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Quote of the day
When asked about what they regret most in the last six months, people tend to identify actions that didn’t meet expectations. But when asked about what they regret most when they look back on their lives as a whole, people tend to identify failures to act.
~BARRY SCHWARTZ, author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
WRITING
3 Things I Learned About Writing: Analyzing Stephen King’s IT, Writer’s Digest | Tweet
This reoccurring column takes the classic writing advice “good writers are good readers” and puts it to work, by looking at books across all time periods and all genres to find techniques that we can apply in our own work. This installment examines Stephen King’s iconic horror novel, IT.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
The unreliable narrator is a useful fiction device for creating surprise in your story and avoiding predictability. Here are some ways that unreliable narrators can be used to shape a novel’s form or to surprise and build tension in the reader.
“A great butler”: the unreliable narrator in Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day”
First, we need to figure out precisely what the participle phrase is. A participle (sans the “phrase”) is a verb used as a noun or a modifier (e.g., setting sun, broken window). A participle is the foundational word within the participal phrase.
The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment
How to Let Your Characters Move The Story Forward, Go Teen Writers | Tweet
It struck me several years ago that middles are hard to write because it’s where all the story stuff happens. Unlike the beginning of the novel, I’m no longer just foreshadowing, hinting, and setting things in motion.
The Art of Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV
SCREENWRITING
- MEET THE READER: Spec Script No Nos, Script Mag | Tweet
There are two reasons to write a spec script. The first, of course, is to sell it to a studio or a producer so they can (hopefully) make it into a movie. The second is to use it as a calling card – as a sample to show the industry that the talent, the skills, and the judgment to succeed as a professional screenwriter.
- Story is the foundation of everything, Go Into The Story | Tweet
Stories are intellectual properties which can literally reap billions of dollars of revenues for corporations like Disney. And if story is the foundation for everything, as evidenced by its pole position in Walt’s chart, that means storytellers are a critical piece of the puzzle.
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting
SELF-PUBLISHING
- Social Media 101 – What is LinkedIn?, Writers Write | Tweet
LinkedIn is the leading social networking site for growing connections in the business world. It is really a gigantic CV reservoir.
500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints and Strategy for Business: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More!
Want to Sell More Books? Stop Pushing and Start Connecting, Live Write Thrive | Tweet
Want to scare a bunch of writers silly? You won’t need to put on a Freddy Krueger mask and chase after them. There’s a much easier way: Just saunter up to them and say, “Who wants to do some book marketing?”
EDUCATION
The Ivy League, Mental Illness, and the Meaning of Life, The Atlantic | Tweet
William Deresiewicz explains how an elite education can lead to a cycle of grandiosity and depression.
Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
PSYCHOLOGY
We can justify our decisions by how we feel, or so we believe. The problem, as psychology studies have shown, is that we often make up these reasons.
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
PHILOSOPHY
Teaching the Platonic Dialogues through sandwiches, by Dr. M. Ritchey, PhD
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar . . .: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
LANGUAGE
- The curious condition of being a translator, Gerideboer | Tweet
Here’s something for you to try. Write a sentence–such as one might find in a contemporary novel, say–in which a man (fortyish) walks across a room to answer a telephone, but it stops ringing just as he gets there. Easy.
Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything
BUSINESS
How the raw fish delicacy became a convenience store commodity.
The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy
