[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] The first sentence of your book is to convince readers that they have to read the second. -Eric Simonoff. [/perfectpullquote]
WRITING
Knowing how to get inspired to write quickly will help you rediscover your creative spark when you feel stuck. Here are 8 ways to reconnect with your storytelling gift.
It is rather unfair that authors of historical books are so often at the receiving end of criticism.
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Voice and vision
All about prefixes, Writers Write | Tweet
A prefix is added in front of a word or a root to create a new word. By adding a prefix, you enhance or change its meaning.
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- 4 Crucial yearnings to enrich and deepen your characters, Fiction Notes | Tweet
When we develop characters, we know the drill. You must know what your character wants. But as I’ve worked on my current novel, I wasn’t getting to the heart of the character the way I wanted. So, I switched up the wording and asked, “What does this character yearn for?”
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Creating characters
How novelists can benefit from using cinematic scene structure, Live Write Thrive | Tweet
Continuity also involves how you are moving your characters around, which should be done with deliberate intention, for specific reasons. And this is where cinematic technique comes in.
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Emotional Wound Entry: Being Publicly Humiliated, Writers Helping Writers | Tweet
When you’re writing a character, it’s important to know why she is the way she is. Knowing her backstory is important to achieving this end, and one of the most
impactful pieces of a character’s backstory is her emotional wound.
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The emotion thesaurus
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SCREENWRITING
- Why haven’t you finished that script?, Going into the story | Tweet
The simple fact is an unfinished script is nothing but potential. And nothing but potential is… nothing.
- The great secret of death, Going to the story | Tweet
Just as we require Night to help define Day, and Evil to shape our perception of Good, so too Death to understand Life.
- Meet the reader: Eight screenwriting scams to avoid, Script Mag | Tweet
Screenwriting is and art and a craft, but it is also a profession – one that takes newcomers a while to get the hang of. Fortunately, there are a lot of good folks out there willing to help and guide and mentor up-and-comers. Unfortunately, there are also some not-so-good folks out there looking to take advantage of aspirants’ naïveté and inexperience.
- True Crime Writing: The devil is in the details, Script Mag | Tweet
That’s because the best true crime stories capture all aspects of a criminal, not just the ones we normally associate with predators or psychopaths. Very often, the best true crime stories illicit sympathy for a criminal’s origins, or, at least an understanding of how and why they committed their crimes. I mean, as Norman Bates famously once said in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho: “We all go a little crazy sometimes.”
Creating characters: The case against character arcs, Script Mag | Tweet
It’s funny to me that the biz is filled with individuals who purport themselves to be “open minded”; yet, when it comes to the art of storytelling, they’re the most close-minded formula freaks you’ll ever meet.
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SELF-PUBLISHING
- 11 Reasons indie authors need social media, The Book Designer | Tweet
You’ve heard it a million times (or at least several hundred times): Indie authors need to use social media as part of their online marketing strategy.
- How to maximize goodreads giveaways, Author Marketing Experts | Tweet
The giveaway page is divided up into three tabs: Ending soon; Most Requested, Popular Authors, and Recently Listed. The idea is to be in one or both of those categories.
4 Lessons for authors on the current state of publishing, Jane Friedman | Tweet
An author’s online presence is more critical than ever to long-term marketing strategy.
Why does Amazon now own the ebook market?, Just Publishing Advice | Tweet
Because its competitors are totally inept!
How to use Amazon’s giveaways feature to spike sales rank and sell more books, Creativindie | Tweet
If an Amazon giveaway reaches new readers, it might be worthwhile, so I decided to test it.
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