WRITING
- How to write dialect, Elizabeth Spann Craig | Tweet
What determines a heavy accent is who is listening! If the person listening speaks the same as you, then you won’t notice an accent. If the person listening has never heard anyone speak like you, then YOU have a heavy accent.
- Emotional Wounds Entry: Being the Victim of a Vicious Rumor, Writers Helping Writers | Tweet
Characters, like real people, are unique, and will respond to wounding events differently. The vast array of possible emotional wounds combined with each character’s personality gives you many options in terms of how your character will turn out.
- Building a Great First Chapter with NYT Bestselling Author Beth Revis, Writers Helping Writers | Tweet
The two most important chapters of a novel for most readers are the first chapter and the last chapter. The first chapter hooks the reader; the last chapter hooks the reader for your next book.
Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 45: Avoiding “Said”, Helping Writers Become Authors | Tweet
What’s this, you say? Avoiding “said” is one of the most common writing mistakes? How can that be? Surely writers overuse this ubiquitous little word more often than not, don’t they?
How Writing Quickly Can Improve Your Storytelling, Kristen Lamb’s Blog | Tweet
As I mentioned in a post last week, I’m a huge fan of Fast Draft. Candy Havens teaches this technique, and it works. Write your novel in two weeks a month, whatever, but write fast and furious. No looking back. Always forward. You can fix stuff later.
- How to learn fiction-writing techniques with less pain & frustration, Jody Hedlund | Tweet
The truth is yes, sometimes we can try too hard to follow the rules and in the process get discouraged or end up with sterile writing. Sometimes we’re at risk of losing our individuality and creativity when we try to make ourselves fit into a prescribed structure.
Here’s How to Beat Writer’s Block and Get Back to Work, The Write Life | Tweet
I’ve always made lists to help me write. I keep lists of historical details for stories set in different eras, figures of speech I happen to like, and names for future characters.
Story Alchemy: Lessons from Breaking Bad, Writer Unboxed | Tweet
Vince Gilligan knew he had a concept he could run with when he conceived of a story arc that would take a typical family-man character and turn him into Scarface. While we might not have such dramatic arcs in our own story worlds, there are lessons here we can all apply to our work
- The untrue truth of ‘Write what you know’, Terrible Minds | Tweet
If you’ve read anything about how to write, you’ve probably stumbled across the old chestnut “write what you know.” Being someone of fine taste and refinement, seeing as you’re here at Chuck’s place, you’ve probably also figured out for yourself that this advice is thin at best and downright untrue at its worst.
- November Writing Prompts, Writers Write | Tweet
- The best first line of your novel, The Write Practice | Tweet
The blank page and blinking cursor is one of the most intimidating things for me as a writer. What’s in a first line? Is it supposed to be meaningful? Insightful? A play on words?
Are Genre Conventions Important?, Go Teen Writers | Tweet
Genre Conventions are story elements such as archetypes, formulas, or structures common to specific genres. These factors not only define each genre or subgenre, then define reader expectations. If a reader picks up a romance novel, she will have different expectations for the story than she would have for a horror novel.
How to “Fix” Unlikable Characters, The Write Practice | Tweet
Here’s the deal: if you don’t like your character, your reader won’t, either. Fortunately, I have three quick tips that will fix that unlikable character.
- Your Top 7 First Draft Dilemmas — Fixed!, Writers Write | Tweet
Starting a draft of a new novel is always daunting, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned writer. There are some first draft ‘traps’ that await us all — they’re easy to fall into, and difficult to recover from. If you’re able to recognise them, you’ll be able to avoid them or write your way out of them quicker.
Related books:
- Writing dialect
- The Anatomy of Story
- The Art of Storytelling: Easy Steps to Presenting an Unforgettable Story
- The Classic Guide to Better Writing
- The Technique of Fiction Writing
- Writing Scary Scenes
- Character, Emotion & Viewpoint
- The Negative Trait Thesaurus
- Beginnings, middles & ends
SCREENWRITING
The wrongness of “No one knows anything”, The Bitter Script Reader | Tweet
Out in the screenwriting blogosphere and Twitter-sphere, you’ll find a lot of great people, but you’ll also find a non-zero number of complete idiots. After nearly seven years at this, I’ve gotten good enough at recognizing the signs of the worst of those people and I tend to just not even engage them. One thing I’ve found to be rather consistent among my least-favorite members of that population is their tendency to respond to any counter-point with “No one knows anything.”
- What Producers Are Really Thinking and Talking About, Script Mag | Tweet
Selling a screenplay is not for the faint of heart. It takes a brilliant and well-crafted screenplay, as well as perseverance, moxie, and sometimes just good old-fashioned luck to get your work read and considered for production. While the odds of getting a script made are indeed staggering, knowing how the film industry works will give you an edge over the competition.
- SPECS & THE CITY: Character Introductions and ‘Silence of the Lambs’, Script Mag | Tweet
Screenwriters have it beat into them early by all of the gurus out there to never write anything that can’t be shown on the screen. This is good advice overall but, as with everything else, the real key is getting to the point in your craft where you know when (and how) to ignore it. Your character introductions are one of those places.
- Worst to First: Every James Bond Movie Ranked, ScreenCrush | Tweet
This Friday, James Bond returns to movie theaters in Spectre, starring Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming’s secret agent 007, license to kill. In this installment, Bond will do battle with the forces of SPECTRE, a criminal organization hellbent on world domination.
- Zero Draft Thirty: Trust the Process, Go Into The Story | Tweet
Write an entire first draft of a script in November — FADE IN to FADE OUT in 30 days. Feature length movie screenplay. Original TV pilot. Rewrite a current project. Break a story in prep. Generate a month’s worth of story concepts. Whatever you feel will ratchet your creative ambitions into overdrive, do THAT!
- Interview (Video): Emma Thompson, Go Into The Story | Tweet
A BAFTA screenwriting lecture by Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Nanny McPhee).
- Video: “What advice do you have for screenwriters?”, Go Into The Story | Tweet
Literally every single piece of advice in this video is directly relevant to what we do. Watch and learn from the likes of Aaron Sorkin, Drew Goddard, Seth Rogen, Matt Charman, Danny Boyle, Sarah Silverman, Brie Larson, Jeff Daniels, and Steven Spielberg.
- The idea is everything, Flying Wrestler | Tweet
I’ve consistently found that most of the notes I have on any script I read — and certainly all of the most important ones — are notes I would have had on the basic idea behind the story, if it had been pitched to me before it was written.
Related books:
- The 90-Day Screenplay: from concept to polish
- Essentials of Screenwriting
- Selling your film without selling your soul
- Screenwriting is rewriting
- Screenwriting behind enemy lines
- Tough Love Screenwriting
- 33 Ways to Sell your Screenplay
SELF-PUBLISHING
Kindle Scams Are Still Making Easy Money, Just Publishing Advice | Tweet
Kindle scams are rife because they work. Forget affiliate marketing, phishing and blog comment spam as a way to make a few bucks, because Kindle scams are the easiest way to make money on the Internet.
- Will Amazon Kindle Unlimited Royalties Reduce To Near Nothing?, Just Publishing Advice | Tweet
Amazon Kindle Unlimited announced today by email to authors that they will charge $3.00 for Amazon Kindle Unlimited membership for Indian customers.
Demystifying Amazon Categories, Themes and Keywords – Part 1 of 2, Author Marketing Experts | Tweet
Demystifying Amazon Categories, Themes and Keywords – Part 2 of 2, Author Marketing Experts | Tweet
To most authors, Amazon is really confusing. There seems to never be a clear path to success and once there is some clarity, the path changes yet again. As an author AND marketer I feel your pain! However, understanding how Amazon works is empowering, and I’ve made it my mission to help you decipher the site. In a two part series I’ll discuss the differences between keywords, categories, and themes on Amazon. And how you can implement them to your book’s advantage!
Why Do Amazon Sell More Ebooks Than Other Retailers?, Just Publishing Advice | Tweet
Because they involve readers, give them useful and detailed information, and make buying an ebook simple, that’s why. Forget all the talk about monopolies and aggressive marketing. Amazon sell more ebooks than any other retailer because they involve their readers in the process and enjoyment of reading, and on almost any device via the Kindle app.
EFT Royalty Payments For More Createspace Authors, Just Publishing Advice | Tweet
EFT royalty payments have at long last been made available to more authors publishing on Createspace.
How To Use Pinterest to Create Visual Inspiration for Your Story, Jennifer Blanchard | Tweet
Pinterest is a great tool for creating visual inspiration for your stories. I like to create a board for the story I’m working on, to help me capture the essence or feeling of a place, character, etc. And it helps to have visuals for when I need to describe things (since I’m a bare-bones writer and rarely ever add description ’til later).
Building Buzz Before Your Book Comes Out: 10 Strategies That Work, Writer’s Digest | Tweet
If you’ve got a book scheduled for release, whether it’s traditionally published or indie-published, the onus is on you to promote it. Here are some helpful strategies for making a big splash by using social media to build buzz before your book comes out.
- The Hottest Self-Publishing Platform? Twitter!, Indie Reader | Tweet
There’s something bittersweet in that tantalizing wait to be satisfied by a narrative’s conclusion—to feel that one is part of the story, able to gossip and theorize possibilities with other fans throughout the experience.
Related books:
- 2015 Guide to Self-publishing
- A Detailed Guideline to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers
- How I Sold 80,000 Books
- Self-publishing Tips and Tricks
- The Fine Print of Self-Publishing
- The Self-publishing road map
- Self-publishing for dummies