This week on the blog, we begin with the importance of downtime — in an age that constantly pushes us to the brink of burnout — and we end with the notion of writing as a release from stress.
In between, Kristen Lamb takes us spearfishing to find that perfect catch (reader) and reminds us that drudgery builds success. Dave Chesson guides us through several Goodreads features that might prove useful in promoting your book… if you don’t mind the trolls.
Over at Writer Unboxed, Jim Dempsey offers tips to help you work through problems in your story and Rheea Mukherjee provides ideas for bringing authenticity to characters with different skills and capabilities than their creators.
In the Kill Zone, Jordan Dane teaches us to tap into our waking dreams in order to enhance creativity while James Scott Bell channels Bryan Cranston. Enjoy!
This week, from Writer Unboxed, Jim Dempsey defines the three major types of editing while David Corbett encourages us to improve our fiction by exploring belief systems different from our own, and Kathryn Craft urges us to dig deeper to bring out truth in our fiction.
Kristen Lamb reminds us of the difference between promotion and platform while Hank Phillippi Ryan imparts her method for crafting a story synopsis. Keep your plot moving forward with guidance from James Scott Bell and Ingram Content offers advice on book marketing in the digital age.
Possibly the most important article in this collection is Ferris Jabr’s research into the importance of mental downtime.
This week on the blog, Ceridwen Dovey expounds the concept of “bibliotherapy” and the restorative power of reading fiction. Kristen Lamb encourages writers to be secret-keepers… and to get more rest. Jami Gold explains what it means to add layers to your characters and Anne R. Allen councils us against worrying too much about plot purloiners.
Over at Career Authors, Paula Munier cites three mistakes by debut writers that potentially exasperate agents and editors while Glenn Miller advises us on how to be trustworthy writers. C.S. Lakin offers tips on preparing your scenes, Sarah Chauncey talks effective use of POV in memoir, and from Mythcreants, Chris Winkle enumerates six manuscript mistakes that a copy editor might (or might not) help you fix.
My attempt to restore this weekly feature on my blog was thwarted a few months into the year by a series of challenging, distressing, exhilarating, and generally overwhelming events—from editing a new speculative fiction anthology to the death of my mother-in-law, from a six-week home renovation to a partial roof collapse at my place of employment that caused 100-hour work weeks, from caring for a sick bunny (he’s better now, thankfully) to building a new website for one of the small-press publishers I work with.
My bunny, Peanut!
Despite such “interesting times,” I managed to write four new chapters in my SF novel-in-progress and hammered out a 7K-word short story just this week. Honestly, that’s paltry progress compared to my usual output, but I’m grateful for anything given the mayhem of 2017—and we still have four months to go!
On a high note, my paranormal mystery novella, Like Mother, Like Daughters, was accepted by Firebringer Press and should be released next year as an eBook, audio book (recorded by yours truly), and in paperback paired up with a vampire novella written by Steven H. Wilson, fellow scribe and owner of Firebringer.
So much about this excites me beyond the obvious thrill of a new release. We plan to produce the paperback in the fashion of the old ACE doubles where you read one novella, then flip the book over read the other. Readers of a certain age (ahem) and older grew up enjoying those and I relish the prospect of producing a book in that format today.
Additionally, the speculative fiction anthology I’m editing is actually volume three in the Middle of Eternity series, also published by Firebringer. This third book, Meanwhile in the Middle of Eternity, is also slated for a 2018 release.
Back on topic, About This Writing Stuff… might end up appearing on a monthly basis rather than weekly as I try to balance my life and catch up on my writing, editing, and publishing schedules, not to mention maintain my health and sanity. Until then, I hope you find the articles below useful.
From Digital Book World, Beth Bacon teaches us about Creative Briefs, while Gordon Warnock urges not to disregard libraries when marketing our books. Over in the Kill Zone, James Scott Bell talks tough and Jordan Dane wants us to keep it real.
Kristen Lamb and Janice Hardy sub for Jami Gold on her blog with a deep dive into antagonists and conflict. As an aside, Jami is battling a health issue that she openly discusses on her blog and I want to take a moment to wish her the best.
Happy New Year! I hope your 2017 is off to a better and healthier start than mine. This year was less than 24 hours old when I was struck with a stomach virus that left me violently ill on and off (mostly on) for three days. At least it held off until just after the Sherlock season premiere.
It’s nice to occasionally resurrect what used to be a regular feature on my blog, this gathering of sagacious and informative articles from around the interwebs.
Although I’m not convinced that Laurie Gough’s rant against self-publishing could be labeled as either sagacious or informative. Certainly Kristen Lamb and Larry Correia don’t agree.
Over at Digital Book World, Chris Syme offers a four-step program to help authors market their books effectively on social media while Jami Gold is all about helping writers choose the best editors.
Finally, we get some perspective on POV from both Donald Maass and Chris Winkle, and Anne R. Allen explains why she writes first chapters last.
This week, Kristen Lamb and John Gilstrap talk story synopses to attract agents while Cynthia Shannon offers tips to engage readers on Goodreads.
We blur the line between science and science fiction with Veronica Sicoe and Kate Gwynne, who respectively explore interstellar communication and storytelling through virtual reality.
Amazon initiates new rules regarding reviews, while a common question is answered about the quality of self-published versus traditionally published books.
Janice Hardy and K.M. Weiland talk about tricks, surprises, and honesty in our fiction.
