THURSDAY LINKS ~ Reads on Writing, Self-publishing, and Better Living: Mastering Self-Control

Quote of the day

What we do, and how well we control our attention in the service of our goals, becomes part of the environment that we help create and that in turn influences us. This mutual influence shapes who and what we become, from our physical and mental health to the quality and length of our life.

~ Walter Mischel, author of The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control

WRITING

• How to write YA fiction: 10 YA tips, Now Novel | Tweet

Young adult fiction, also known as YA, is a very popular fiction category, but how much do you really know about it? Here are 10 facts about writing YA that may be of interest if you are thinking of tackling this type of fiction.

→Writing Great Books for Young Adults: Everything You Need to Know, from Crafting the Idea to Getting Published

•  The key to writing good action scenes (Hint: it’s not just the action), HWBA | Tweet

This week’s video shows you how you can mimicJurassic Park in streamlining your narrative and keeping your action scenes tight.

→Action! Writing Better Action Using Cinematic Techniques

• Solutions for common writing mistakes: Runaway word counts, Write on sisters  | Tweet

Why are word counts such a big problem? The costs of printing and distributing longer books has just gotten too high, and most new writers can’t garner the necessary level of confidence from a publisher to gamble on a 150,000 word tome. Not when the publisher can increase their chances of turning a profit by printing two or three shorter books.

→Make Every Word Count: A Guide to Writing That Works–For Fiction and Nonfiction

• Before You Climax by Chris Eboch, Romance University |  Tweet

At its most basic level, a story should have three parts: beginning, middle, and end.

→Story Climax: How to Avoid Disappointed Audiences and Craft a Screenplay or Novel Climax Which Thrills and Delights (Story Structure Essentials)

SCREENWRITING

• 30 Things about screenwriting: If you write a great script…, Go Into The Story |  Tweet

Hollywood will find you. Sale. Option. Representation. Writing sample. Writing assignments. Any/all of the above.

→33 Ways to Sell Your Screenplay!: How to Get Your Screenwriting on the Market and Start a Career as a Screenwriter

• How descriptive narration gets written, John August |  Tweet

While the screenplay is a good starting place for captions, descriptive narration really depends on the finished work.

→Narration in the Fiction Film

SELF-PUBLISHING

• How to promote your book–politely, Just Publishing |  Tweet

Being flooded with ‘Please read my book’ and ‘check out my new book now’ requests on various forums, I thought it may be time to scribble a few hints for new self-published authors. I am so tempted to title this list of hints ‘Don’t piss people off before they’ve discovered your book’, but I won’t. Instead I’ll settle for this.

→Book Marketing, Book Trailers and Author Etiquette in a Nutshell

• What authors actually think of Amazon’s ‘Pay-Per-Page’ Model, Reedsy |  Tweet

It turns out that the main thing that the media have been forgetting to say is that Amazon’s change is actually prompted by authors requesting it.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

• 10 Ways I learn from Serena Williams, James Altucher |  Tweet

Here’s some quotes from Serena that I’ve learned from.

→My Life: Queen of the Court

PSYCHOLOGY

• What would I eliminate if I had a magic wand? Overconfidence, The Guardian |  Tweet

The psychologist and bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow reveals his new research and talks about prejudice, fleeing the Nazis, and how to hold an effective meeting.

SCIENCE

• No good deed goes unpunished, The Economist |  Tweet

Self-control improves your prospects. But it may harm your health.

→The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control

SUCCESS

• A secret to Donald Trump’s success that you simply can’t replicate, The Washington Post |  Tweet

Donald J. Trump, whose father was a wealthy New York real estate developer and whose firms have gone bankrupt four times since 1993, has argued that his successes as a businessman qualify him for the Oval Office.

→Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life

ART

• The feeling of finishing, More Intelligent Life |  Tweet

We don’t think too much about paintings happening over time. For most of the history of painting, the making of it is not what’s being brought to our attention. A painting exists as a sealed entity, always ready, always fresh for us to view it, again and again and again. Unless something bad happens, it remains essentially the same. Finished. Even if we don’t like the work, we assume it’s supposed to look like that.

→The Iceberg: A Memoir