handbook when it helps you create strong language; put it aside when it doesn’t.

Jack Smith is author of the novel Hog to Hog, which won the George Garrett FictionPrize (Texas Review Press. 2008), and is also the author of Write and Revise for Publication: A 6-Month Plan for Crafting an Exceptional Novel and Other Works of Fiction, published earlier this year by Writer’s Digest. His novel ICON will be published in June by Serving House Books.

Over the years, Smith’s short stories have appeared in North American Review, Night Train, Texas Review, and Southern Review, to name a few. He has also written some 20 articles for Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, as well as a dozen or so pieces for The Writer. He has published reviews in numerous literary journals, including Ploughshares, Georgia Review, Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, American Review, Mid-American Review, and the Iowa Review.

The post Fine-Tuning a Manuscript–Comma Usage appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Embracing the Digital Revolution

By Kristi Belcamino, @KristiBelcamino

Writers dream of the day when they walk into a bookstore, see a book they wrote on the shelf, and then hold that book in their own two hands!

But what if a debut author is offered a digital-only book deal? Even if it is with one of the Big Five? No print book. What then? What does she do about that offer?

Well, she takes it!

At least I did.

I was beside myself, thrilled that an editor at one of the “big houses” liked my book. loved it even. At the same time, I had to let go of my dreams— holding my book in my hands, signing a physical book, and going cross-country on a grassroots book tour.

Instead, I had to think pragmatically and long-term, viewing every step I made as another one toward building a career as a writer instead of a flash-in-the-pan moment of ego-gratifying glory. I also realized that mystery readers—my readers—are huge into reading eBooks. All this meant taking the eBook deal.

But I must admit I clung to one tiny glimmer of hope within the fine print of my contract— some authors on the mystery imprint I was with would see a print version of their book. My contract explicitly stated, however, that there were no guarantees of a print version.

However, being the optimist that I am, I read that and thought, as Jim Carrey said in Dumb & Dumber, “So, you’re telling me I got a chance?”

Meanwhile, I wholeheartedly embraced this opportunity to get my book out into the world and began brainstorming ways to market it.

I’d heard of eBook authors giving author talks and then passing around an iPad so people could buy the book since there wouldn’t be a physical book to sell at the event, so I headed straight for the library and bookstores.

My favorite librarian told me that without a physical book, I could not do an author reading.

When I contacted bookstores, I heard the same thing:

No book. No author event.

I wondered if there was anything I could do to increase the chances of my book going to print, but suspected it all had to do with how sales of my book went. I understood that. It made sense. But I also know that I’m terrible at selling anything. At garage sales I usually give half of our things away (much to my husband’s chagrin).

I wondered how could I encourage people to buy my book without being a jerk? I’m still not sure. My answer was to tell people about my book on social media, trying to follow that 80/20 rule (80 percent NOT you or your book and 20 percent blatant self promo).

Meanwhile, as thrilled as I was to be working with one of the big five publishers, I still mourned letting go of my writerly dreams. For instance, when I visited my favorite bookstores, my stomach would sink a little realizing that even though my book was being published, it would not be on those shelves.

There were more discouraging moments:

My brother-in-law said he wouldn’t read my book unless it was in print.

A book editor at a daily newspaper said she only read printed books.

The editor of a mystery magazine said the same.

The resistance was disheartening.

Unlike people who self publish, there wasn’t even an option for me to have a print on demand book. It was up to the publisher whether to print copies of my book. Or not.

There was nothing I could do about it.

One day, I decided to ask once my publisher, once again, what needed to happen for me to see my book come out in print. This time, the answer was “There will be a print run.”

Say what?

How many?

Well, in the business, they call it a SPR, a small print run. I will have a book to hold in my hand. I will have books to sign. I may not be taking that grassroots book tour. I may not see my book in the big box bookstores.

But I will be able to have a book launch party at my favorite mystery bookstore, which has ordered the print book already!

I will be able to hold my book in my hands! I will be able to give author talks at the library! People, like my brother-in-law, will now read my book.

I will be able to—gasp—sign my book!

I had to adjust my dreams a little, but don’t we all. In the long run, I still count the way things worked out as a dream come true.

Kristi Belcamino is a writer, artist and crime reporter who also bakes a tasty biscotti. Her first novel, “Blessed are the Dead,” (HarperCollins June 2014) is inspired by her dealings with a serial killer during her life as a Bay Area crime reporter. As an award-winning crime reporter at newspapers in California, she flew over Big Sur in an FA-18 jet with the Blue Angels, raced a Dodge Viper at Laguna Seca, and watched autopsies. Find out more at www.kristibelcamino.com or on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/kristibelcaminowriter.

 

 

 

 

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