Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 84

October 14, 2017

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 40,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Frankfurt’s International Self Publishing Program: Updates, Guidance: @Porter_Anderson @OrnaRoss

Pakistan Publishers and Karachi Book Fair Makes a Case at Frankfurt: @Porter_Anderson

Tuesday at Frankfurter Buchmesse: The Markets in Time of Change: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing Perspectives Talks: Translation, Copyright, Content Strategy: @Porter_Anderson

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

A beginner’s guide to entering NaNoWriMo 2017: @bethanyrscott @beprolifiko

Why Do NaNoWriMo? @Wordfoolery

“How NaNoWriMo changed my life by novelist”: @thatjuliacrouch @beprolifiko

How to keep writing after NaNoWriMo 2017: by Bec Evans @beprolifiko

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Fortified by Gratitude: @VaughnRoycroft

Creativity and Inspiration / Miscellaneous

How To Save Your Story From The Sunk Cost Fallacy: by Robert Wood @standoutbooks

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

Rebooting Your Writing When You’ve Stopped for too Long: @ElisabethStaab

12 Tips on How to Create a New Habit: @woodwardkaren

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Increasing Your Writing Productivity: @colleen_m_story

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

The Virtues of Non-Linear Writing: @GoIntoTheStory

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

How to Make Your Life Story Life-Changing: @dianaraab

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Cryptomnesia Can Kill Your Writing Career – Here’s How To Avoid It: by Robert Wood @standoutbooks

Staying Focused as a Creative, and When You Maybe Shouldn’t: @StephMorrill @GoTeenWriters

Swearing as a meditation: @sonia__harris

Making a Strong Body to Support a Lively Brain: @elisehooper

Using the Novel Journal for Writing Breakthroughs: @jamesscottbell

Why Writers Are Not Always The Best Judge Of Storytelling: @Bang2write

A Difficult Balance: Am I a Writer or a Teacher? @noMORIpunish

The “Real Life” Guide to Writing: @Chris_Mentzer

Top 5 Reasons Cruising is the Perfect Writing Vacation: @LH_Writes

How Academics Survive the Writing Grind: by Helen Sword

Genres / Horror

How Modern Horror Franchises Have Embraced Creepypasta to Stay Relevant: @nataliezutter

Keep to the Path: Horror Fiction and Little Red Riding Hood: by Stephen Graham @tordotcom

Genres / Memoir

7 Top Tips on Memoirs of Moving House: @writerjeangill

Genres / Miscellaneous

Choose Your Genre, Change Your World: @jesslourey

Genres / Mystery

The public’s horrible fascination with crime as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg

The diversity of fictional PIs’ backgrounds as an element in crime fiction: @mkinberg

6 Tips For Conducting A Solid Crime Scene Investigation: @LeeLofland

Viewpoint Jumps and Pacing in Mysteries: @p2p_editor

50 Mystery Plot Ideas and Writing Prompts: @BrynDonovan

Writer @Mike54Martin on the importance of setting in mysteries:

Genres / Non-Fiction

Developing the Best Title for Your Nonfiction Book: by Jody Rein with Michael Larsen @JaneFriedman

Genres / Romance

Putting Meat on the Bones of your Heroes: @TessaShapcott

Genres / Science Fiction

5 Myths About Writing Science Fiction: @RogerDColby

Genres / Women’s Fiction

5 Tips on Writing Women’s Fiction: @AnneLParrish @WritersDigest

Promo / Miscellaneous

Tips for Podcast Guests:

6 Marketing Tips for Debut Authors: @carlywatters @OpenBookON

Book Marketing: The Basics: @mollygreene

Promo / Social Media Tips

5 Ways to Get Views and Reach People on YouTube: by Kallie Branciforte @teachable

7 Social Media Tips For Writers Who Want to Get Noticed: @easystartmkg @thewritelife

Promo / Websites

How writers can best optimize their About Me page: @Skytale_Writer

Publishing / Miscellaneous

Should You Ever Write For Free? @theladygreer

A 6-Step Guide to Breaking into the Sports Writing Business: @Kristen_E_Pope

How to win at writing competitions: @bethanyrscott@beprolifiko

“The tech that powers Bitcoin (could) transform…other industries” (including publishing): @Porter_Anderson

Why 1 Writer Unpublished His Old Work: by Topher Burk @IndieAuthorALLI

IngramSpark waives set-up fees through to end November: @TNPS10

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Frankfurt CEO Talk: Defending Freedom to Publish and Role of Publishers: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

Should You Self-Publish or Try to Get an Agent? 4 Questions Can Help you Decide: @ChuckSambuchino @TheIWSG

Publishing / Process / Formatting

Formatting Print Books with Word: @IanAndrewAuthor @IndieAuthorALLI

Publishing / Process / Legalities

A Copyright Mistake on ‘Night of the Living Dead’ Impacted the Zombie Genre for 50 Years: @kaptainkristian

To Pen Name or Not to Pen Name: @lidywilks

Pen Names: 5 Reasons they are a Bad Idea in the Digital Age: @annerallen

Publishing / Process / Translation

AmazonCrossing Translation Expands Submission Site to 14 Languages: @Porter_Anderson

Writing Craft / Arc

A Deep Dive Into the Hero’s Journey: @MelanieMarttila

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Authentic Female Characters vs Gender-Swaps: @JoEberhardt

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

Is Your Protagonist Too Lucky? @Janice_Hardy @MidGradeMafia

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

How to Use Showing vs. Telling Effectively: @RMNSediting @10MinNovelists

The 7 Deadly Sins of Struggling Writers: @ChristophPaul_

How Writers Screw Up: @SPressfield

Writing Craft / Conflict

Literary Crisis: Why a Crisis Will Make Your Good Story Great: @joebunting

Why Your Story Conflict Isn’t Working (And How to Fix It): @Janice_Hardy

Depicting Internal Conflicts: by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Dialogue

Oversharing in Dialogue and Why It’s Not Good for Fiction Either: @Margo_L_Dill

Writing Craft / Diversity

Writing x Characters When You Aren’t x: @plotlinehotline

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Setting the Stakes in Storytelling: @sethjdickinson

What Cliffhangers Reveal About Impact: @p2p_editor

Plot vs. Character? by Josh Langston

Hiding What the Main Character Knows from the Reader: @SeptCFawkes

Is lack of reflection sabotaging your writing? @pubcoach

How to Dredge up the Memories You Want to Write About: @annkroeker

How to be a good writing workshop participant: by Meredith Quinn @TheWriterMag

The Innovative, Intuitive Way to Organize Your Novel’s Scenes: @CSLakin

3 Easy Ways to Write More Concisely: @writing_tips

5 Injustices in Superhero Stories: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Pacing

Writing: How to Pace a Scene: @Lindasclare

Writing Craft / POV

What is point of view in fiction writing? @LouiseHarnby

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

Injury Plots: The Inciting Injury: @scriptmedic

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

12 Words Ending in -logue (or Is It -log?): @writing_tips

3 Examples of Mismatched Inflectional Endings: @writing_tips

Writing Craft / Revision

How to Kill Your Darlings (And What to Do with Them When They’re Dead): @NathanielTower

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

How to create your Author “Pit Crew”: Beta Readers: @LoriKingBooks

Writing Craft / Tension

Grip-Lit: 5 Elements Your Story Must Include If You’re Writing the Next Gone Girl: @Jo_Furniss

Writing Craft / World-Building

Worldbuilding and the Labor of Food: by Joe M. McDermott @tordotcom

Writing Tools / Apps

Using Scrivener to revise your novel: @jasonbougger

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on October 14, 2017 21:02

October 12, 2017

Setting the Scene for Mystery

by Mike Martin, @mike54martin

The setting for the Sgt. Windflower Mysteries is not just a prop or a way to entice the reader to enter the realm of these books, although I certainly hope that it does. It is much more than that. For me the setting is the story, at least the beginning of the adventure. It is the only part of the story that I control. I get to start the story by setting the scene. Once I begin the journey the characters come and tell me the rest of the story and I just write it down.

It’s been like that from the very first time I sat down on the wharf in Grand Bank, Newfoundland on the easternmost tip of Canada and gazed out into the fog at the blinking lighthouse. Sgt. Winston Windflower almost walked out of that fog and introduced himself to me and started telling me his story. Sure, I get to limit some character’s voices from time to time and maybe I have a little say over the moral lines that I will allow the characters to play within. But once I have the setting, that opening scene, the story flows on its own.

So, for me, the bigger question is not how the setting affects the story, but rather why an author would choose a particular setting. Because once that choice has been made a lot of things flow from that including the physical environment, the weather and what the characters can actually do during the progression of the story line. I chose the Grand Bank area of Canada because it is located in my home province and I wanted to describe the physical beauty of the natural surroundings and tell some of the history of the area.

I have tried to capture the beauty of the ever-moving ocean and banks of fog that linger on the horizon, but words can barely touch the canvas that creation has revealed to us. That’s why I always put a picture on the front cover that illustrates it far better than my words ever could. Like the lighthouse in Grand Bank on The Walker in the Cape and the boardwalk in Burin on The Body on the T. Or the fishermen’s wharf and fishing stages or rooms in Fortune on A Twist of Fortune. All real places that I have visited and that a reader can too by looking at the cover or reading the book.

The setting by the Atlantic Ocean also makes the weather a real character in all of the Sgt. Windflower Mysteries. It is almost always windy and the potential for some form of precipitation is high at any time of day or in any season. Both of those force people inside, sometimes for a meal, sometimes for coffee, sometimes just for shelter from a storm. It allows me to show people in close quarters where their interactions reveal more of themselves, their true selves and their intentions. Maybe even their motives…. Plus, it’s always a great opportunity to show off the delicious cuisine of the local area and maybe even a chance for Windflower to get a piece of his favorite chocolate peanut butter cheesecake.

For me, I simply couldn’t set the Sgt. Windflower Mysteries anywhere but in Newfoundland. It gives it the touch, texture, smell and feel of the ocean breeze blowing in my hair. The salt air wind whipping the bedsheets drying on the clothesline. It makes the characters come alive and hopefully makes them real to the readers as well. Come back to Grand Bank and experience it yourself in the latest adventure, A Tangled Web.

Cover shows a coastal village with the name of the book "A Tangled Web" by Mike Martin, superimposed on the front.

A Tangled Web is the latest book in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series set on the East Coast of Canada. The previous book in the Series A Long Ways from Home was shortlisted for the Bony Blithe Award as the “Best Light Mystery of the year”.

“Life is good for Sgt. Windflower in Grand Bank, Newfoundland. But something’s missing from the Mountie’s life. Actually, a lot of things go missing, including a little girl and supplies from the new factory. It’s Windflower’s job to unravel the tangled web of murder, deceit and an accidental kidnapping that threatens to engulf this sleepy little town and destroy those closest to him. But there’s always good food, good friends and the love of a great woman to make everything better in the end.”
Find it on Amazon
Amazon UK

Writer @Mike54Martin on the importance of setting in mysteries:
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Photo via Visualhunt.com

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Published on October 12, 2017 21:02

October 8, 2017

Tips for Podcast Guests

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Podcasts have become very popular as both a promotional tool and an informational/networking tool for writers.

I know I don’t have the time to host podcasts, but I usually have the time to appear as a guest. On average, I’ve been a guest on 2-3 podcasts each year (some of them audio-only, some of them with video). I’m being interviewed this afternoon, too. That’s because hosts need guests! :)

Over the years, I’ve put more thought into my appearances (which are sometimes on video and sometimes audio only). Here are some of my tips for being a better guest:

Equipment (I have a PC):

I like my Dell laptop. But I hate the fact that the webcam is located in the bottom-left of the lid. It gives a very awkward, odd angle to the transmitted picture. To fix this (and for a better webcam picture altogether), I purchased a standalone webcam. The Microsoft LifeCam was only $45 and had excellent ratings. When I set up for a Skype interview, I plug the webcam into my USB port and make sure that Skype has the LifeCam listed as the device it’s using for video.

Another issue with the Dell laptop is that apparently the sound quality from the built-in microphone isn’t very good (I didn’t seem to have this problem on my elderly Lenovo). At the suggestion of one of the podcast hosts, I purchased an external microphone. The one I chose, Fifine Plug-and-Play, is under $25 and is well-reviewed. I plug the microphone into another USB port, adjust the tripod that comes with it, and make sure, again, that Skype lists the microphone as the default device.

Other Tips:

I make sure the room is well-lit. I turn on all the lights and make sure there aren’t any weird shadows where I’m sitting.

I pick a non-distracting background.

For women middle-aged and older, I’d recommend wearing a lot more makeup than you’d ordinarily wear. These HD cameras aren’t kind. I can’t even tell that I’m wearing a lot of makeup when I look at the footage later.

You’ll want to make sure that your internet connection is a strong one. If it isn’t, move closer to the router or connect your laptop to the router via an Ethernet cable.

I make the house as quiet as I can by alerting any errant family members, confining the dog and cats, muting my cell phone, taking the house phone off the hook, and turning off any noisy computer notifications.

I have a glass of water nearby, just in case.

I feel as if the best interviews I’ve done are the ones in which I’ve known the questions in advance. This allows me to prepare the most thoughtful responses. Those interviews are few and far between, however. If I don’t know the questions, I’d like a very good idea of the general direction the interview will be taking: is it on writing routines? Writing mysteries? Promo?

I try to sit still and not wave my hands around a lot. This is tough for me–apparently I have a hard time sitting still. Next time I may sit on my hands.

Sometimes hosts will recommend guests wear earbuds to reduce audio feedback/echoes. This hasn’t been a problem for me before, but I always have a pair nearby in case it becomes an issue.

I’m ready with a coherent signoff for the interview that lists where I can be found online and the name of my latest release.

Have any other tips for being a guest on a podcast? Or any questions?

Tips for being a better podcast guest:
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Photo credit: zoomar via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC

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Published on October 08, 2017 21:02

October 7, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Business / Miscellaneous

What makes a good fiction editor? @LouiseHarnby

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron To Open Frankfurt Book Fair: @Porter_Anderson

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

You Do You – 5 Tips for Making the Most of NaNoWriMo: @MaggieWells1

How to Write Your NaNo Novel Like a Banned Book: @lidywilks

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

How to Make the Most of Your Time as a Teen Writer: @tessaemilyhall

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Too Smart or Too Pretty? The Anne of Green Gables Paradox: @egabbert @lithub

5 Books Where the Hero Doesn’t Save the Day: @Artfulskeptic @tordotcom

10 of the Best Alien Books: @Keith_Rice1 @SignatureReads

5 Amazing Prequels To Great Fantasy Series: @shawnspeakman

13 Tips on Plowing Through ‘IT’ (or any long book) In A Few Days: @helpfulsnowman

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

Why You Should Work With a Writing Mentor: @beckorio @scottishbktrust

11 Pieces of Encouragement Writers Need to Hear: @_HannahHeath

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

How to Write a Book When You’re Too Busy: @Chris_Kokoski

5 Tips For Writing A Novel While Working Full-Time: @rsmollisonread

Tips for Making Time to Write Our Books: @NChristie_OH

When Writing Takes a Backseat: @JJ_Burry

The Cheap Retreat: More Writing, Less Money, Too Much Ice Cream: @cbramkamp

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

5 Tips To Write A Novella Fast: @angee

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

3 Things People Think About Writers: @SiouxR

7 Journaling Prompts for Taking Care of Yourself During Stressful Times: @writingthrulife

15 Famous Writers on the Perils of a Formal Education: @knownemily

Cringe-worthy Reader Questions: @ellajoyolsen

8 Ways Writers Can Keep Their Health in Balance: @tessaemilyhall

How to Avoid the Dangerous Trap of the “Perfect Writing Life”: @colleen_m_story @RMFWriters

How to Enter the Writer’s Trance: @RosanneBane

How to Write a Book With Traumatic Brain Injury: @AlicePoet @lithub

Genres / Fantasy

A Century of Fantasy: How the Genre’s Changed Since the 1920s: @ReedsyHQ

Genres / Historical

A First Look at Writing Historical Fiction: by Linda Wilson

Genres / Middle-Grade

5 Lessons Learned Writing a First Middle Grade Novel: @gmyrthilbooks @DIYMFA

Genres / Miscellaneous

The Pros and Cons of Cross Genre Fiction: @IsabellaMayBks @WomenWriters

Genres / Mystery

Casinos as elements in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Crime fiction elements: unforgivable sins in different professional fields: @mkinberg

Modern conveniences as elements in crime fiction: @mkinberg

Hazards to Avoid in a Cozy Mystery:

Genres / Non-Fiction

How to Become an Author Even If You’re Just a Blogger: @savilleneuve

Nonfiction Objects of Desire: @SPressfield

Genres / Paranormal

How to Write a Paranormal Romance Novel: The Ultimate Guide: by Georgina Roy @writingtipsoasi

Genres / Poetry

Writing Poetry for Beginners: @dianaraab @WomenWriters

Promo / Ads

Is It Ever Okay to Lose Money on Advertising? @MarcyKennedy

Promo / Back matter

Brainstorming Your Book’s Support Materials: @Book_Arch

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

Power-charge your blurb with hooks: @janetlaneauthor @RMFWriters

Promo / Book Reviews

7 Clever Ways to Leverage Reviews in Your Book Marketing: @EmilyWenstrom

Promo / Connecting with Readers

Your Author Platform: 4 Key Strategies: @LThompsonBooks

5 Tips for Marketing your Books in Person: @mariadismondy @thecreativepenn

Promo / Metadata

Keywords and Search Engines (The Bare-Bottom Basics Every Author Should Know): @KarenCV

Promo / Miscellaneous

Overcoming the Shame of Self-Promotion: @manzanitafire

Promo / Social Media Tips

3 Ways to Use Hashtags as Authors: @CaballoFrances

Promo / Websites

How Landing Page Frustration Lands You in the Dump: @MarshaIngrao

Publishing / Miscellaneous

US Ebook Revenue Up in May; Sourcebooks Signs With Gotham for Film: @Porter_Anderson

4 Tips to Meet Deadlines by @sarahsundin on @NovelRocket :

US National Book Award’s 20 Finalists Are Named: Four Categories: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Italian Frankfurt Rights Update: Piergiorgio Nicolazzini Highlights: @Porter_Anderson

Turkey’s Burhan Sönmez wins the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation award: @Porter_Anderson

Distribution Expansion: Germany’s Bookwire Acquires Brazil’s DLD: @Porter_Anderson

Canada’s Entertainment One Is Wattpad’s Newest Content Partner: @Porter_Anderson

Christmas In October: UK Rights Rustler Matt Haig Sleighs to Frankfurt: @Porter_Anderson @matthaig1

Kalimat Foundation at Göteborg Book Fair: Arabic Books for Children: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Turkish Literature Abroad at Frankfurt; Hungary Stages Five Authors: @Porter_Anderson

‘I Didn’t Believe It’: Kazuo Ishiguro Wins 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Switching From Querying Agents to Querying Publishers: @KristenBrakeman @WomenWriters

Surviving the Querying Trenches: @sebastian_lk

Matching voice in query and sample pages: @ml_keller

Publishing / Process / Translation

Why We Need to Translate More Women Writers: by David Brookshaw @lithub

Writing Craft / Arc

The Series Arc: @Book_Arch

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Real Life Diagnostics: Does This Horror Opening Work? @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

Villain Clichés That Work: 4 Lessons From The Dark Tower Movie: @sacha_black

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Indirect Characterization: How to Reveal Character Subtly: @nownovel

5 Moral Dilemmas That Make Characters and Stories Even Better: by Nicolas Rossmiller

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

How and Why to Write an Anti Hero: @Je55ieMullin5

Writing Craft / Characters / Supporting Characters

Making Characters Stuck in the Background Pop Out: @SeptCFawkes

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

Do You Really Know How to “Show, Don’t Tell”? @CSLakin

Give Your Reader A Chance To Fill In The Rest: @Bang2write

5 Ways To Instantly Improve Your Story: @Chris_Kokoski

When Yay Becomes Yuck: by Josh Langston

Writing Craft / Conflict

5 Ways to Create Strong Internal Conflict: @Janice_Hardy

What’s Driving Your Plot? @Janice_Hardy @Ava_Jae

Writing Craft / Diversity

Reading Jane Eyre While Black: @tylachelleco @lithub

How White Writers Can Be Better Allies to Writers of Color: @NataliaSylv @WriterUnboxed

“American Girls” Taught 1 Writer That Diversity Is The Most Beautiful Thing: @KarisRogerson @LitReactor

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

Weaving Backstory Into Frontstory: @jamesscottbell

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

12 Literary Writers on Stephen King’s Influence: @knownemily

Learning To Write Dialogue From ‘The Wire’ And ‘Anne of Green Gables’: @Spencimus

13 Writing Lessons From 13 Reasons Why: @jennienash

5 Stories That End With Bizarre Reveals: by Oren Ashkenazi @mythcreants

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Beat Sheet: @RubioSalva @savethecat

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

2 Questions about Story: by Art Holcomb @storyfix

Insights into Your Midpoint Scene: @CSLakin

The Trouble With Action: @VaughnRoycroft

The Structure of an Injury Plot: @scriptmedic

How to Empower Your Writing With a Brilliant Epigraph: by John MacIlroy @write_practice

Writing Craft / POV

Alternate POVs: @iamagemcrystal

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

5 Quick Fixes for a Sagging Middle: @WriteToSell

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

Injury Analysis: Misery: @scriptmedic

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

Punctuation Quiz: Capitalization: @writing_tips

Writing Craft / Revision

You Can’t Edit Your Own Book and Here are 7 Reasons Why: @batwood

10 Easy Edits to Improve Your Manuscript Right Now: @repokempt @LitReactor

Shakespeare and the art of revision: @nevalalee

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

4 Tips for Translating Critique-Speak: @kcraftwriter

Writing Craft / Series

The Art of Writing (and Ending) a Serie (podcast): @decastell @DIYMFA

Writing Craft / Series / Series Bible

How to Create a Series Bible For Your Fiction: @lornafaith

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Developing Themes In Your Stories: The Setting: @SaraL_Writer

How to use the 5 senses for thrilling descriptions: @RidethePen

6 Ways Setting Can Create Conflict: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Tropes

PubCrawl Podcast: Coming of Age Stories: @PubCrawlBlog

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

100+ Ways to Say “Sad”: A Word List for Writers: @KathySteinemann

Writing Craft / World-Building

3 Steps to Building Your Story World: @Janice_Hardy

Worldbuilding For Urban Fantasy: @KhaosFoxe

Writing Tools / Books

25 Must-Read Books About Writing: @thewritelife

Uncategorized

Stop comparing yourself to other writers: @PatHatt24 @TheIWSG @PatHatt24

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on October 07, 2017 21:02

October 5, 2017

Things to Avoid in a Cozy Mystery

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Believe it or not, there are ways to make cozy mystery writing complex. And I think cozies are fairly easy books to write.

At first I titled this post “Cozy Mystery Mistakes,” but I don’t think these things are all necessarily mistakes–they’re just elements that could make for potential problems.

Looking at my list, I’ve done nearly all of them at least once.

Too many characters: This is a very easy problem to have. Cozy mystery series can be rife with characters: you have 5(ish) suspects in each book, a sleuth, a sidekick, plus recurring series characters (sleuth’s family, co-workers, etc.) . Cozies are all about the quirky characters, and quirky characters have a way of multiplying.

The fix: Anytime that one of the characters has been ‘off-stage’ for a while, apply a tag or a short reminder in dialogue to help readers remember who the character is. Or, obviously, include fewer characters (although sometimes readers will ask after a recurring supporting character if they’re not part of a story).

Too much hook. The hook (quilting, knitting, cooking, horseback riding, birdwatching , gardening, antiquing) is definitely important in a cozy mystery. It can help the sleuth more naturally meet up with suspects for interviews. It can help the reader connect with the sleuth. It can help create interesting settings and subplots. But if the hook is overshadowing the mystery, there’s too much hook.

The fix: Look at your story and see if it’s a gardening book with a mystery or a mystery with some gardening. The mystery has to come first.

Too much mystery. The mystery has to come first, but there can’t be just mystery, either. If it’s straight mystery, it’s probably not a cozy.

The fix: Highlight the mystery in your text one color and highlight the subplots, hook, and other non-mystery parts of the story another. Aim for more of a balance.

Too short: Again, this is super-easy to do. Cozies are, by nature, pretty short. But if your book is getting into novella territory (and you’re shooting for a full-priced book), there’s a problem.

The fix: Usually for me, the culprit is the subplot. Or, rather, subplots. If there aren’t any relatively healthy subplots, you’ll probably find the book is too mystery-focused and too short.

Too dark: This is, obviously, a big no-no for cozy mysteries. Of all of these issues, this is the most problematic.

The fix: Is the murder method too gory? Too well-described? Are the potential motives for the suspects too dark? Is there enough humor in the story? Should you consider labeling this a different genre? Maybe the story should be a police procedural or more of a traditional mystery instead of a cozy.

Supporting characters that steal the show. With all the natural quirkiness of cozy characters, it’s almost inevitable that one of them will end up being a stage hog.

The fix: They’re going to need to tone it down a little if they’re not the sleuth. In dialogue with your sleuth, who’s leading the conversation? Who’s putting two-and-two together? If it’s the secondary character, switch it around as much as you need to in order to put the sleuth back in the driver’s seat again.

Looking back over my list, there are a couple of things that might work for other genres, too. What kinds of problem areas have you run into with your own writing?

6 potential problems to avoid when writing a cozy mystery:
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Published on October 05, 2017 21:02

October 1, 2017

Time to Write

Alarm clock sits on a table to the left of the frame and the post title, Elizabeth Spann Craig.

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Published on October 01, 2017 21:02

September 30, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Business / Miscellaneous

Prioritizing the Writer’s Life via a Business Plan: @beccapuglisi

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Rebooting a Writing Career at a Writing Conference: @Victoria_Noe
At the Frankfurt Book Fair‘: A Book Is a Film Is a Game’ Networking Day Returns: @Porter_Anderson

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

Your 6-Week Prep Plan for NaNoWriMo: @AlyciaMorales

Creativity and Inspiration / First Novels

You Want to Write Fiction. So Where Do You Start? @Janice_Hardy

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Creative Writing Activities That Don’t Involve Writing: @WritingForward
How Hobbies Can Improve Your Writing: @woodwardkaren
Empower Your Creativity by Engaging The Practicing Mind: @practicingmind @lornafaith

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

On the Dark, Wondrous Optimism of Ray Bradbury: @GabbyBellot @lithub
5 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books Inspired by Jewish History and Culture: by Matt Stagg @unboundworlds

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

3 Essential Questions for Writers: @RuthanneReid
“On the Sophomore Slump and How I Beat It”: @theladypenumbra

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

How to Overcome 3 Things That Make You Feel Rushed for Time: @colleen_m_story
5 Lessons Learned on Writing Habits, Routines and Productivity: @lornafaith
Need More Writing Time? Learn to delegate: @lisajordan @NovelRocket

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

An Easy Trick for Nipping Creative Fear in the Bud: by Sarah Moore @AngelaAckerman

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Tips for more productive writing sessions at home: by Pat Olsen @TheWriterMag
Dear Writer: Stop Releasing So Many Novels: @MCristianoWrite
Prep Yourself for Writing Productivity: @FinishedPages
What is reverse engineering for writers? @pubcoach

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Self-Serving Writing is the Only Writing You Can Trust: @julietescoria @_chelsea_martin

Genres / Fantasy

Divorce Should Be an Option in Fantasy Fiction: @AniseKStrong @tordotcom

Genres / Memoir

Tips for Writing Memoir: @Roz_Morris @thecreativepenn

Genres / Non-Fiction

Becoming a Biographer: Telling Someone Else’s Life Story: by James Atlas @SignatureReads
7 Simple Steps to Gain Visibility for You and Your Nonfiction Book: @kathleengage

Genres / Picture Books

3 Things Nobody Told Me About Having a Children’s Book Published: @Patrickwensink

Genres / Romance

7 Tips For Writing Great Love Scenes: @JoyceScarbrough

Genres / Science Fiction

The Creatures We Base Aliens On: @NicolaAlter

Genres / Screenwriting

Writing The Short Film – Week One: @seanbhood

Genres / Short Stories

How to Keep a Short Story Short: @april_bradley
8 rules for writing historical short stories: @toddjamespierce @TheWriterMag

Genres / Young Adult

Why Young Adult Fiction Is Essential: @virginiawrites

Promo / Blogging

Blogging: write as if people are reading: @rxena77

Promo / Book Reviews

Easy author hack for more book reviews: @sandrabeckwith

Promo / Book Signings and Launch parties

Tips for book launches: @SurfCityJames

Promo / Miscellaneous

Amazon Keywords Learning Lab (podcast): @DaveChesson @cksyme
5 Ingredients You’ll Need to Get More Amazon Sales: @Bookgal

Promo / Platforms

How to Record an Audio Book: @maestrompc @TheIWSG

Promo / Podcasts

Podcasts: How they sell books and how to start one of your own: @altait @annerallen
Self Publishing Podcasts: Everything You Wanted to Know: @maifosz @publishdrive

Promo / Social Media Tips

Using Twitter Moments for Promo or Networking:
3 Ways How to Respond to Blogs on LinkedIn So You Look Like an Ace: Naked_Determina
Using Social Media to Grow Your Online Audience and Influence: @HelloMorganTimm
5 Ways to Use Facebook Pinned Posts to Hook Fans: @cksyme

Promo / Websites

4 Reasons Authors Need A Great Website: by Raymond Esposito @WritersAfterDrk

Publishing / Miscellaneous

6 Things Learned as a Professional Editor: @SeptCFawkes
Ntl Book Foundation Honors Annie Proulx, Scholastic’s Richard Robinson: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives
Tracey Armstrong on Women in Publishing: ‘Still Striving for Equal Pay’: @Porter_Anderson
3 Random Tips For Making Occasional Webcomics: by Pekoe Blaze
5 Good Reasons for an Author to Record an Audiobook: @clivefrayne
How Many Words in a Novel? Our Editors Have the Answers: @ReedsyHQ
National Book Foundation Names Its ‘5 under 35’ Debut Fiction Authors: @nationalbook @Porter_Anderson
When readers find unintended symbolism in your text: @Roz_Morris
Your Publicity Timeline: Is There a Best Month to Publish Your Book? @McKinneyPR

Publishing / News / International Publishing

OpenBook’s China Bestseller Lists for August 2017: Drone Delivery Races: @Porter_Anderson
Forward Prizes for Poetry Awarded in the UK: Best Collections and Poem: @Porter_Anderson @ForwardPrizes
Gurry, Pallante, Clemente To Speak at Intl. Publishers Congress: @Porter_Anderson
Canada’s $75,000 Cundill Longlist: Historical Takes on Today’s Issues: @Porter_Anderson @CundillPrize
Oxford University Press India Begins Publishing in Indian Languages: @Porter_Anderson @scroll_in
London Book Fair and Writer’s Digest Summit Announces Pitch Slam Agents: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Traditional Publishing to Indie and Hybrid with @JohnBirmingham : @thecreativepenn

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

Don’t Tweet Your Rejections: @ShannaSwendson

Publishing / Process / Formatting

What You Need To Know About Formatting Your Own E-Book: @FredBobJohn @standoutbooks

Publishing / Process / Legalities

How Do I Register My Book’s Copyright? @ReedsyHQ @EmmanuelNataf

Writing Craft / Beginnings

What Psychology Says About the First Page of Your Novel: @SloanTamar
Fixing the First Page Feature: @Ava_Jae
Most Common Mistakes in Opening Chapters: @ml_keller

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

Why Introverts Make Great Heroes: @ClassicQuirkySG

Writing Craft / Common Mistakes

How to revise a manuscript: fixing 5 common problems: @WriteToSell

Writing Craft / Conflict

Common Misconceptions about Conflict: Conflict = Tension: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Dialogue

The Dos and Don’ts of Dialogue Tags: @MCristianoWrite

Writing Craft / Endings

How to Write an Ending that Fits Your Story: @AndreaWriterlea

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

Famous Characters Teach Us Characterization: @nownovel

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Don’t Believe These Writing Myths: @Storygeeks
Conflate, and Tighten Up Your Story: by Nancy L. Erickson @BookBaby
A step-by-step guide to better sentence length: @pubcoach
How Many Words in a Novel? Our Editors Have the Answers: @ReedsyHQ

Writing Craft / Pacing

How to Use Your Word Count to Control Pacing: @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Diagramming Your Plot: The Big Picture: @SueBEdwards
Want to Find the REAL Story? Ignore Your Instincts: by Emily Ruskovich @beccapuglisi

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

Writing injuries: the recovery time for thoracic blunt/burn trauma: @scriptmedic

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

12 Idioms Commonly Seen with Homonymic Spelling Errors: @writing_tips
Punctuation Marks: The Exclamation Mark: @WritingForward

Writing Craft / Revision

How to Choose Which Scenes to Include in Your Novel: @Kid_Lit
5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Manuscript: @LoucindaMcGary
My Story Is Unclear – What Do I Do? @Bang2write
Woodshedding for Writers: @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor
Self-Editing for Writers: @Lindasclare
3 Strategies for Fixing Exposition: @p2p_editor

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

Are You Dressing Your Characters For Success? by Paige Duke @standoutbooks
How Do Your Characters Inhabit Their World? by Sunny Singh

Writing Craft / Tension

Keeping tension in a story when you have a very powerful/skilled character: from How to Fight Write

Writing Craft / Tropes

Archetypes – Cataclysms and Survival Stories (podcast): by Pub Crawl

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

6 Ways to Reduce “-ly” Adverb Abuse: @KathySteinemann
Marilynne Robinson, Author of Gilead, on Finding the Right Word: @nytimesbooks

Writing Tools / Apps

Germany’s ‘oolipo’ Readies Tools for Storytellers: @Porter_Anderson @oolipo

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on September 30, 2017 21:02

September 28, 2017

Make it Easy for Readers to Contact You

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’m lucky to have a very good relationship with my readers. We frequently exchange emails.

I recently received an email from a reader of mine that I’ve corresponded with for years. She asked me if I could figure out a way to get in contact with another of her favorite authors. This reader was on email, but not on social media.

As a favor to her, I looked up the author’s books on Amazon to see if I could find her website through Amazon Author Central. She was not on Amazon Author Central.

I googled the writer and found a rudimentary website. There was no contact page or contact information on the website.

I looked up the writer on Twitter and found that she had an account. I sent her a tweet, letting her know that a reader of hers had a question for her. Two months later, I’ve received no reply.

I looked her up on Facebook and found she had a page there. I left the writer a direct message about her reader. Again, I haven’t heard back. I finally wrote back to my reader with the bad news that the author appeared to be unreachable.

Literary agent Janet Reid recently posted about her difficulties tracking down an author online. The author’s social media icons weren’t actually linked to the networks.

I’ve run into this before. There have been times when I’ve wanted to credit authors when sharing posts on Twitter and couldn’t find the author’s Twitter handle (although the author stated he or she was on the platform).

At the bare minimum, set up your Amazon Author Central account. You can provide an email address or website and other social media locations on that page.

If you’re on social media platforms, set up notifications for messages. Or check in once a week or so.

Every author website should include a contact page (or contact info in the sidebar, if you have a one-page website). At a minimum, this page/info should include an email address, name of the writer/pen name (you’d be surprised how many have a first name only: “Angela’s Musings”), and where to find you on the web.

If you’re not yet on social media, industry expert Jane Friedman has tips for getting started: choosing a network and what to post.

Do you have to be on social media? No. You just need to be available to readers with questions. You could skip social media altogether as long as you list ways of contacting you (email, P.O. Box, via your agent, etc.) and as long as you’re responsive when readers do try to reach out.

Have you made it easy for readers to reach you?

Make it easy for readers to contact you:
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Published on September 28, 2017 21:02

September 24, 2017

Twitter Moments

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I spend a good deal of time finding and scheduling content for Twitter, but not a lot of time on Twitter.

In the last month or so, however, I did get on the site long enough to check out their ‘Twitter Moments’ feature.

Twitter states:

Moments are curated stories showcasing the very best of what’s happening on Twitter. Our Moments guide is customized to show you current topics that are popular or relevant, so you can discover what is unfolding on Twitter in an instant.

That sounded just a little too airy for me. I found another description from Nate Swanner on The Next Web who stated:

Instagram and Snapchat have stories, which are literally the same thing. One snippet of text or media flows into the next, then it’s over.

Moments isn’t quite so hurried. You’re free to linger on a tweet or video, and scroll back through just as you would with your timeline.

Moments and Stories are the same in one way, though: you carry the narrative thread.

Twitter suggests that we “bring our Moment to life with photos, GIFs, videos, and Vines. ” They also recommend we limit a Moment to around 10 tweets.

What can we use for content? We can add tweets to our Moments from our own Twitter feed, from tweets we’ve liked or shared, or even from someone else’s Twitter feed.

How can this help us as writers? Since self-promotion is really frowned upon on the platform, we could instead compile a series that stays on our Moment. Maybe it could be a recent release (with the book cover as the ‘cover’ for the Moment), pictures from a book launch or book signing, and reviews from others or a tweeted book trailer as parts of the Moment.

Or we could curate helpful content for other writers while covering a conference: compiling tweets, videos, etc. that sum up the most helpful information that we found there.

We could have a Moment that brings together the most useful information that agents or editors have shared online.

In other words, this could be either an effective self-promotional tool, or one that can help us to network with other writers/writing professionals, or merely to help curate information for other writers. I plan on devoting more time to mine, but for the time being, I have a Moment set up for top tweets that I’ve curated on the site.

Moments are easy to set up. You click the Moments tab on your profile; click ‘create new Moment’; add a title, description, and cover; pull in content; and publish. Detailed instructions are here from Twitter.

More about Moments from Twitter here.

Have you created a Moment on Twitter? What other promo activities have you found lately?

Using Twitter Moments for Promo or Networking:
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Published on September 24, 2017 21:02