Links of Interest to Writers

Having trouble with your setting? Here are some tips from The Book Professor.

The Importance of Setting in Your Story
by Nancy L. Erickson on the BookBaby Blog. @BookBaby

Links of Interest to Writers

Advice for choosing where to place your characters!

Location, Location, Location by Deborah Dee Harper at AuthorCulture

Links of Interest to Writers

Reading, writing, reading about writing, writing about reading, reading good writing, repeat!

Here are three articles I found interesting:

• Using Google's "My Maps" to Keep Track of All the Locations in Your Novel Aliventures @aliventures 

• Dazzling Dialogue:  The 9 No's You Must Avoid  Jerry B. Jenkins, @jerrybjenkins

• Should Main Characters be Flawless?  A. J. Humpage  @AJHumpage

Links of Interest to Writers

Love to write? Here are some great articles about writing!

• Writers Helping Writers:  Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment:  Using a Hero's Emotions to Transform Them by Angela Ackerman @AngelaAckerman

• Mythic Scribes:  Names in Fantasy - 3 Ways to Invent Names for Characters and Creatures by Grace Robinson @StorytellerGRL @Mythicscribes

• Writer's Circle:  6 Free Writing Podcasts 

• Charlotte Rains Dixon:  Building Your Fictonal World @Wordstrumpet

• Lynnette LaBelle:  8 Things to Do Before Launching a Book @LynnetteLaBelle

• Bestseller Labs:  10 Key Questions That Can Determine Your Success As a Writer by Jonathan Gunson @JonathanGunson

Links of Interest to Writers

A little writing inspiration for your muse.

• Julie Musil:  Writing Retreats:  The Benefits, and How You Can Plan One Without Going Broke by Dean K. Miller @DeanKMiller @juliemusil

• Open Road Media:  The 12 Best Writing Fellowships & Retreats in the US @OpenRoadMedia

• Cynsations:  Guest Post:  Author-Editor Deborah Halverson on Setting, Wherefore Art Thou? @Dear_Editor @CynLeitichSmith

• Moody Writing:  Scene Simpatico @mooderino "Putting the reader into the character's shoes..."

• QueryTracker:  Books We Can't Live Without:  The Writer Version by Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL Great suggestions if you're looking for books on craft!

• Writer's Digest/Brian Klems' Blog:  The 5 C's of Writing a Great Thriller Novel by James Scott Bell @WritersDigest @BrianKlems @jamesscottbell 

Links of Interest to Writers

Here's a little writing inspiration for your reading pleasure.

• Lauren Sapala:  Trimming the Fat (a post about time) @losapala

• Seekerville:  Settings That Captivate Readers by Janet Dean @lihauthor

• Writing is Hard Work:  Dialogue and Description:  The Delicate Balance by Roger Colby @RogerDColby

• Positive Writer:  A Crazy Myth Writers Need to Kill by Bryan Hutchinson @ADDerWORLD

• Kayla Curry:  My Self-Publishing Journal:  The Costs @KaylaCurry1

• Sandy Appleyard:  Email Subscribers Lists:  The Why and The How @SandyAppleyard

Links of Interest to Writers

Here's to reading about good writing!

• GalleyCat:  George R. R. Martin's Writing Tips by Dianna Dilworth

• TED:  How to Build a Fictional World by Kate Messner

• Writing.ie:  Ten Truths About Being a Writer by Hazel Gaynor

• Brain Pickings:  John Green's Superb Advice to Aspiring Writers & Creators in the Digital Age by Maria Popova

• Write To Done:  How to Start a Novel by Mary Jaksch

• The Write Now! Coach:  A Quick Way to Create a Business Plan (For Writers) by Rochelle Melander

Links of Interest to Writers

Here are a few articles about writing you might find useful.

• Writers Helping Writers:  Conflict vs Tension by Becca Puglisi

• The Write Practice:  What is an Idiom? Funny Examples by Liz Bureman
• Wikipedia:  List of English-language Idioms

• Poets & Writers:  Literary Magazine Database

• Ploughshares:  14 Ways to Tick Off a Writer by Rebecca Makkai

• Buffer:  What Storytelling Does to Our Brains

• Brian Klem's Writer's Digest Blog:  How to Make Your Setting a Character

Links of Interest to Writers

Read, read, read, write, write, write, revise, revise, revise - the cycle of life!

• File this under creative ways with books! Mental Floss:  13 Sculptures Made Out of Books

• PiBoldMo Day 12:  Elizabeth Rose Stanton Procrastidoodles

• Lauren Sapala:  Taking Emotions Risks in Your Writing

• Publisher's Weekly:  Best Children's Books of 2013

• PUB(Lishing) Crawl:  A Peek at an Editor's To-Do List by Jordan Hamessley London

• The League of Extraordinary Writers:  Building a Story From Atmosphere by Bethany Hagen

Links of Interest to Writers

Here's to good writing! (And to good reading about writing!)

• Books & Such Literary Agency:  Are You in This for the Long Haul? by Rachelle Gardner

• Galley Cat:  Manuscript Wish Lists Hashtag Returns (on Twitter) by Jason Boog

• Prescription for Murder:  Prologues - To Use or Not to Use! by James J. Murray

• Jane Friedman:  Why Don't Publishers Believe in Author Websites? 

• Lauren Sapala:  Bring the Storm! How Ugly Emotions Can Ignite Your Setting

• LitReactor:  How Precocious is Too Precocious? Writing Smart But Believable Kids by Leah Dearborn

• Script:  Writing Wrap Up: You Can Do It - Setting Writing Goals by Paula Landry (This article is about writing films, but can easily be adapted to any writing!)

• Writer's Digest/Guide to Literary Agents:  5 Easy Steps to Conquer the Heartache of Rejection by Jessica Anya Blau

Bookshelf Muse - Emotion Thesaurus

At the Bookshelf Muse blog, located under Writing Resources on the left of this blog because of it’s value to writers, you will find three thesauruses (thesauri?) that you will visit time and time again. These include:

Emotion Thesaurus – long lists of physical actions that people exhibit with particular emotions.
         Ex: “Amusement: a quirked eyebrow or raised eyebrows; a snort of laughter; a chuckle, chortle or guffaw’ a wide grin; eyes squinting, lit with an inner glow or twinkle of mischief; a bemused smile…”

Setting Description Thesaurus - Sensory information for numerous settings.
     Ex: sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch for locations such as alley, amusement park, bakery, beach, forest, graveyard, hospital, locker room, mountains, etc.

Color, Textures and Shapes Thesaurus - Categories here include: black, green, silver, bumpy, crumbly, foamy/spongy, fuzzy, gritty, rectangle, saw-edged/serrated, etc.