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Merce Cardus

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LinkFest ~ Best Reads on Writing, Screenwriting & Self-Publishing: Writer’s Block Is Just An Excuse

in Reads on Writing & Self-Publishing on 15/01/16

Best Reads on Writing & Selfpublishing 14

WRITING

 

  • Scene Structure: Your Opening Scene, Live Write Thrive | Tweet

One of the main points discussed in previous posts involved picking just the right starting place to begin your book. This means the story starts in present action, in the middle of something happening, with your POV character right in the situation and revealing her (or his) fears, dreams, needs, or goals and the obstacle that is in the way and presenting a problem
Related content:
Making a scene

  • 3 Keys to regain your writing habits, The Write Practice | Tweet

You know what has momentum? A train. Those things don’t stop easily, not even when someone applies the brakes. It’s my pleasure to tell you writing is much the same way.

Related content:
The 8-minute writing habit

  • How to write fabulous dialogue in 5 easy steps, Writers Write  | Tweet

In short, don’t plan. Go for it, but remember dialogue has a function.

Related content:

How to write dazzling dialogue


  • 7 Tips for using hands-on research to enrich your writing, Writer’s Digest | Tweet

When you’re writing about a new world, your readers will have an easier time making the jump from reality to fantasy if you can use telling details to win their trust. And that means that you should travel to new places and seek experiences and local culture that will enrich your writing. The key? Using all your senses.

Related content:

The Craft of Research


  • Relating Pronouns, The Write Practice | Tweet

Oh, relative pronouns. You crazy, crazy kids. You can cause so much frustration with your misplaced thats, whos, and whichs. Let’s have a chat and sort you all out, shall we?

Related content:

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation


  • How to write a chapter, Now Novel | Tweet

What is a chapter? A numbered or titled section of a book. Many aspiring writers have questions on how to write a chapter. How long should chapters be? What is the best way to start or end them?  Why is it necessary to divide a book up this way in the first place?

Related content:

Outline to ending


  • How to find the heart of your character, Go Teen Writers | Tweet

One of the biggest struggles of starting a new story is feeling like you don’t know these characters yet. Just like how in real life there’s no way to magically understand someone the moment you meet them, developing all the pieces of your character and understanding their nature is a process that requires time and patience.

Related content:

The Art of Character


  • The Re-Readability factor: Does your book have it?, Helping Writers Become Authors | Tweet

Writers accept that what’s gonna happen next? is the most important question in fiction. Implicit in that question is the suggestion that writers need to prevent readers from guessing the story’s ending.

Related content:

How to write a killer novel ending


  • Emotional Wound: Finding out one is adopted, 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.

Related content:

The Emotion Thesaurus


+ Related books:

  • How to write dazzling dialogue
  • Writing success: Your book from start to finish to publication
  • Outlining your novel
  • Writing deep point of view
  • The art of memoir
  • Reading like a Writer 
  • Rock your revisions
  • The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression

 SCREENWRITING

 

  • Why naming a TV Show can be so hard, IndieWire | Tweet

Producer Rand Ravich reveals all about his new Fox sci-fi drama, which has an unusual spin on the Frankenstein story.


  • Are screenplay contests any good or not?, Go Into The Story | Tweet

There are a few reasons why entering contests may make sense for some writers.


  • Power Revision, Script Mag | Tweet

A novelist once confessed to me that he wrote his first drafts whispering “Genius! Genius!” Then, as he watched his printer extrude the last page, he was confident that the entire novel—this time—had spilled out perfectly and would need no revision. A day or two later, he would read the draft and want to shoot himself. 


  • Where story begins–premise, Script Mag | Tweet

In the beginning, there was darkness. A void. Most writers spend an endless amount of time staring at a blank page, waiting for ideas to come to them. There’s this great line from the movie Real Genius, “You can’t dictate innovation.” Yet that’s how most writers work. 


  • 5 Wrong writing beliefs that will hold you back, Script Mag | Tweet

So, here’s 5 of the most common plain WRONG writing beliefs I see holding writers back on a daily basis. Hold on to your hats, here we go.


Related books:

  • Super Structure: The key to unleashing the power of story
  • Screenplay: The foundations of screenwriting
  • Essentials of screenwriting
  • Screenwriting: The sequence approach
  • 33 Ways to sell your screenplay
  • The eight characters of comedy

SELF-PUBLISHING

 

  • Dictating a book? Tips for editing the first draft, The Book Designer | Tweet

Dictation has become a popular method for laying down a first draft. Barbara Cartland and Voltaire did it, James Patterson and Dan Brown are doing it, and popular self-publishing author Joanna Penn is determined to try it.


  • How writers can optimize their book’s description on Amazon, Jane Friedman | Tweet

If you’re an author, you may not like thinking about your published books as products, but that’s what they are. And the description section on your book’s product page is the most important selling tool you have.


  • How to maintain a good ebook sales rank, Just Publishing | Tweet

Maintaining a solid sales ranking for your ebook on Kindle in particular, is one of the key elements in making ongoing ebook sales.


  • How to turn your book into a multimedia course, The Creative Penn | Tweet

While online education has been popular for years in the online marketing space, it has suddenly boomed in the author world along with other craft and hobby niches.


  • Tips for writing Amazon Reviews, Author Marketing Experts | Tweet

Here are some tips you can share with those who want to post something about your book.


Related books:

  • Self Publishing: My rules to staying alive and making money
  • How I sold 80,000 books
  • Write. Publish. Repeat: The no-luck-required guide to self-publishing success
  • Createspace & Kindle Self Publishing Masterclass
  • The Self-Publishing Road Map

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