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Showing posts from July, 2012

Tuesday Choice Words

Tuesday rolls around again and I have more interesting links for you. Five Surefire Ways To Make Your Characters Stand Out From The Crowd from Writers' Village is well worth a read. The 5 Words That Will Inspire Your Writing by Rebecca Woodhead is a great motivational post. This is another post by Rebecca, Are You Scared of Falling? As writers, 'fear' can be a major obstacle. Have a listen to this companionable podcast for some advice on getting over that hurdle. Surviving Second Draft Hell from The Lit Coach is fast becoming something I'll have to consider and this post really encouraged me. Have a read. How (and When!) to Kill Your Darlings from Writers Village is a wonderfully frank article on whether or not we should 'kill our darlings' and if so, how best to do it.

Loving the Monster

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There used to be a time when the appearance of a monster was a reason to run away screaming or at the very least hide behind the sofa. Daleks trundled around with their half-throttled calls of  'exterminate'. Werewolves ripped off their own skin then the throats of their victims. Vampires just wouldn't take no for an answer. They gave us nightmares and made cellars the worse place to be. The darkness became peopled with demons and graveyards were rife with zombies. But somewhere over the last decade or so, our attitude to monsters has changed. We want to understand them. We want to explain their bad behaviour. Ultimately, we want to love them. Of course this 'relating' to the monster started much earlier than this century in the novel ' Frankenstein ' written by Mary Shelley. If you read this book within a book within a book, you will come to the conclusion that the true monster is Frankenstein himself. His creation simply tries to survive and through

Tuesday Choice Words

This week's Tuesday Choice Words post is a little different. Rather than listing links to pages on blogs and websites, what I have for you  is a range of podcasts from Iain Broome, author of A for Angelica . All of the podcasts last between approximately 30 and 45 minutes. So turn on the speakers and have a listen. Decisions, decisions and author websites Call yourself a writer? Making money from your side project Being a confident writer

Mike Leigh on Script Writing

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I came across this clip of the British writer and director Mike Leigh  talking about the script writing process on the Amateur Stage Magazine site today. We should always remember that a script is not an entity in itself but just one element in the end performance.

Tuesday Choice Words

Blood on the Tracks by Shawn Coyne discusses the difficulty writers have in talking about their creations, among other things. Are We Stripping Modern Books Bare? by Nathan Bransford questions whether the advice to remove anything unessential from a book's plot is the way to go. On Publishing: The Balance Found In Small-Press Publishing  by David B Coe on the Magical Words site talks about self publishing, traditional publishing and what he feels is the road in between. 16 Ways to Battle Writer's Block from Where Writers win is a helpful infographic for writers. Back Away at the End from Writerly Life discusses how to not over-analyse your work.

Finding your Tribe

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We all like to belong. It's a human urge that goes back to our earliest beginnings. We need each other to survive. As a writer, it can sometimes feel as if we're making this wonderful journey alone. Unless we have a partner, friends or family members who write, we can feel misunderstood and undervalued. When I was in my late teens, I had a boyfriend who would sneeringly dismiss my writing aspirations because to him, writers were unobtainable celebrities on a par with movie stars. They were on a different planet, of a separate species even. I was just normal, everyday Fiona. How could I possibly ever be a writer? Writing requires us to go inside ourselves - our imagination, our knitting together of information, our creation of worlds. It is a necessary part of the process and yet, ultimately, isolating. We wish for support and feedback but we often fear to share our work in case it is rejected or dismissed. We are the peculiar individuals crammed into a coffee shop corne

Photo Inspiration for July

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Tuesday Choice Words

The Laziest Way to Find a Winning Plot on the Writers Village blog suggests a fresh approach to finding inspiration. Your Writer's Manifesto from The Lit Coach asks you to think about what you want in your writer's life. 16 Ways to Battle Writers Block is an interesting infographic from Where Writers Win. Build Your Facebook Author Page: 10 Steps to Success from Where Writers Win is an informative article on doing just what it says. On promotion: Events from Magical Worlds talks about publicising your books through bookstore events.

Make Good Art

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I came across this recent video completely by accident. Neil Gaiman is one of my writing heroes. This is not only down to his wonderful talent but also his incredible approach to creativity and writing in particular. Make Good Art

Flashpoints

The Flashpoints site describes itself as, a site-specific mass writing event. What you will see when you visit Flashpoints is a series of photographs of pieces of writing left on a coffee house table, a beach and many other locations. Flashpoints began as a run up event to National Flash Fiction Day in May of this year but rather than let it die there, it's carried on. Simply put, you: decide on a location to visit, go there armed with pen and paper, find inspiration in your surroundings, write your flash, take a photo of your piece of writing in its location, and send the evidence to Flashpoints. If ever I needed an excuse to get some more writing done, then I think I've found it. It's also an excellent reason to spend a little quality time at my local coffee shop. Now, where did I put that notepad?

Tuesday Choice Words

Creative well running dry? Try a writing prompt  from the Write It Sideways site is about what it's title suggests. Susan Bearman offers a miscellany of place online and off to find inspiration. 11 ideal times to write is from the Raven Blog which I only recently found. Please enjoy the music while your party is reached from The Lit Coach suggests ideas for what to do why you wait for a response from an agent or publisher, especially over the summer. Cut Out the Dreams from Writerly Life suggests that dreams are such personally experienced things, they shouldn't be included in stories. What do you think? Audience, Access, Advertising is a very relevant article for writers from Chris Brogan.