Friday Links #9
I was in the library the other day, returning some research materials, and decided to browse the DVD selection to see what they had. Ours is a small-town branch of the King County Library System, so while we have the breadth of Washington State’s most populated county’s library at our fingertips, the on-site selections at our given branch are limited. But it’s within walking distance and has a great coffee shop across the street. No, not the Starbuck’s, the one on the other corner. So it has that going for it. I spotted a movie called Author’s Anonymous starring Kaley Cuoco (of Big Bang Theory fame) and, as my wife pointed out when she saw the DVD case, “that guy who did the singing in the American Pie movies.” His name is Chris Klein. The movie had straight-to-DVD written all over it, but still, a movie about a dysfunctional writer’s group that falls apart due to the jealousy of one member’s success sounded like it was worth borrowing for the night.
It was. Kind of, sort of, but not really. Look, this is an objectively bad movie. The first twenty minutes are so cringe-worthy, I almost turned it off. Had I have opened up the IMDB app on my phone and seen that it scored a 7% on Rotten Tomatoes (yes, out of 100), I wouldn’t have bothered checking it out. Roger Ebert gave it 1 star.
Nevertheless, we hung in there, got a few laughs out of it, and ultimately found it a relatively harmless, if not terribly stimulating, way to pass the time. The movie skewers writer’s groups with cliched, shallow characters and it pokes fun at those who misunderstand the self-publishing world. It can be a little hard to watch sometimes as the stereotypes are so on-the-nose and over-the-top that some roles, particularly the one played by Dennis Farina, are more caricature than character. Yet, for all of its problems, I did like enjoy how Chris Klein’s character’s plot line ended. Ultimately, it just seemed odd that a movie about a writer’s group would be so poorly written. Unless that, too, was part of the joke. Here’s the trailer.
Bookish Links
World Book Day: 43 Books To Read Before You Die – In honor of yesterday’s World Book Day (whatever the hell that is) here’s a list of 43 must-read books for a bibliophile’s bucket list. I’ve only read 8 of these, but have read other works by several authors on the list. As far as “must-read” book lists goes, this is one of the best I’ve seen. Any list that manages to include Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, and Jane Austen without irony has my respect.
Getting Ready for an Edit: How to Help Your Editor and Save Money – There are a couple of things you can do for your career as a writer, but the most important thing I learned in writing strategy guides for thirteen years is this: Make your editor’s life as easy as possible. An editor who finds it easy to work with you will want to work with you again. If you’re hiring a copyeditor independently, the situation is different, but the principal is the same. It’s about the money. The less work you create for the editor, the more money in your pocket. Maybe it will be because you took up less of their time (and were therefore billed less) or because they bumped your work to the top of their pile and helped you get your book on the shelf faster. Either way, this article by Corina Koch Macleod and Carla Douglas has some really useful tips.
Using Third-Person Multiple POV – This is a helpful article about how to effectively write from multiple points-of-view in a third-person story. My current work-in-progress utilizes third-person multiple and I have to admit that it can be tricky at times to ensure I’m not head-hopping or slipping into omniscient. If you want to write from multiple characters points-of-view, then check this article out.
My Year Reading a Book from Every Country in the World –This is a wonderful TED Talk by Ann Morgan about the year she tried reading a book from every country on Earth, roughly a book every 3 days. Simply reading that quickly sounds like quite a challenge, but that paled in comparison to the difficulty of getting a book in English from every country. If you’ve never read a foreign book, I highly recommend doing so as it really give you some insights you might not have had.
Your Query Letter: Writing a Terrific First Line – Got your manuscript finished and ready to start seeking representation? If so, this link has some tips for your query letter, namely how to perfect that opening sentence in your letter. With agents and editors receiving hundreds of queries every week, it’s imperative you get it right from the start.
Bonus Link!
Bicycling Tourists are Older, Wealthier, and in Demand – You’re going on a roadtrip of 350 miles, how many times do you think you’ll stop? Once for gas and maybe a second time for lunch? Do that same trip by bicycle and you’re likely going to take up to a week, depending on terrain. You’re going to sprinkle dollars in towns and stores every 20-30 miles along the way. Hotels, campgrounds, restaurants, and convenience stores, are all going to benefit from you passing by. Small towns across the country are catching on to what a lot of Europeans already know: bicycle tourists are great for business! This article by the Pew Charitable Trusts details how states across the USA are expanding bicycle infrastructure to attract more of these older, wealthier, fitness-minded travelers. Exciting times to travel by bicycle!
Post Image by Bud Ellison, used under Creative Commons
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