Category Archives: Articles

Articles, Blog, Craft, Opinion, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

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This week, Ava Jae looks at simple POV mistakes to avoid, while Jo Eberhart explains the difference between foreshadowing and callbacks and how each can be used in your story.

Over at the Kill Zone, James Scott Bell calls out writing flubs that throw readers out of stories, Mythcreant writer Oren Ashkenazi offers tips on creating immersive fantasy settings, and Susan Perabo expounds a method for developing characters with background and experiences entirely different from your own.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

10 Books Every Leader Should Read to Be Successful by Deep Patel

Amazon Author Insights – Understand Your Formatting Options by Honorée Corder

Is 99¢ Too Cheap a Price for Your Book? by Dana Isaacson

Different Kinds of POV Slips and How to Avoid Them by Ava Jae

Foreshadowing vs. Callbacks by Jo Eberhardt

Creating Fully Developed Fictional Characters (That Are Not Secretly You) by Susan Perabo

Stuff That Takes Readers Out of a Story by James Scott Bell

Six Tips to Make Your Fantasy Setting More Immersive by Oren Ashkenazi

The New Face of Vanity Anthologies: Z Publishing House and Appelley Publishing by Victoria Strauss

Agatha Christie was Investigated by MI5 Over Bletchley Park Mystery by Richard Norton-Taylor

Snoopy Writing Again

 

Articles, Blog, Craft, Opinion, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, James Curnow ponders the detrimental effect of sequels on the original material. Paula Meiner covers the pros and cons of beta readers while Sophie Hannah questions the concept behind the Staunch prize for thrillers that avoid violence against women.

James Scott Bell, Tracy Hahn-Burkett, and Steven James weigh in on the related topics of burnout, frustration, and stressing yourself out over meeting your writing goals. Bottom line: Challenge yourself without killing yourself.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

12 Books That Destroyed and Rebuilt My Mind by Jordan Bates

Why Good Sequels are Bad Sequels: Blade Runner 2049 and the Building of Worlds by James Curnow

A Short History of South Asian Speculative Fiction: Part I by Mimi Mondal

The Pros and Cons of Beta Readers by Paula Munier

Avoiding Burnout with Strategic Breaks by James Scott Bell

What to Do When Your Creativity Hits the Wall by Tracy Hahn-Burkett

From 2000 to 300—Why You’re Writing Too Much by Steven James

Prize Launched for Thrillers That Avoid Sexual Violence Against Women by Alison Flood

A Prize for Thrillers With No Violence Against Women? That’s Not Progressive by Sophie Hannah

Do Your Characters Talk Too Much? When to Use Indirect Dialogue by Anne R. Allen

Snoopy at the Typewriter

 

Articles, Blog, Craft, Opinion, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

February may be the shortest month of the year, but I managed to gather the largest collection of articles in quite some time on this blog. We begin with Margaret Atwood’s touching tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin.

Written Word Media offers ten publishing predictions in 2018 that are worth heeding and Writer Beware provides a comprehensive list of Author Solutions copycats.

Randy Ingermanson (aka “The Snowflake Guy”) gives us a lesson on Scene and Sequel. Lisa Cron encourages you to determine what your protagonist wants even before you start writing. Steven Pressfield reminds us that villains are not always people while Danielle Davis recommends (and I highly agree) that short stories provide an effective respite when you need a break from your novel.

All that and a lot more. Enjoy!

A Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin by Margaret Atwood

Top Ten Publishing Trends Every Author Needs to Know in 2018 by Ricci

Writing the Perfect Scene by Randy Ingermanson

X-Ray for Authors: Tips and Tricks from Kindle Direct Publishing

The Strange Copyright of Doctor Who and The Shape of Non-Plagiarism by Jonathan Bailey

How To Write Memorable and Compelling Monologues by Ken Miyamoto

Army of Clones: Author Solutions Spawns a Legion of Copycats by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Putting Conflict to Work in Your Stories, Part 1: Why Your Story Needs Conflict by Laura DiSilverio

Reboot Your Novel with the Short-Story Remedy by Danielle Davis

The Villain is Not Always a Person by Steven Pressfield

What Does Your Protagonist Want BEFORE the Story Starts? by Lisa Cron

Avoid Top 5 Writing Mistakes – Make Your Writing Better by AJ Humpage

Articles, Blog, Craft, Opinion, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

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This week, we stop by the Kill Zone where James Scott Bell warns against starting your story with a dream while John Gilstrap and Jordan Dane talk internal monologue. Over at Mythcreants, Oren Ashkenazi advises against writing prequels, but if you must, he offers a few tips.

From Writer Unboxed, Julie Carrick Dalton provides timely advice on dual timeline stories. Think you can become a writer on “talent” alone? Anne R. Allen would like to give you a rude awakening. Anne also has some strong opinions on how to begin your story in order to optimize Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

What’s the Deal on Dreams in Fiction? by James Scott Bell

Internal Monologue by John Gilstrap

5 Key Ways to Balance Internal Monologue with Pitfalls to Avoid by Jordan Dane

Chronicling a Non-Chronological Story: Writing a Dual Timeline Novel by Julie Carrick Dalton

Five Tips for Telling Prequel Stories by Oren Ashkenazi

8 Qualities that are More Important than Talent for Writing Success and The One Thing That Will Kill Book Sales Dead and 10 Ways to Avoid It by Anne R. Allen

How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson

How to Spark Your Story with an Inciting Incident by Pamela Hodges

Veteran SF and Media Tie-In Writer, Michael Jan Friedman, Would Like to Take You Into Empty Space

Articles, Blog, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, PJ Parrish weighs in on the proper use of metaphors while editor Beth Hill delves into the differences between showing and telling. At Writer Unboxed, Kathryn Craft discusses enhancing dialogue through misdirection and modulation, David Corbett provides two methods of motivating your protagonist, and Lynne Griffin advises us to knot up our stories with conflict and tension.

Jonathan Vars offers tips on creating time-bomb plots and effective use of settings, and Kate Coe reviews the etiquette of editing another writer’s work.

All that and little more… Enjoy!

Do You Dare to Eat a Peach? Finding the Perfect Metaphor by PJ Parrish

Bring Your Dialogue to Life by Kathryn Craft

Motivating the Reluctant Protagonist by David Corbett

Dying to Know, Afraid to Find Out: Building Tension in Fiction by Lynne Griffin

Building an Author Website: The First Step to Publishing by Joe Bunting

12 Tips to Get Unstuck and Finish Writing Your Book by Lorna Faith

Showing and Telling Particulars by Beth Hill

3 Tips to Creating a Time Bomb Plot Device and How to Create a Setting from Nothing in 5 Steps by Jonathan Vars

Editing Someone Else’s Work by Kate Coe

 

Articles, Blog, Craft, Opinion, Writing and Publishing

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Goodreads announces a change to its US giveaway program and it comes with alarming costs. The Authors Guild provides information on the new GOP tax bill and Douglas Preston laments the fact that writers can no longer make a living from their craft.

From The Guardian, a recent study comparing literary fiction against science fiction returned rather “stupefying” results. John Gilstrap discusses the importance of book cover design while K.M. Weiland and Becca Puglisi each offer different tactics for character development.  From Writers Helping Writers, Sacha Black gives us the nitty gritty on sentence structure.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

Goodreads Announces New US Giveaway Program by Greg Seguin

What Authors Need to Know About the New Tax Bills by The Authors Guild

Why Is It So Goddamned Hard to Make a Living as a Writer Today? by Douglas Preston

(Too) Close Third Person by Jeanne Kisacky

Science Fiction Triggers ‘Poorer Reading’, Study Finds by Alison Flood

Judging a Book By Its Cover by John Gilstrap

4 Ways to Amplify Your Characters’ Subtext by K.M. Weiland

Writing Characters that Mirror Real Life by Becca Puglisi via Kristen Lamb

Action Beats: More than Dialogue Tag Surrogates by Kathy Steinmann

Getting Jiggy with the Nitty Gritty, or, Improving Your Sentences by Sacha Black