Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 70

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 48,000 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 sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

Quick note–thanks, as always, for your comments and for reading the blog! I’m going to be offline until Wednesday so I’ll be slow to respond to comments on this particular post.  :) My next post will run on Friday.

Business / Miscellaneous

How to prepare your book file for a fiction editor: @LouiseHarnby

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

At Guadalajara International Book Fair: 300 Spanish Publishers: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
The UK’s Costa Book Awards Shortlist: Half Debuts, £35,000 in Prize Money @Porter_Anderson @CostaBookAwards
Industry Notes: Norway’s ‘Bookstore Award,’ the UK’s SpecSavers Winners @Porter_Anderson @Simonstranger
The National Book Awards’ 2018 Ceremony: Five Categories: @Porter_Anderson @AcevedoWrites @Justafknminute
Aspen Words Longlists 16 Titles for 2019 Prize in Issue-Driven Fiction: @Porter_Anderson @adriennebrodeur @AspenWords
Colombia Kicks Off Hay’s 2019 International Festivals: @Porter_Anderson @hayfestival_esp @pubperspectives
FutureBook Live 2018: ‘Putting a Rocket Up the Book Trade’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
The UK’s 2018 ‘Building Inclusivity’ Conference: A Safe Place for Discussion: @rogertagholm @pubperspectives

Creativity and Inspiration / First Novels

7 Emotions You Will Feel After Publishing Your First Book: @ScottMa96624306 @theindiepubmag
How to Write a Book in 6 Steps: @ReedsyHQ

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

6 Books About Women With Superpowers: @caiemmons @ElectricLit
A Century of Reading: The 10 Books That Defined the 1900s: @knownemily
How to Get Back into Reading: @writingcookbook

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

The Writing Sprint: from Just a Writing Aid

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Put A Vampire In It! @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor
5 Pieces of Writing Advice No One Tells You: @amplecat @SignatureReads
How to Enjoy Your Writing Life More Than Ever: @ChadRAllen
The Writer Who Can’t Write: @MukherjeeRheea @WriterUnboxed
On the Impossibility of Locating the Line Between Fiction and Non: @mbailatj @lithub
7 Ways Your Cell Phone Steals from You: @colleen_m_story
Who is the Villain in My Adoption Story? by Alice Stephens @lithub
When Does Editing Become Censorship? @debluskin
7 Things A Writer Should Never Do: @colleen_m_story

Genres / Fan Fiction

What Writing Fanfiction Taught Me as an Editor: @writersyndrome @UncannyMagazine

Genres / Mystery

Developing a Cozy Mystery Series: The Hook:
Cameo Appearances by Sleuths in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Genres / Picture Books

Defining Kidlit: @bronniesway @DIYMFA

Genres / Screenwriting

Screenwriting: Examples of Recent Log Lines: @dougeboch
10 Top TV Writers Share Their Writing Craft Secrets: @Bang2write

Genres / Short Stories

The Rollercoaster of Writing a Short Story: @LisaLisax31

Promo / Blogging

Why you should blog before writing your book: @pubcoach

Promo / Metadata

Choosing the Best Categories for Your Book: @IndieAuthorALLI

Promo / Miscellaneous

A Marketing Timeline for Authors: @KarenHWhiting @EdieMelson
The Ultimate Guide to Promoting a Book Launch [Free Download]: @DianaUrban @BookBub

Promo / Social Media Tips

Twitter: What You’re Doing Wrong and How to Make it Right: @BadRedheadMedia @annerallen

Promo / Websites

5 Ways to Give Your Website a Facelift: @KarenBanes

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Barnes & Noble Needs A Turnaround Expert: @SeekingAlpha @PassiveVoiceBlg
Freelancing: Reslanting Articles: @WritersCoach
Get Paid to Write Articles and Blog Posts: @TCKPublishing

Publishing / News / International Publishing

PEN Afrikaans, Authors Forum, Criticize South Africa Copyright Amendment Bill: @Porter_Anderson @PenAfrikaans
‘Giving Tuesday’: https://t.co/QWdPXSARAV Supports Worldreader, Ingram Supports Binc: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Germany’s Publishers’ Forum and THE ARTS+, Publishing Scotland and Fellows: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
In Montréal, Concern About Teen Reading Amid New Statistics: @lukaesque @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Getting Self-Pub Books into Libraries and Other Tactics: @NewShelvesBooks @WritersDigest

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches

The Log-Line: Pitch Your Story in One Sentence: @KristenLambTX

Publishing / Process / Contracts

Evaluating Offers and Contracts: @SusanSpann @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Work as an Opening? Or Is it Boring? By Maria D’Marco @Janice_Hardy
How to Mess Up Your Lead Character’s Ordinary Day: @jamesscottbell
First Page Critique: by Clare Langley-Hawthorne @killzoneauthors
How to Nail the First Three Pages: @LisaCron

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

5 Stops on Your Protagonist’s Inner Journey: @DorianCirrone

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Character Development: Occupation Thesaurus Entry: General Contractor: @beccapuglisi
How To Build A Rocking Character Profile: @ReedsyHQ @TheIWSG

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

How to Write Grieving Characters: by Whitney Carter

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Six Characters Siloed Into a Separate Story: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants
3 Tips for Improving Show, Don’t Tell: @KMWeiland

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

Writing Lessons from Movies: The Godfather: @VictoriaGHowell
3 Things Learned from Anne of Green Gables: @byStevenRamirez

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Dialogue Isn’t Everything (How to Keep Your Characters Busy): @FinishedPages @womenonwriting
What You Need to Know About Internalization: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Pacing

Pacing in Writing: 10 Ways to Keep Readers Hooked: @ReedsyHQ

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Naming

How to Come up with Great Titles: @SeptCFawkes

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Using the Snowflake Method to Write a Novel: @ReedsyHQ
8 Questions to Help Plot Your Story: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

8 Tips for Writing Characters with OCD: @_HannahHeath
How To Make The Most Of Your Research Trip: by Paige Duke @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Tricky and Confusing Words: @AndreaMerrell
Commonly Misused Words: @AlyConnerBrown @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

5 Benefits of Tough Feedback: @jcwalton24 @DIYMFA

Writing Craft / Scenes

Deciding Whether or Not to Keep a Scene: @burke_writer @killzoneauthors

Writing Craft / Series / Series Bible

Writing a Series? Keep a Notebook: @NanReinhardt @RomanceUniv

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Transitions in Seasons and How it Relates to Writing: @ShelleyWidhalm

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

Word Choice and Writing Style: by Julianne Johnson
How to Cherish Language: @KMWeiland

Writing Tools / Resources

10 Chromebook Shortkeys for Writers: @WordDreams
I’ve finished my manuscript! What now? 16 ultimate resources to make good decisions about your book: @Roz_Morris

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

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

Developing a Cozy Series: Hook

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

It’s been a long time since I developed a new cozy mystery series.  Long enough so that I tried to remember exactly how I’d gone about it the last couple of times.  I ended up not being able to reconstruct my process from the other times, so I started out with a blank slate.  For posterity’s sake, in case I need to reference this in the future, myself, I thought I’d share what I’ve done (so far) this time.  Today I’m covering the series hook (also known as a theme) and then on Friday I’ll talk about my considerations setting up sleuth, sidekick, and other basics.

For the cozy mystery, the hook is pretty important.  It’s actually important enough for me to have considered it the very first time.  Did I want animal themed books? Craft themed? Occupation themed?  The first thing I did was to visit a fantastic cozy mystery resource:   https://www.cozy-mystery.com  . There is a page on the site that lists cozies by theme. There I reviewed all of the different options that others had used.  It may be different for you, but I felt very little need to be ultra-different from everyone else. I wasn’t looking for a really unusual hook, mostly because I wanted something that I could feel very comfortable writing.

If you are interested in something fun and different, there are a slew of different examples on the page to get your brain thinking. There are cruise ship mysteries, sleuths as dancers, golfing cozies, and candle-making cozies. By far, the most popular hook categories (to the extent that they have their own BISAC categories at retailers) are craft and hobby cozies, culinary-themed cozies, and cozies featuring cats and dogs.

First, I made a list of all the possibilities that I found the most appealing to me.   If there’s one thing I’ve learned from writing cozy series is that they can continue on for years and years.  Readers are incredibly loyal to cozy characters.   It’s important to choose a hook that appeals not just to the reader but to you, too.  You’re going to be spending a lot of time in that story world.

Next, I jotted down pros and cons of all of the potential hooks.  For instance, I thought a bed and breakfast series would be fun from the aspect of having different characters coming through and from the aspect that the setting could be very appealing.  The cons though? Wouldn’t the police be shutting down the B&B if it ended up being a hotspot for murder? And shouldn’t the owner be spending most of her time at the location? How would I make it work?

The next considerations were tied together.  How much research would this concept take and how much time did I have?  This may be part of the appeal of writing culinary or pet-themed cozies…it really doesn’t take much research. I knew if I picked something like genealogy or flower shops that I would be doing more research than if I’d picked something I knew more about.  I’ve put in likely 100 hours or more of research on quilting for the Southern Quilting Mysteries since I’m not crafty: those are hours going to quilt shows and shops, talking with quilters, reading websites, learning more about quilt guild activities, and watching quilters work on YouTube.  The time I spent was very rewarding to me and it was important that I got it right.  But I know that writing three series simultaneously means that I don’t really have the time to spend in a lot of research.

Keeping all of this in mind, I chose to go with a library theme and have my sleuth work as a librarian. I grew up in a library and my family was always either on the board or involved with Friends of the Library, or both.  I still did a lot of set-up research, but not nearly as much as was needed for my quilting series (or, actually, for my Memphis Barbeque series, either).  And…readers like books and libraries.  :)

This post is intended mainly for cozy writers because of the special emphasis the genre puts on hook, but many of these considerations are important for writers of other genres, as well.

For further reading,  see writer Janice Hardy’s post  “5 Things to Consider When Choosing a Character’s Career.”

If you’re a cozy writer, how have you picked your hook?  For other genres, how important is your protagonist’s occupation or hobby?

And quick note that I’m taking a long weekend this weekend and another short blog break since I’ll have limited access to Wifi.  Twitterific will run this Sunday (but no posts this Friday or Monday).  I’ll be back with a post on cozy series development on Friday, December 7th. Thanks!

Developing a Cozy Series: The Series Hook:
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Photo credit: Onasill ~ Bill Badzo on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA

The post Developing a Cozy Series: Hook appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 48,000 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 sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

New Stuff

Thanks to Dan Blank for our conversation on fitting in writing, writing as a parent, and my publication journey.

Business / Miscellaneous

What Does a Publisher Do? @SpunkOnAStick @DancingLemurPre
How to Tell Good Editing from Bad Editing: @pbsmith12

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

5 Tips for Rocking Your Next Open Mic Reading: @Sara_HeartStory @diymfa
At Singapore’s StoryDrive Asia, Content: Selling It and Protecting It: @Porter_Anderson @katong @MJHealy
Salon du Livre in Montreal: Common Goals Across a Linguistic Divide: @HannahSJohnson @pubperspectives
IPA Prix Voltaire: 2019 Nominations Open, Recognizing Valor in Publishing and Free Press: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
In Québec, a Literary Prize Is Suspended Over Objections to Amazon Sponsorship: @hanahsjohnson @pubperspectives
Lebanon’s Dar Onboz: An Arabic Publisher at a Francophone Book Fair: @oliviasnaije @daronboz @pubperspectives
An Agent on Writers’ Conferences: @RachelleGardner

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

What Makes a Successful NaNoWriMo? by Jill Shirley @NaNoWriMo
The 3 Ds of Your Mid-NaNo Slump: @KelsieEngen

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

How to Get Story Ideas From Unexpected Headlines: @weems503 @write_practice
Establishing Your Artistic Genealogy: @austinkleon
3 Writing Techniques Adapted from the Visual Arts: @TessCallahan @WritersDigest
8 Tips to Recall Dreams: @SueColetta1
48 Writing Prompts for Middle School Kids: @writing_tips

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Your Favorite Children’s Book Heroes: Where Are They Now? @erinkbart @ElectricLit
Horror novels are having a renaissance. Here’s what to read. by Bill Sheehan  @washingtonpost
The Godmother of Flash Fiction: by Bradley Babendir @parisreview
How to Have an Opinion: The Criticism of Martin Seymour-Smith: @eadavison_ @The_Millions
A Spine-Tingling Reading List of Haunted House Novels: @ClaireFuller2 @ElectricLit

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Write *Something* Every Day: by Josh Langston
Write Tomorrow: @PatHatt24 @TheIWSG
Thanks to @DanBlank for our conversation on fitting in writing, writing with kids, and my publishing journey:
The 9-Minute Novelist: How to Write a Novel in Just Minutes a Day: @jeffreysomers @WritersDigest

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

How To Find The Muse When It’s Nowhere In Sight: @Frank_McKinley
Writer’s Block: What to Do When You Get Stuck: by Rachel Meyer @mythicscribes

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

4 Tips for Pushing to the End of Your Book: by Rose Andrews @mythicscribes

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

4 Foolproof Methods to Become a Prolific and Successful Writer: @SarahCyWrites

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

10 Questions Answered by Writers on their Writing Life: by Darren Devitt
Writing and the Creative Life: “Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking”: @GoIntoTheStory @PsychToday
One Writer’s Challenges With Anxiety: @LisaLisax31
Bucket List for Writers: by Keith Cronin @WriterUnboxed
3 Myths About Meditation: @PEKavanaugh @JamiGold
Should You Trust Your Gut as a Writer? @cathyyardley @WriterUnboxed
It’s Never Too Late to Write a Novel: by Joanie Solinger Walker @ZoeMMcCarthy
What Shirley Jackson has to say about writing: @mjseidlinger @melvillehouse

Genres / Fan Fiction

The Benefits of Fan Fiction: @JoEberhardt
The Surprising Things I Learned Writing Fan Fiction: by Brian DeLeonard @mythicscribes

Genres / Historical

Switching From Literary To Historical Fiction: @MilreeL @WomenWriters
Six Key Elements of Historical Narrative: @PJTAuthor

Genres / Mystery

Dutiful Characters as Elements in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg
Does Your DNA Contain Your Image? @DPLyleMD

Genres / Picture Books

Seven Tips for Writing a Children’s Picture Book: by David O’Connell @CurtisBrown

Genres / Screenwriting

Screenwriting Help: Movie Script Scene-By-Scene Breakdowns: @GoIntoTheStory

Promo / Blogging

71 Terrific Templates For Blog Post Title Ideas: @Writers_Write

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

Optimizing Your Online Bios For Discovery (Podcast): @cksyme
How to Write Better Marketing Copy for Your Books: @JaneFriedman

Promo / Miscellaneous

5 Book Marketing Myths To Explode Now: @SmartAuthors @BadRedheadMedia
20 Tips for Writers & Radio Interviews: @PeggySueWells @EdieMelson

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Book Production: How to Work with Map Artists: by J.L. Gilliland @IndieAuthorALLI

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Jerusalem’s Zev Birger Editorial Fellowship Names 2019 Participants: @Porter_Anderson
US Beta for ‘Wattpad Next’; Cengage Subscriptions for Missouri: @Porter_Anderson @wattpad

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Real Life Diagnostics: Is This Query Working? @Janice_Hardy
Query Letter Format: @Kid_Lit



The Case for Pseudonyms: @SophieMasson1 @WriterUnboxed

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

How Can You Tell Legitimate Publishers from the Bad Guys? @annerallen

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Mastering the Four Modes of Fiction: @jamesscottbell
Can You Start With a Disaster? @SnowflakeGuy

Writing Craft / Characters / Emotion

Make the Reader Feel Emotion: @Wordstrumpet

Writing Craft / Dialogue

6 Dialogue Tips That Will Make Your Characters More Real: @LauraDiSilverio @CareerAuthors
Top 5 Dialogue Mistakes Writers Make: @Bang2write
Realistic Dialogue: Writing Conversations Involving Setting: @nownovel

Writing Craft / Diversity

Can diverse children’s books tackle prejudice? @Katy_Kates @cnni

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

Non-Verbal Communication and Backstory: by Jeanne Kisacky @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Writing Women With Sharp Edges: by S.L. Huang @tordotcom
Boost All 7 Traits of Great Writing: @annkroeker
9 Stupid Writing Rules That Aren’t Worth Following: @_HannahHeath
Surprise vs. Suspense and How to Pair Them in Your Writing: @janekcleland @WritersDigest
Playwriting Tips, Tricks, Prompts, Inspiration: @jpgoldfinger
How to tackle a difficult second novel: @TraceyJEmerson @scottishbktrust
Writing Your Story as a Spiritual Discipline: @marciamoston @EdieMelson

Writing Craft / Pacing

How to Control Your Story’s Pace: @writingthrulife

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Outlining

Back to School: Why Great Papers, Essays, and Blogs Need Outlines: @caitreynolds @KristenLambTX
Outline Your Novel the Incredibly Easy Way: @LMacNaughton
Using paper to plan a novel: @jasonbougger

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

To Plot, or Not to Plot: @davidfarland

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

A Reading List on the Complexities and Nuance of Mental Illness: @SF_Montgomery @ElectricLit
Researching Novels in an Age of Information Overload: @BethCastrodale @LiveWriteThrive
Simplifying Writer Research: @diannmills

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

Developing a Story Idea: @AJHumpage
How 1 Writer Brainstorms: @jamesagard

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

A Quick and Dirty Comma Guide: by T.L. Bodine
Abbreviations: Tips on Using Them the Right Way: @KathyEdens1 @ProWritingAid

Writing Craft / Revision

On Revision as a Form of Reimagining: @NataliaSylv @WriterUnboxed
The “Why Do I Need This?” Check: by Dawn Field @BookBaby

Writing Craft / Scenes

Three Ways to Edit Scenes: @Lindasclare

Writing Craft / Scenes / Conflict

Six Sources of Conflict for Your World: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Series

How to Grow A Series from a Standalone Book: @Kactus77 @IndieAuthorALLI

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

How to Turn Your Writing World Around: Setting and Detail: @EJRunyon @WritersDigest

Writing Craft / World-Building

How to Use Fictional Languages in Your Story: @AshMitrano

Writing Tools / Apps

Book Writing Software to Help You Create, Organize, and Edit: @JerryBJenkins

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

Ten PC Shortkeys: @WordDreams

Writing Tools / Resources

Using Kindle Create to Create your Manuscript: @Nicholas_Rossis

 

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

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

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 48,000 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 sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

I’m taking this week off for Thanksgiving and will be back next Sunday with another Twitterific.  :)  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Business / Miscellaneous

5 Reasons Authors Fall for Vanity Presses: @JohnDoppler @IndieAuthorALLI
What to Consider Next if You’ve Had Your Backlist Rights Reverted to You:
The Best Way to Support Writers: @DanBlank
Publisher Richard Charkin: Author Pay: Why Do Authors Feel Hard Done By? @pubperspectives
5 Steps to Craft Your Creative Narrative: @thedailymba @DIYMFA

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Hot Tips for Conferences from an Agent: @RachelleGardner
5 Things to Know About School Visits: @Scott_Thought
Frankfurter Buchmesse To Sponsor FutureBook of the Year Award: @Porter_Anderson @Book_Fair
US Author Serhii Plokhy Wins the UK’s Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction: @Porter_Anderson
India’s DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Releases Shortlist: @Porter_Anderson @kamilashamsie @pubperspectives
Maya Jasanoff Wins the $75,000 Cundill History Prize 2018: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

Confessions of a Slow Writer: Why it’s okay to fail NaNoWriMo: @annerallen
What Kind of NaNoWriMo Writer Are You? @NaNoWriMo
5 Reasons a Writer Enjoys NaNoWriMo: @TheRealKTDaxon
How to Use “The Immersive Approach” to Make Big Progress on a Project: @nylesclaire @emiliewapnick
The NaNo Halfway Mark: Action Plans: @thewritingpal
How to Overcome Common Writing Obstacles and Win NaNo Every Year: by T.S. Valmond @NaNoWriMo

Creativity and Inspiration / First Novels

9 Pieces of Bad Advice New Writers Should Ignore: @annerallen

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

The Undercover Soundtrack: Author @authorMayes on the Inspiration of Music: @Roz_Morris
Writing and the Creative Life: Think Psychologically: @GoIntoTheStory

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

How to Find Time to Read During Your Busy Days: @KarenBanes
Crime Fiction From the Post-Armistice-Day Era: @mkinberg
10 Books Perfect for Fans of Castle Rock: @Keith_Rice1 @unboundworlds
Banish the Book Snobbery: @LisaLisax31

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

10 tips to help you start writing even though you’re busy: by Anna Davis @CurtisBrown
Double down on your writing: @DanBlank

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Is It Real? 25 Famous Writers on Writer’s Block: @knownemily @lithub
Out of the Postponement Loop: Writing from the Bubbles of an Idea: @RosanneBane
How to Break Through a Fiction Writing Block: @WritingForward

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

10 Tips for Productive Writing Sessions: @writingthrulife

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

“Going Public With My Failures”: @shirleyannemcm
Writers, What Your Walk Says About You: @colleen_m_story
10 things every new writer experiences: @TheLeighShulman
Overcoming Creativity Wounds: @grantfaulkner @JaneFriedman
Create Your Perfect Writing Space: @Janice_Hardy
7 Free or Cheap Writing Residencies to Apply For in 2019: by Frances Yackel @ElectricLit
Does Bad Romance Lead to Great Art? @Delistraty @parisreview
Writing With a Group: Collaboration: @jan_ohara @MichalskiLiz @WriterUnboxed
4 Steps To Avoid Writer Burnout: @LisaHallWilson
8 Ways to Get Into A Healthy Author Mindset: @_HannahHeath
Being Silenced and Breaking Free: @MemoirGuru @WomenWriters
Why Good Writers Can Be Bad Conversationalists: by Arthur Krystal @nytimes
Writing Process: Thoughts on Writing in Order: @PatrickRwrites

Genres / Fantasy

Always Read the Epigraph: A Lesson for Fantasy Readers: by Philip Styrt @tordotcom

Genres / Historical

Accuracy Vs Authenticity: 5 Tips For Writing Immersive Historical Fiction: @thecreativepenn

Genres / Mystery

Crime Writing: Your Eye Drops Can Kill You: @DPLyleMD
Why Alcoholism and Crime Fiction Are Still Entwined: @ReedFColeman @CrimeReads
Essential Crime Podcasts: @slidingbookcase @CrimeReads
The Therapist’s Couch and the Thriller: by Elisabeth Norebäck @CrimeReads

Genres / Non-Fiction

Accountability: Business Book Beta Readers: by Bec Evans @beprolifiko

Genres / Science Fiction

Five Characters of Mixed Magical / Science Fictional Heritage: @jamesdnicoll @tordotcom

Genres / Screenwriting

Screenwriting: Top 5 Scene Description Mistakes Writers Make: @Bang2write
Screenwriting: The Care and Feeding of Your Professional Network: @dougeboch

Promo / Ads

Author Advertising: Stacking Ads to Maximize Promotional Dollars: @johnhartness

Promo / Blogging

Organizing blog tours for releases: @Ellen__Jacobson
The Ultimate Guide to Writing Your Best Post Ever: @vzutshi @WritetoDone

Promo / Connecting with Readers

Meet the Super Fan … the Secret Sauce Authors Want: @JudithBriles
Why Library Discovery is the Best Discovery: @GraceBurrowes @KoboWritingLife
Why Reader Demographics are Critical for Book Discovery: @Bookgal

Promo / Images

Images: Free to Use and Reuse Sets from US Library of Congress: @librarycongress h/t @JaneFriedman

Promo / Video

Adding a Video to Your Book’s Amazon Sales Page: @ecellenb @IndiesUnlimited

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Why Every Indie Author Should Publish Audiobooks: @HelenSedwick @OrnaRoss @IndieAuthorALLI
Writing for the Health Markets: by John Riddle @hopeclark
Sensitivity Readers: @AmrenOrtega @OpAwesome6

Publishing / News / Amazon

Amazon launches Audible in India: @TNPS10
Amazon Reportedly Opts for Two HQ2 Sites and Names 10 Top Books of 2018: @Porter_Anderson
Amazon and the Also Bought Apocalypse: @DavidGaughran

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Freedom To Publish: Iranian Publisher on ‘Bringing Suppressed Writings’ to Persian Readers: @Porter_Anderson @Aparsapour
Russia Textbook Piracy Is In the News: 160,000 Copies Reported Seized: @Porter_Anderson
Association of American Publishers Join Chorus of Criticism Of Europe’s Plan S: @Porter_Anderson @mattbarblan
Peirene Press’ Meike Ziervogel: ‘We Have a Social Responsibility’: @oliviasnaije @MeikeZiervogel @PeirenePress
China’s Children’s Book Market: Big Numbers and Local Talent: @HannahSJohnson @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Indie basics: Publishing is a business: @itshelendarling @DIYMFA

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

How to Effectively Sell Your Book to an Agent: What to Do, What to Avoid: @tessaemilyhall

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

How to Handle Rejection: 4 Things NOT to Do and 3 Things to Do After You’re Rejected by a Publisher: @Jffelkins

Publishing / Process / Formatting

10 Ebook Conversion Tools for Docs to EPUB & MOBI: @carlaking @BookWorksNYC

Publishing / Process / Legalities

Lyrics In Books: Your Questions Answered: by Scott McCormick @BookBaby

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

Be Smart and Careful About Hybrid Publishing Services: @pubcoach

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Jump into your story with both guns blazing: @CalebPirtle

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

5 Things to Consider When Choosing a Character’s Career: @Janice_Hardy
How to Develop a Character: 7 Simple Steps: @nownovel

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

Can a Protagonist evolve into an Antagonist? @GoIntoTheStory
Writing a Proactive Protagonist: @Kid_Lit

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

How to Bore an Editor to Death: @davidfarland
9 Steps to Fix a Broken Story: @JamiGold
Dealing with Dumb Ideas–Placeholders, Building Blocks, and Portrayals: @SeptCFawkes

Writing Craft / Dialogue

Who Said That? Dialogue and Your Writing: Adverbs: @Weifarer

Writing Craft / Diversity

Can diverse children’s books tackle prejudice? @Katy_Kates @cnni

Writing Craft / Endings

5 Tips to Build Finishing Energy for Writing Your Book: @lornafaith

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

How to Write a Character That Shows Sacrifice: @diannmills @EdieMelson
8 Absurdities We Force on Female Characters: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants
4 Smart Ways to Make Your Boring Filler Scenes Exciting: @RidethePen

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Outlining

How to outline a book without killing the fun of writing it: @Roz_Morris

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Lose The Plot: @WomenWriters
Plotting a Novel When You Haven’t Figured Out the Details Yet: @Janice_Hardy @RomanceUniv
70+ Plot Twist Ideas and Examples To Blow Your Readers Away: @ReedsyHQ
How to Plot a Novel From Scratch (Video): by Chris Fox

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

What Authors Need To Know When Writing About Law: @FredBobJohn @standoutbooks

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Beats

Predator Beat Sheet: @DonRoff @savethecat

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

Top 10 Links To Make Sure Your Idea Kicks Ass: @EmmaStoryteller @Bang2write

Writing Craft / Revision

4 Ways to Successfully Self-Edit Your Manuscript: @NinaAmir
8 things to remember when editing your novel: @LisaODonnell72 @cbcreative
4 Easy Edits That Make Your Story Flow Better: @Julie_Glover

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

How to Recover from Harsh Writing Critiques: @BeingTheWriter @womenonwriting

Writing Craft / Scenes

How to Launch a Scene: @AnneHawley @StoryGrid

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

An Experiment in Writing Description: @EldredBird
Tips for Writing the Small Town Setting:

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

Readers, Characters and Word Choices – Keeping Them All in Mind: @authorterryo

Writing Craft / World-Building

Five Worldbuilding Errors That Should Be Banished from SF Forever: @jamesdnicoll @tordotcom

Writing Tools / Apps

5 Author Productivity Tools: @DaveChesson @DIYMFA
How to Review Old Drafts With Scrivener Snapshots: @kristen_kieffer

Writing Tools / Resources

20 Podcasts for Authors on Writing, Publishing, and Book Marketing: @DianaUrban

 

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Writing the Small Town Setting

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

As a mystery writer, I’m especially fond of small town settings.  I have written larger cities (notably the Memphis Barbeque series), but to make it work, I basically created a small setting within a larger one (life surrounding a family-owned restaurant).

I think small town settings have a lot to offer writers of other genres, too.  That’s because it offers ample opportunity for conflict…and we all know that conflict drives stories.

You may have a more idealistic view of small towns.  That dichotomy is what makes it so interesting.

Here are the elements that I usually draw on in painting life in a small town:

Residents are friendly…and not.  One interesting aspect of small town life is that the residents can be friendly. You might not feel like a stranger when you first arrive in town because people are curious and that curiosity can translate into chattiness (especially in the American South). But later, you may find that residents usually want to protect their way of life and are very resistant to change. They can be especially hostile when they feel their way of life is threatened or if a newcomer claims to know how to make things better (and more like the place they moved away from).  This can lend a very insular feeling to a location.

Going along with the friendliness motif, small towns can be cliquey.  This may be because families tend to stick together (and cousins may be located all over town). It can be a cliquey aspect surrounding the various churches that residents attend.  And of course, it’s also cliquey because residents share so much backstory that they can’t really help but fall into the same patterns with the same people.

There is a lot of backstory in small towns.  Expanding on backstory–it’s everything in a small town.  You might be considered a newcomer, even if you lived your entire life in the town, if your parents or grandparents moved to the town.  There are so many people with personal histories deeply entrenched in town history that it’s hard to distinguish the person from the town. Maybe the resident comes from a long line of teachers and principals in the town.  Maybe the resident’s great-grandfather helped found one of the local churches or started the town newspaper.

Your history is your identity. It can be hard to escape it.  As a kid growing up, everyone knows about your family background and first impressions may be based more on who your family is than who you appear to be.

Town info hubs.  There are places where folks meet up…and possibly gossip about each other, too. These can include salons and barber shops, favorite restaurants/diners, and churches.

Gossip. Privacy can be key because otherwise the whole town knows.  This leads to that most exciting element in a mystery…secrets.

Grudges (including generational grudges). When people have known each other for a long time, and when their families have known each other for a long time, pettiness and grudges can occur.

Support.  This is a pro of small-town living.  If you experience hardship or loss, the town pitches in. You’re not suffering on your own, the town is suffering it right along with you. And in good times, the same applies–you’re not celebrating on your own.  There are also many rituals involved in both weddings and funerals…expectations that the residents may have on how both are handled.

Do you write small-town settings?  Have you ever lived in a small town? What types of small town elements have you included in your writing?

Tips for Writing a Small Town Setting:
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So You’ve Gotten Your Rights Back

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve published a couple of posts about getting your character rights back from publishers.  This enables writers to continue publishing new books in a series.   In my case, I’d been allowed to continue my series, but I hadn’t been able to republish my backlist (the publishers still wanted to hold those rights).

My backlist is still being held by Penguin for one of my series (and another Penguin series doesn’t have a hope of released rights), but for another publisher I finally have the digital rights back to the first book in the Myrtle Clover series (as of July).  I’d received print rights back some time back to the book.

If this all sounds rather complicated…yes, it can be.   I regularly receive emails from traditionally published writers who either aren’t sure about how to go about asking for rights or who aren’t totally sure what to do after they get their rights back.

If you’re trying to get your rights back, see these posts of mine for a little direction:

Thoughts on Getting Rights Back

Self-Publishing a Series that Started in Trad. Pub

If you’re a writer who isn’t totally sure what to do once you’ve gotten yours back, here are some ideas (I’m working on most of these, myself).

Character Rights:

If you’ve gotten your character rights back (but not the rights to republish the first books in your series), there are a few things you can do.

First off, you can continue writing your series.  This is not (at least, it wasn’t for me) very time-consuming since we’ve already built the story world and have well-developed characters.

Usually you’ll need to figure out a delicate balance between continuing the branding from the beginning of the series and not using the same elements that your publisher’s cover designer used.  This may mean changing the font (but possibly using the same color scheme), etc.  It’s a little tricky, but it helps if you find a professional cover designer who can figure out how best to navigate it.

If your books function as standalones, it’s possible to create box sets/bundles with the books that you write.  I’ve done it and readers didn’t complain about not getting the first book in the series.

With the books you write yourself, you can really expand your audience.  When you expand your reach, I’ve found that readers go back and read the first books in your series, too.  Try moving into audio, the library market, foreign markets, and translated books.

Digital and Print Rights to Books the Publisher Previously Held: 

Here is where things really start opening up.

First off, you can set your book one as a loss leader (at a lower price than the rest of your books)  or a newsletter magnet (a giveaway for readers who sign up for your author newsletter to hear of new releases).

Now you can create box sets where all of the books in the series are included.

Maybe your books weren’t available in print.  Maybe they weren’t available in hardcover. Maybe they weren’t available digitally.  Or in large print.  Now you have an opportunity to correct that by making the book available in all formats.

If you’re trying to reach a younger audience, you can upload the first book in the series to a platform like Wattpad (I’ve developed a much younger readership this way).  It’s best to upload a chapter each week and put a note at the bottom of each chapter stating where to buy the rest of the series.

And the same advice as above applies: you can expand your reach because you hold all the rights.  Want to reach the library market?  Audio book lovers?  English language readers in other countries (UK, Australia, Canada)?  Readers in non-English-speaking markets through translation?

If all of this seems like a lot of work in addition to your writing (and reading this post over, it definitely does), then remember to tackle it in small increments.  Research a format or a distributor for 10 minutes each day for a week.  Then set up a profile at the retailer or distributor the following day.  Then upload a book or two.  Just take it one task at a time.

Have you had rights reverted to you?  How are you exploiting them?

What to Do After a Rights Reversion:
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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 48,000 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 sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

Business / Miscellaneous


Is Collaborative Writing on the rise? And Making the Most of It: @msheatherwebb @WriterUnboxed


5 Freelance Writing Tips: @robertleebrewer @WritersDigest


Two Vital Questions to Ask Yourself About Writing: by Diane Tibert


For Indie Publishers: When and Why to Work with a Trade Book Distributor: @joebiel_ @JaneFriedman


How to understand readability stats: @pubcoach


Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous


Sharjah Book Fair Opens With Spectacle, Ceremony: @Porter_Anderson


The UK’s Sunday Times/PFD Award for Younger Writers Shortlists Four Debuts: @girlhermes @LauraSFreeman @FJMoz @adamweymouth by @Porter_Anderson @YoungWriterYear


Hay Festival Announces New Events in Peru and Chile: @Porter_Anderson


Canada’s 2018 Cundill History Prize Finalists: Authors and Climate in Context: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives


At Sharjah, London Book Fair Plans Market Focus Indonesia: @Porter_Anderson @BritishCouncil


Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo


3 Ways to Reach Your Writing Goals: @AlyssaColeLit @NaNoWriMo


How to Use Scrivener for NaNoWriMo: @Gwen_Hernandez @JamiGold


16.67 Ways to Juice Your Daily NaNoWriMo Word Count: @theladygreer @WriterUnboxed @NaNoWriMo


6 Ways to Balance NaNoWriMo and Your Life: by Gianna Maria @NaNoWriMo


The Spouse’s Guide to NaNoWriMo: Juggling Life and Writing in November: by Thomas Hardy @Janice_Hardy


30 Tips for Conquering Your 30-Day Writing Challenge: by @JessZafarris @WritersDigest @PiSquare @Metal_and_Earth @ganymeder


How to Break the Rules for the Best NaNoWriMo Ever: @weems503


National Novel Writing Month — 4 Tips to Help You Laser-Focus on Your Writing: @_TJ_Rigg @NaNoWriMo


How to Write More Words: Winning at NaNo: @MegLaTorre @AngelaAckerman @NaNoWriMo


Write Your NaNoWriMo in a Flash: @Lindasclare


“My body is conspiring against me winning NaNo”: @Vampyr14 @OpAwesome6


11 Tips to Beat Procrastination and Get that Novel Drafted: @AnnieNeugebauer @LitReactor

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration


10 Fun Story Starters and Idea-Generating Activities for Writers: by Erika Hoffman @WritersDigest


Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers


Problematic Classics: Four Questions to Ask When Beloved Books Haven’t Aged Well: @mattmikalatos @tordotcom


5 Books That Explore the Monstrous: @fran_wilde @tordotcom


8 Books about Alien Invasions that Take Place Outside the U.S.: @tadethompson @ElectricLit


Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation


How to Maintain Your Motivation on a Large Writing Project: @AHuelsenbeck


Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing


6 Strategies to Commit to Writing a Book—and Stick With It: @LisaTener


Adapting Writing Routines:


Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block


10 Tips for Writer’s Block: @schreiltalk @WriteToSell


Creativity and Inspiration / Success


“How I Sold 7000 Kindle Books”: @KarenBanes


11 Steps to Writing a Bestselling Novel (Infographic): by Brendan Brown


Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life


5 Practical Goals for Writers to Avoid Overwhelm: @LiveWriteThrive


Post-Publication Blues: @zooshka


How to Handle Criticism: 3 Strategies to Make Criticism Work for You: @joslynchase_


How to Make Peace with 5 Common Writing Struggles: @colleen_m_story


Why Writing is Like Drinking Tea: @victoria_grif7


Maybe There Are Two Separate Muses? Writing Fiction And Non-Fiction From The Heart: @thecreativepenn


Working In a New Series (When You’re Already Writing One or Two):


12 Authors Who Are Actually Making Twitter Good: @erinkbart @ElectricLit


Overcoming Self Doubt: @StoryADayMay @WriterUnboxed


Writing and the Creative Life: Three Types of Creators: @GoIntoTheStory


You might be a writer if… @amabaie


Five Steps to an Improved Writing Process: @MelanieMarttila @DIYMFA


13 ways to prevent overwork from affecting your writing: @pubcoach


Genres / Horror


Horror books scarier than their movie adaptations: by Elliot Hopper @TMB_Tweets


How To Scare Your Reader: 11 Tips From 11 Horror Writers: @WilsonTheWriter


Genres / Humor


5 Techniques to Make Your Readers Laugh: @lisawellsauthor


Genres / Literary Fiction


Literary fiction – do we need a new term? @Roz_Morris


Genres / Mystery


‘The mysterious stranger’ as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg


Tips for Writing Small Town Police Departments…Correctly: @LeeLofland


Siblings as an Element in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg


Genres / Picture Books


Resources for Writers: Write for Kids and Writing Blueprints: @PStoltey


Genres / Poetry


Communicating with Poetry: The Search for Deeper Meaning: @WritingForward


Rhyming Poems: Types of Rhymes: @WritingForward


Genres / Screenwriting


Script To Screen: “Heathers”: @GoIntoTheStory


Great Scene: “Good Will Hunting”: @GoIntoTheStory


Screenwriting: the best way to approach pitching: @GoIntoTheStory


Genres / Short Stories


Why Write a Short Story? @rxena77


What is flash fiction and what can it teach us? @LouiseHarnby


Promo / Ads


How To Advertise And Sell More Books: by Nicholas Erik @DavidGaughran


Promo / Blogging


How to Market Your Books with a Specialist Blog: @crimewriter1 @IndieAuthorALLI


3 Sure Fire Ways To Find Your Audience as a Blogger: @evy_mann


Promo / Book Reviews


How to Review a Book: 9 Tips: @TCKPublishing


Promo / Miscellaneous


5 Tips on Making Memes: @AneMulligan @EdieMelson


Promo / Newsletters


Email Newsletter Tips (Podcast): @cksyme @tammilily


Publishing / Miscellaneous


Peter Rabbit to Come to Life in Augmented Reality Via Inception’s Bookful App : @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives


6 Things You Should Know About When To Self-Publish: by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks


Publishing / News / International Publishing


Rights Roundup: From Global Population Issues to Fascism–and Some Welcome ‘Finesse’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives


China Bestsellers for September: Classics Reign, Adjacent to Cinematic Tie-Ins: @Porter_Anderson @trajectory


Industry Notes: Jon Fine Leaving Open Road; Baker & Taylor’s Devasar Leads Publishers: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives


Italy in China: Bologna Children’s Book Fair Co-Organizes Shanghai’s Fair: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives


Rights Roundup: ‘Properties from Sweden, Cuba, Argentina, Spain, France, Italy, and Brazil’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives


Publishers Discuss Brazil’s Endangered Bookstore Companies: Livraria Cultura and Saraiva: @Porter_Anderson


Words Without Borders November: Listening Out for Vietnam: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives @wwborders

‘Blogging is Not a Crime’: International Organizations Issue Unified Demand for Mohamed Mkhaitir’s Release: @Porter_Anderson @IntPublishers @pubperspectives
 

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing


9 Tips to Successfully Self-Publish: @annerallen


Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Pitches


How to Write A Great Logline/Elevator Pitch: @EricaVetsch


Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying


Agent Myth Busters: 5 Common Misconceptions About Literary Agents: @CariLamba @marielamba @WritersDigest


How to Write a Query: Specific vs. Vague Conflict (Video): @MegLaTorre


Writing Craft / Beginnings


8 Ways Not to Start Your Novel: @LauraDiSilverio @CareerAuthors


Writing Craft / Characters / Arc


How to Write a Compelling Character Arc – With Examples: @ReedsyHQ


Writing Craft / Characters / Development


Character Development: Character Death and the Ultimate Sacrifice: @carlyn_at @FantasyFaction


Top 10 Links To Help You With Characterization: @Bang2write


Five Tips for Characters That Go Against the Flow: by Faith Okamoto @mythcreants


Your Character’s Unmet Need: @AngelaAckerman


Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists


5 Conversations You Should Have With Your Protagonist(s): @jcwalton24 @DIYMFA


How Do You Decide Who Your Protagonist Is? @SnowflakeGuy


Writing Craft / Common Mistakes


3 Tips for Improving Show, Don’t Tell: @KMWeiland


Writing Craft / Dialogue


Dialogue tags and how to use them: @LouiseHarnby


Formatting Dialogue in Fiction: @Janice_Hardy


Use Speaker Tags and Beats Correctly: @AndreaMerrell


Writing Craft / Drafts


Writers Take Heart: First Drafts Don’t Always Suck: @Janice_Hardy


Writing Craft / Endings


Tips for Writing the Last Chapter: @writingandsuch


Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film


7 Writing Lessons Learned from Stranger Things: @_HannahHeath


Writing Craft / Miscellaneous


Delivering Scares in Cozy Mysteries and Other Genres:


Is Your Writing As Good As You Think It Is? @Bang2write


Breaking Writing Rules Right: “Don’t Use Passive Voice”: @SeptCFawkes


Seven Deadly Fight Scene Sins: from How to Fight Write


4 Essential Ingredients in Every Powerful Story: @writingthrulife


Writing Craft / POV


POV Basics and Head-Hopping: @TessaShapcott @RomanceUniv


Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Naming


5 Things to Consider When Naming Your Characters: @EricaVetsch @EdieMelson


Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting


Signpost Scenes — Doorway of No Return #1: @A_K_Perry @DIYMFA


Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research


The Science of Aging and Its Fictional Cures: @PhilipKramer9 @DanKoboldt


Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar


‘In Regard To’ vs. ‘In Regards To’: @GrammarGirl


Writing Craft / Revision


10 Modern Proofreading Tips for Content Marketers: by Stefanie Flaxman @copyblogger


How Much Editing Does a Book Really Need? @JodyHedlund


5 Things Re-Editing Your Older Work Can Teach You: @joannaslan


Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques


Critique Partners vs. Beta Readers: @AmrenOrtega


Lessons Learned from a Writing Critique: by Sylvie Soule @LiveWriteThrive


Writing Craft / Scenes


How to Analyze a Scene: @valerie_francis @StoryGrid


Organic Coherence: Enhancing A Scene’s Effectiveness: by Barbara Linn Probst @WomenWriters


Writing Craft / Series


The Pesky Second Novel in the Series: @LisaLisax31


Writing Craft / Settings and Description


4 Ways To Write Dynamic Character Descriptions: @LisaHallWilson


How To Describe Settings – and Why It Matters: @BrynDonovan


Writing Craft / Synopses


Why Synopses are Helpful: by Laurie Schnebly Campbell @RomanceUniv


Writing Craft / Tension


How to Build Suspense: @themaltesetiger


Writing tense dialogue: 5 ways to add arresting tension: @nownovel


Writing Craft / Voice


What is Voice and Tone? (And Why Should You Care)? @KristinaAuthor


Writing Craft / Word Crafting


How to write the perfect sentence: @joemoransblog @GuardianBooks


Writing Craft / World-Building


Fantasy Worldbuilding: From the Bottom Up: by Cameron Johnston @FantasyFaction


Writing Tools / Apps


Writing Tools: Speech to Text Software – Is It Right for You? @writingthrulife


24 Must-Have Writing Tech Tools: @TheLeighShulman


How to Streamline Your Writing With The Scrivener Inspector: @kristen_kieffer

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Adapting Writing Routines

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

It’s kind of interesting when you’ve been blogging as long as I have. Recently, I looked back over some of the posts from 2009 and 2010.  My writing routine was very different back then and definitely something that was a work in progress. My guest post on Kaye Barley’s Meanderings and Muses blog explains how best to entertain children and get writing done (hint: bring their friends along).

In fact, many of my posts involved writing on the go.  I learned to be very flexible with when and where I wrote…the whole point was to meet my goals however I could manage it.

It was, honestly, a crazy time.  I was under contract for a couple of different series to Penguin and working on a 3rd for myself.  My day, however, was very structured around my children’s activities and school days.  I fit my writing around my children and it worked out really well.

Now my ‘children’ are 21 and 17.  My son is away at college and my daughter soon will be. Even with one bird still in the nest, my daughter is rarely here.  She no longer needs rides anywhere and her school schedule this year involves a dual-enrollment program (part of her day at high school, part of her day at a local college).

My kids’ schedules provided the framework of my writing day.  Structure was forced on me by carpool times for both school (two different schools because of the age difference of my children) and for various afterschool sports, clubs, etc.

When you choose your own schedule, you can be spoiled for choice.   This is definitely the case for those of us going through empty nest syndrome, and I’m imagining it’s the same for those of us who have recently retired.

Can you have too much time to write?  I think that can be a problem, for sure.  Before, I had to be extremely focused and protective of my writing time and was sure to squeeze it into any available free spot in my day.  Ultimately, this trained me to be very productive.  I wrote in carpool lines and while waiting for my children to come out of Scouts or cheer practice.

I realized about a year ago that I needed to rethink how I approached my writing day.   Here are my tips for rethinking a routine: 

Evaluate what still works. I kept some elements that always worked really well for me.  I knew that I always feel better when I am up earlier than anyone else and can knock out most, if not all, of my goal then.  This still worked for me, so I kept it.

Reassess word count goals and goals per session.   Are you still hitting your goals?  Should you make your first writing session longer instead of trying to jumpstart the process again later in the day?  For me, this was the answer (or most of it).  While I was still somewhat in the writing zone, it made sense for me to lengthen my first session of the day.

Consider when best to add another writing session.  When are you most productive?  For me,  I realized another short session in the morning would work best.  I write at 5 a.m. for the first session so I definitely wasn’t feeling burned out at 10 a.m., hours later. But that’s still a time when I have a lot of energy.

Evaluate the new routine.  Are you making more progress?  Or should you make some tweaks to the new routine and reassess?

For further reading: 

Has Your Writing Routine Become a Writing Rut? by Suzannah Windsor Freeman.  This article involves a routine that’s been broken up by a baby.

5 Signs You Need to Break Up Your Writing Routine by Colleen M. Story.  Indicators that we need to consider adapting our routines.

7 Useful Tips for Establishing a Writing Routine by Claire Bradshaw.  Great advice for anyone trying to start a routine or change one.

Do you have a writing routine?  If so, is it different now from the way it used to be?  Was it hard to adapt?

Adapting Writing Routines:
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Fitting in a New Project

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I usually just jump right into new projects without thinking a lot about it.  I follow my outlines and I write what I’ve told myself to write each day. The big advantage is that these are long-running series and I’m writing another installment.  I know the characters better than I know some family members. I would recognize my settings if I happened to drive through them on a road trip.

But starting a completely new and different project is different.  For one, it’s not guaranteed to be a success, which makes it risky.  I know if I write another Southern Quilting mystery or another Myrtle Clover mystery that I will receive X amount of income from it.  With a new project, it could completely bomb.

Starting a new project is also different because it’s so time consuming.  When you write series, you already have developed characters and a well-established story world.  It takes half the time to write.  When you’re writing something new, everything is new.

To lessen the risk of the new project, I write one revenue-generating project in the morning and work on the new project in the afternoon.  It works out really well, unless the series are similar… in which case, there’s sometimes accidental cross-pollination that has to be edited out later.

In some ways, it’s almost fun writing two things at once.  You never get bored, that’s for sure.  Get stuck in one section? You have another story that needs you to work on it.  Not in the mood to write humor? Maybe your other book needs a dramatic scene written. And you’re much less likely to want to write a Shiny New Thing instead of sticking with your current books.

The hardest part, for me, of writing two projects at once is just getting started with project two.  That’s mostly for the two reasons above: the risk and the time suck.  There are ways to help get past that mental block, though.

First, break down the second project into manageable bits. Your time in setup counts as much as your time writing the story. It usually takes me about a week to outline a book, but it takes longer for a different genre or for a new series.  So create an editorial calendar where you plan to work on the outline for 10 days and research for 3 days, etc.

Then, set the bar pretty low in terms of goals.  That might sound counterintuitive, but when you’re trying to keep a project from getting overwhelming, racking up a string of smaller successes can really help with motivation.

For further reading on working on multiple projects, see:

Matt Bird’s post, “How to Write Every Day: Work on Multiple Projects”

Kelsie Engen’s post, “Multitasking Required.”

Jodi Meadows’ post, “Working on Multiple Projects”

Joanna Maciejewska’s post, “Writing Multiple Projects, Pros and Cons”

Have you worked on multiple projects at once?  How did that work?

Fitting in a New Project While Working on Another:
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Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 48,000 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 sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox!  Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

Business / Miscellaneous


Despite the Odds, a New Independent Bookstore Opens in Paris: ‘ICI’: @oliviasnaije


Taking Care of Business: The Writer’s Edition: @writersstation @WriterUnboxed


Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous


London Book Fair and the Publishers Association Plan a Third Inclusivity Conference: @Porter_Anderson @LondonBookFair @ThatKerryHudson


Gearing Up for Getting Out: The Conference Experience: @DavidCorbett_CA


Sharjah’s Professional Publishing Program: ‘Livelihoods Are at Stake’: @pubperspectives @Porter_Anderson


The UK’s National Book Awards Announce Shopping Season Shortlists: @Porter_Anderson @natbookawards @ZoeTheBall


Stressing Local Publishers’ Importance at Sharjah: Setzer, Al Hammadi: @Porter_Anderson


Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo


7 Self-Care Tips for Surviving @NaNoWriMo by Erin Townsend


Writing – How to Get Ready for @NaNoWriMo & Why: @DebbieYoungBN @IndieAuthorALLI


The Way to Really Get Ready for NaNoWriMo: @LiveWriteThrive


5 Tips for NaNoWriMo Success: @KelsieEngen


National Novel Writing Month: NaNo 101: The Basics for First-Time Wrimos: @NaNoWriMo


Top 6 Tips for NaNoWriMo: @PaulaSMunier @CareerAuthors


Your Quintessential NaNoWriMo Prep Guide (With Freebies and Resource Lists): @shaylaleeraquel


6 Scary-Good Tricks to Help You Write a Book in a Month: @NinaAmir @NaNoWriMo


National Novel Writing Month — To Research or Not to Research: by Jill Shirley @NaNoWriMo

Plotting tips for writers in time for @NaNoWriMo :

Creativity and Inspiration / First Novels


The Debut Novelist’s Guide to Battling Imposter Syndrome: @treebirds @lithub


Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration


31 Horrifying Writing Prompts to Help You Scare the Bejesus out of Yourself This Halloween: @HughesAuthor

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers


Find New Books Based on Where They’re Set With This Tool: @Emily @lifehacker


On Plath’s Birthday: 10 of the Best Sylvia Plath Poems Everyone Should Read: @InterestingLit


9 Novels in Which Houses Have a Life of Their Own: by Melanie Hobson @lithub


Rediscover Your Avid Inner Reader: @JennyHansenCA


8 Great Science Fiction Reads for the Techno-Skeptic: @mattstaggs @unboundworlds


Asimov’s Guide To Shakespeare Exists, and You Need It: @galaxyalex @tordotcom


The Race Against Time Thriller: @StephofLegends


Some Like It Dark: Terror in Translation: @_heathercleary


Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block


What Do You Want to Write But Haven’t Yet? @JamiGold


Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life


Nobody Told Me That Writing and Parenting Are (Basically) The Same: @misshellinga @NaNoWriMo


Author Mindset: Your Road Map To Winning Creative Battles: @thecreativepenn @timgrahl


When the Wreckage Is in the Writer: On Creating Death and Disaster: @EthanChatagnier @The_Millions


How to Reboot Personally or Professionally: @WriteOnOnline


How to Use Your Favorite Books to Determine Your Future: @colleen_m_story


8 Moments When You Swear You’ll Never Write Again: @IndieReader


How to Tell Your Truth as a Biracial Writer and Why It’s Vital: @adibkhorram @SignatureReads


Title Your Inspirational Memoir With Our Handy Chart (Humor): @ElectricLit


The 5 Ghosts that Haunt Writers and How to Bust ‘Em: @colleen_m_story


Inside the Mind of an Author Writing a Book: @joebunting


Genres / Horror


20 Essential Crime and Horror Crossovers: @GiveMeYourTeeth @CrimeReads


How To Write Bloodcurdling Horror: Your Halloween Starter Kit: @Bang2write


Secrets of the Horror Genre: by Rachelle Ramirez @StoryGrid


13 Must-Read Books for Aspiring Horror Writers: @ReedsyHQ


17 Ways To Write A Terrifyingly Good Horror Story: @woodwardkaren


“The Serial Killer is Our Great Modern Demon”: by Darryl Jones @CrimeReads


Inspiration for Horror Writers and the Macabrely-Minded: @kirabutler


Genres / Mystery


When One of Your Mystery Series is More Popular Than Others: @mkinberg


Stephen King: Crime Writer: @GiveMeYourTeeth @CrimeReads


Consumer Protection as an Element in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg


Genres / Non-Fiction


How To Find The Story In Your Non-fiction Project: by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks


Promo / Blogging


The Basics of Successful Blogging: @EdieMelson


Less Common Interview Questions for Blog Author Interviews: @ZoeMMcCarthy


9 Scariest Things About Blogging: @EdieMelson


Promo / Book Reviews


How to Ethically Get the Reviews You Want: @WritersConnect3 @TheIWSG


Promo / Miscellaneous


Book release checklist: @jodimeadows


Promo / Social Media Tips


Are You Ready to Add More Social Media to Your Platform? @EJWenstrom @DIYMFA


Writers: 3 Tips for Better Promo on Goodreads from @ChrysFey :


25 Tips for Posting on Social Media: @CaballoFrances


Publishing / Miscellaneous


How Do We Measure Commercial Success in Books? by Richard Charkin @pubperspectives


New Blake Freeman Johnson Media: ‘An Original Cyber Publishing Concept’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives


Sample Permissions Letter: by Stephanie Chandler @NonfictionAssoc


Publishing / News / Amazon


“The arrival of ‘Warmer’—7 new works of short fiction on …climate change—signals Amazon Original Stories’ interest in social relevance and speed to market”: @Porter_Anderson @AmazonPub


Publishing / News / International Publishing


Industry Notes: Publishing Scotland’s Translation Fund; Switzerland’s Peter Lang: @Porter_Anderson @PeterLangGroup


PRH Takes Majority Stake in Brazil’s Grupo Companhia das Letras: @Porter_Anderson @penguinrandom


Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing


Proofreading designed page proofs: @LouiseHarnby


A Tip for Twitter Pitches: Have a Manuscript Ready: @Janet_Reid


Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying


Get a publishing deal by avoiding these common book proposal mistakes: @GhostwriterJG @sandrabeckwith


Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections


Writers Dish on Rejection: @pubcoach


Publishing / Process / Translation


Ottaway Winner: Chad Post on Translation’s ‘Expanding Audience’: @Porter_Anderson @chadwpost


Writing Craft / Beginnings


Find Empathy in Your Openings: @KayKeppler


Does This Opening Bore or Interest You to Read More? @TigerXGlobal


Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists


9 Best Enemy Duos Who Just Care About Each Other So Much (But Will Never Tell): @use_theforce_em @tordotcom


Writing Great Villains: Tips: @evans_writer @RMFWriters


Create Killer Twists: Learn How to Redeem Your Villain: @sacha_black


Writing Craft / Characters / Arc


How to Build a Character Arc: @CherylProWriter


Writing Craft / Characters / Development


The Opposite is Possible Theory of Character Development: @DIYMFA


Finding Your Character’s Blind Spot: @diannmills @WriterUnboxed


Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists


How to approach writing a villain protagonist? @GoIntoTheStory


Heroic Traits and Their Faults: from Clever Girl Helps


Writing Craft / Endings


Cliffhangers: Is the Suspense Worth It? by Katherine Marciniak @PassiveVoiceBlg


Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story


The Brilliance of Backstory Slip-Ins: @MargieLawson


Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film


6 Things Writers Can Learn From The Handmaid’s Tale: @Bang2write


Writing Craft / Miscellaneous


How to Make Stories Allegorical: @AJHumpage


Deconstructing Best Sellers in Your Niche Genre: @LiveWriteThrive


When to Use Summary to Move Your Story Along: @writingthrulife


3 Tips for Writing a Story That’s Better Than Its Flaws: @KMWeiland


Are We All Gaslighters? @sarah_zettel @CrimeReads


Promise Fresh Perspective to Readers: @kcraftwriter


Writing Craft / POV


Choosing POV for a Story: @plotlinehotline


Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting


Writers, we are doing it backwards: @speechwriterguy


Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research


A Primer on Cults for Writers: by Ban @mythicscribes


Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques


5 Tips for Writing Group Success: @LMacNaughton


Writing Craft / Word Crafting


When to Leave Out the ‘That’: @KAServian1 @RomanceUniv


Beyond the Easy Gesture in Fiction: @LindaKSienkwicz


Writing Craft / World-Building


World Building with the Celestial Objects of our Solar System: @MelanieMarttila @DIYMFA


Writing Tools / Apps


How to View Multiple Documents At Once In Scrivener: @kristen_kieffer


How to Format an Ebook in Scrivener 3: @KristinaAuthor


Writing Tools / Books


10 Books to help you feel like a real writer when you’re discouraged: @JanetBoyer @annerallen


Writing Tools / Resources


A New Character Name Generator: The Ultimate Bank of 1,000,000+ Names: @ReedsyHQ

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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