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Quote of the day
Aristotle was especially aware of the importance of this benevolent form of self-love, when he wrote, “All friendly feelings for others are an extension of man’s feelings for himself.”
~ROMAN KRZNARIC, author of Empathy: Why It Matters, and How to Get It
WRITING
- Voices in My Head, or Conversations with Fictional Characters By Becke Martin Davis, Romance University | Tweet
Where do our heroes and heroines go, once we’ve read through their struggles and cheered their happy endings? Are they out there in the ether, waiting for new readers to find them? Or do they live somewhere over the rainbow, where fictional characters meet up with others from their genre, sharing wine and comparing book covers? I can picture those newly minted couples sailing into the sunset, but what about the couples who never quite got to the land of HEAs?
Genres of writing serve multiple purposes. Classifying a book by genre signals to potential readers whether your story fits their reading interests. When a book has an identifiable genre, publishers can also market it to the right readers more effectively. Here are some reasons why you need to identify a genre for your book and some of the most popular fiction genres.
When You’re Stuck In Your First Draft, Go Teen Writers | Tweet
Most writers have a place in the first draft process where they find themselves stuck. By now it’s happened to me enough that I’ve leanred some ways to handle it.
After the First Draft: Secrets of Revision
- What is high concept?, Writers in the Storm | Tweet
We’ve all seen the examples: Wizard School, Dinosaur Park, Titanic. Don’t shudder everyone, high concept is back. Whether it was ever “out” is somewhat debatable. We see it on agent’s manuscript wish lists, in rejection letters, in publisher submission pages. Everyone seems to want a compelling pitch, to heck with characters and world-building and coming-of-age, right? Not so fast.
SCREENWRITING
- Two types of TV stories, Flying Wrestler | Tweet
Somehow an article I wrote for Script Magazine a while back never got added to my own website — and it’s about an important topic that I teach TV writers about all the time: the two different kinds of TV stories, and why it’s important to know which kind you’re writing, and which kind your show is based on.
Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling
- Interview: Lori Evans Taylor, Go Into The Story | Tweet
I reached out to friend of the blog Chris Sparling, whose screenwriting credits include Buried, ATM, The Sea of Trees, and The Atticus Institute which he also directed. Chris is adding the role of producer to his credits with “Bed Rest”. He got me in touch with Lori and we ended up having a great one-hour conversation.
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need
SELF-PUBLISHING
- The Best way to sell books: Follow this marketing rule, The Write Life | Tweet
Want to know why most writers are unsuccessful at marketing their books?
5 Stories about Publishing that are No Longer True (and maybe never were), Books By Women | Tweet
Maybe all professions like to scare young hopefuls — to weed the flock, so to speak — and the publishing industry, notorious for its gloom and doom predictions, is no exception.
Self Publishing: My rules to staying alive and making money
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
- Power of Empathy: 3 Ways Empathy Can Improve Your Life, Barking Up the Wrong Tree | Tweet
Does it ever feel like people are all self-absorbed jerks? Like they’re not listening? Only in it for themselves? You’re not crazy. Empathy is declining.
Empathy: Why It Matters, and How to Get It
MINDFULNESS
The Downside of Mindfulness, Pacific Standard | Tweet
New research finds it makes us more susceptible to false memories.
Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
PSYCHOLOGY
- Why we compete, The Atlantic | Tweet
A scientific looks at people’s obsessions with besting their peers.
How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing to Make it in Today’s Global Economy
RELATIONSHIPS
- Is Modern Dating the Worst?, Science Friday | Tweet
In 1967, 76 percent of women said they would marry someone they didn’t romantically love. This is a figure that shocked comedian Aziz Ansari while working on his book, Modern Romance.
BUSINESS
- Why Ikea causes so much relationship tension, The Atlantic | Tweet
The stylish, idealized home in the store’s showroom “literally becomes a map of a relationship nightmare,” says one psychologist.