Writer Unboxed � A Planner tackles NaNoWriMo

Writer Unboxed � A Planner tackles NaNoWriMo:

Juliet Marillier tried Nanowrimo in 2011, and here she writes about some of the things she learnt from the experience.

I signed up for NaNoWriMo for the first time this year. It was more of an experiment than anything, though I had two good reasons for wanting to ditch my usual work practices for the month and concentrate on getting as many words down on the page as possible. Firstly, I was presenting a pair of novel writing workshops in mid-November, and I knew many of the participants were attempting NaNo. I figured my presentation would be more relevant for them if I’d shared the experience in all its frustration and frenzy. Secondly, my current writing load is ridiculously heavy (memo to self, learn to say No) and I figured that getting the first 50,000 words of the new novel done in a month would be a fantastic, morale-boosting start.

Creative BADASS! Ooo, I wanna be one! Good thing there's a 12 point plan!

Justine Musk has put out this article about ... how to be a creative badass: a 12-point plan.

What an excellent idea! This blog post is interesting because it sums up a lot of stuff I have learnt in the last few years, more specifically in the last two months about creativity and work and play.

It's also interesting to see an inherent 'trust the universe' kind of feel through the post, that if we're passionate enough, work hard enough, put ourselves OUT THERE enough, that what we want will eventually come to us.

This post is actually pretty brilliant for any one who wants to work consistently with their creativity, work honestly with their selves, and produce amazing work that people will want to read. Following or learning these steps will help you to be instantly creative, and help to slide past issues like writers block and the like.

Writers and Kittehs - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Lifted from Carol on Face Book is a webpage of writers and their cats. Or is it Cats with their writers?
Writers and Kittehs - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Ian Irvine Reveals 41 Ways to Keep Readers Turning the Page! � Ripping Ozzie Reads

Ian Irvine Reveals 41 Ways to Keep Readers Turning the Page! � Ripping Ozzie Reads:

Ian Irvine has written what could be seen as a masterclass list of the things we use in writing, particularly novels. The list is quite expansive, and has a lot of great thoughts and ideas in it. Well worth a good read.

According to top New York literary agent Noah Lukeman (The Plot Thickens), if a writer can maintain suspense throughout the story, many readers will keep reading even if the characters are undeveloped and the plot is weak. Clearly, suspense is a vital tool, yet most books on writing only mention it in passing and few devote much space to its creation and development.

I’ve written 27 novels, and some of them have been rather successful, but Lukeman’s observation came as a revelation. Accordingly, I’ve scoured my writing notes for the past quarter century, and the books and articles I’ve read on storytelling, in order to compile a comprehensive list of ways to create suspense. Here it is. Sources and links are listed at the end.

Critiques: they hurt so good � Comedy or Tragedy?

Miranda Sui shares how she deals with tough crits:

Critiques: they hurt so good � Comedy or Tragedy?: "Even someone with Supergirl Teflon feelings is going to feel the pain of a harsh critique now and again."

Managing Writers in the Workplace: A Guide for Employers | The Militant Writer

A tongue in cheek look at employing a writer, and how to keep your writer happy and productive.

Managing Writers in the Workplace: A Guide for Employers | The Militant Writer

The Blood-Red Pencil: 10 Steps to a Better Story

A handy checklist to help you trim the fat from your story.

The Blood-Red Pencil: 10 Steps to a Better Story

Jeff Bezos Owns the Web in More Ways Than You Think | Magazine

Jeff Bezos Owns the Web in More Ways Than You Think | Magazine: While users of the iPad and the Fire will engage in many of the same activities—watching movies, reading books, playing Angry Birds—the philosophy behind the two tablets could not be more different. Apple is fundamentally a hardware company—91 percent of its revenue comes from sales of its coveted machines, compared to just 6 percent from iTunes. The iPad’s design, marketing, and product launches all emphasize the special character of the device itself, which the company views as a successor to the PC—complete with video-chat capabilities and word-processing software. Amazon, on the other hand, is a content-focused company—almost half of its revenue comes from sales of media like books, music, TV shows, and movies—and the fire-sale-priced Fire is designed to be primarily a passport to the large amount of that content that’s available digitally. The gadget comes preloaded with customers’ Amazon account information, and anyone who signs up for Amazon Prime, the company’s $79-a-year shipping service, will be able to access more than 12,000 (and counting) movies and TV shows on the Fire at no extra charge.

What Do You Do for Mental Health?

Writers tend to be a depressive bunch. Given we're constantly being rejected and searching for ways to gain validation and publications and (one day) a sale, it's not really a huge surprise. Various people have ideas and ways to stave off the downward slope, and it's an important thing to examine.



Elizabeth Gilbert talks about it in her TedTALK about creativity and inspiration. I rather like her suggestion that inspiration and creativity should be considered partially external, to share the burden, so to speak, of the success or failure of a creative endeavour.


I was wondering what other people do to handle the constant stresses of writing. Do you believe in your Muse? Do you somehow separate your work from yourself, and do so successfully? What ways do you avoid getting depressed from being a writer?

Writing Books: Formatting Text, manuscript format, indenting first paragraph

To indent or not to indent... here's a link passed around during a recent batch of discussions by my writing group. Maybe this could be as contentious as the double space between sentences issues! Ha ha!

:-)

Writing Books: Formatting Text, manuscript format, indenting first paragraph

kateelliott: Do Females Write Epic Fantasy Differently Than Males Do?

Women writing fantasy has been a huge discussion in many places. Here's Kate Elliott's original post, asking some interesting questions and getting a lot of very interesting replies.


kateelliott: Do Females Write Epic Fantasy Differently Than Males Do?: "Do Females Write Epic Fantasy Differently Than Males Do?

This is more in the nature of a drive by post to note for the record that I'm on massive deadline doing revisions for COLD FIRE (Spiritwalker #2). Writing, as always, in my girly way.

I have literally not had time to refer to or discuss the various internet things about fantasy, nihilism, morals or lack thereof, beauty and truth, and so on and so forth except mostly to note that as so often, these conversations mostly seem to revolve around men and male writers. My god, people, were there not enough battle scenes in Crown of Stars? And yet, somehow this remains also a stereotype, that a sword fight, say, reflects masculinity and not femininity."

Is editing for me? � Donna Maree Hanson

Having recently finished a course on Editing, Donna Maree Hanson ponders what skills she has learnt, the value of the course and her editing experience, and what she wants to do next.

Is editing for me? � Donna Maree Hanson

Everything I ever learned about marketing I learned from Dungeons and Dragons | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing

Everything I ever learned about marketing I learned from Dungeons and Dragons | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing

I think the title is pretty self explanatory, really!
:)

Livia Blackburne: The Blogification of Writing Tips

A quick critical view in the role of blogs and writing tips and lessons in helping writers. It's not always a gift, and we need to be aware of what advice we choose to follow! 

Livia Blackburne: The Blogification of Writing Tips

Hewing Away the Rough Walls (Or, Five Ways to Put Your Story on a Diet) :: Shimmer

Here's an excellent article from Lisa L Hannett, author of the collection "Bluegrass Symphony." She makes a lot of sense, if you've ever wondered how to trim your wordcount, then check out her advice! 

Hewing Away the Rough Walls (Or, Five Ways to Put Your Story on a Diet) :: Shimmer

Pitching - and Other Writerly Things

Back in September, Nicola Morgan, an award winning UK author and source of much useful writing information, posted about how to put together a 25 word pitch on her blog, Help! I Need A Publisher! . A number of her readers put up their pitches for comment by Nicola and her blog followers. It made for an interesting learning exercise and proved very popular. So she did it again in October.

Stray pitches and synopses are still going up and being commented on and now she's started a series of free guidelines for writers, Crabbit's Tips For Writers. The first is here.

Always readable - as I think I've mentioned before - this is one of my favourite writing blogs and well worth a visit.

A Plea to SFF Writers for Variety in Pregnancy and Childbirth Depictions | Tor.com

Childbirth and pregnancy is a gray area in SFF, where the cliches seem to abound and no one does a bare minimum of research about what birth and child bearing is actually like. Kate Nepveu puts out a much more nicely phrased plea for people using child birth and pregnancy in fiction to think a little, and do a little more research. Not every one screams during child birth (actually, as far as I've heard, very few people do!) and some people don't even get morning sickness, for example!

A Plea to SFF Writers for Variety in Pregnancy and Childbirth Depictions | Tor.com

One Cobble at a Time � When Critiques Wound

One Cobble at a Time � When Critiques Wound: "This is the hard truth about critiques which rarely gets mentioned: If the critique hits one of your writing insecurities, or if you’re uncertain about the relationship with the person critiquing you, then the process can be emotionally injurious. And the writer is not the only one at risk, the critiquer is taking a risk as well. People can get hurt. I got hurt."

Literature and Latte - Scrivener

I know I amlate to this boat, but I have fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with Scrivener. I have just done ten minutes of work on the novel I will be working on for Nanowrimo this year... and I have a fully fledged plan already. *SWOON!*

Literature and Latte - Scrivener

What does “authentic” mean, anyway?

What does “authentic” mean, anyway?

A very good post about presenting minorities in fiction.