- The Making of a Book Trailer: Part I [Anna Staniszewski] Recipe for a book trailer: mood/tone, teaser, personality.
- Best of the Web Book Marketing Tips for the Week of June 13, 2011 [Author Marketing Experts, Inc. » BLOG] Need book promo ideas? Best marketing tips articles of last week.
- Interview with Jill Alexander, Author of Paradise [THE BOOK BUTTERFLY] Interview with the LOVELY Jill Alexander about PARADISE.
- Tantalizing Future YA Releases! [/- LA FEMME READERS -/] Fifteen YA books you can look forward to reading.
- THIS is Why We Write... [Lisa and Laura Write] GREAT example of how important writing is and why it's worth all the pain.
- Book Review - Spellbound [Mundie Moms] SPELLBOUND is a perfect summer read.
- First Line Friday (1) [Katie's Book Blog] Some great first lines from YA books and an interting poll.
- Top Ten List with Lisa Desrochers & Signed Galley Giveaway for Original Sin! [THE BOOK BUTTERFLY] Want a signed galley of ORIGINAL SIN? Is hell gunning for your soul?
- SHATTER ME ARC CONTEST 2.0 [Grab a Pen] Enter by 6/26 to win an ARC of SHATTER ME.
- Fourth POSSESS ARC Giveaway! [Seanchai] Enter by 6/25 to win POSSESS ARC!
- GODS OF JUSTICE CONTEST [Paranormal Point of View] Chance to win a fantastic anthology including a GREAT story by @LisaGailGreen.
- Summer Middle Grade Reading: Four Giveaways [Novel Novice] Enter by 6/24 to win COSMIC, BILLIONAIRE'S CURSE, EMERALD CASKET, TOMORROW GIRLS, or DORK.
- Of Quirks and Characters [Magical Words] Characters must sometimes do the unexpected to be 3-D.
- Ask the editor: Trusting the reader [The Book Deal: A Publishing Blog for Writers and Book People] Let the story tell itself. Great examples of too much and too little telling from Alan Rinzler.
- Plot Questions [Brooklyn Arden] Editor Cheryl Klein lists twenty-three critical questions to ask yourself about your book.
- Writing Rules? What Writing Rules? [.W.I.P. It] Most readers don’t know the rules, but they recognise a good story.
- Making minor characters shine! [The League of Extraordinary Writers] Don't forget your minor characters--and be sure your readers can't forget them either.
- Too Much Beauty [The Literary Lab] Levels of beauty: linguistic, setting, emotional, etc. Do you limit contrast?
- The Bad Boy: Girls Really DO Like Them Best [Cheryl's Musings] Study proves we (and our readers) love bad boys, not the happy ones.
- Psychology of MRUs [The Character Therapist] The psychology and physiology behind motivation reaction units.
- Reflections on Romance in YA [Writer on the Side] The best YA romance love interests reveal mc character traits, hopes, and dreams.
- What Color Is Your Novel? [Words from the Woods] LOVE this! Quick think of one color for your ms. What is it?
- Your Plot Drags? Fix It. [Writing Fiction Right from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin] Five things to check if you want your novel to be a better read.
- What's it About? Better Queries Through Movie Trailers [The Other Side of the Story] Great trailers and queries show the characters and conflict, show the STORY.
- Threshold Guardians at the Forbidden Door [Harry Potter for Writers] Threshold guardians and forbidden doors are not just for fantasy!
- Creating a Diagonal World [Harry Potter for Writers] Five effective ways JKR deepens the worldbuilding in HP's 1st chapter.
- The Godric's Hollow of Backstory [Harry Potter for Writers] Dribble backstory into action as necessary, enticing nuggets.
- Hooking Your Characters [Harry Potter for Writers] Strong hooks make for memorable characters. How can you use them in your work?
- Characterization in The Boy Who Lived [Harry Potter for Writers] Five techniques JKR used for immediate characterization in HP's 1st chapter.
- How To Make 'Em Care [Paranormal Point of View] Three ways to hook readers on your main character.
- Dystopian Rites of Passage (Part 1) [The League of Extraordinary Writers] Do we like dystopian rites of passage because they mirror high school?
- The Perils of a Passive Protagonist [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Choose characters who can take you into the thick of the action.
- Can Your Heroine Be Too Strong? [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Great: Female Reader Dominance < Heroine Dominance < Hero Dominance
- Organizing Your Writing Project [The Blood-Red Pencil] YES! The more I use Scrivener, the more I agree with this post.
- Write Your Story Like a Top Chef and Achieve Unity of Opposites [San Diego Professional Writer's Group] A Food Network recipe for adding conflict to your ms.
- How Convenient! - Contrived Coincidences [* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *]
- Where to find drama in your writing [James Killick's Blog] Growing conflict in between: six underutilized places you can build it.
- How Cliched Is Your Writing? Take the Test [Write It Sideways] Getting past the cliche in your own writing.
- The Importance of Focus [Let The Words Flow] Two critical questions to ask yourself in every scene you write.
- Building a Better Novel Premise [Adventures in Children's Publishing] What makes you want to reread a book and tell your friends about it?
- How to Frustrate Your Character in Every Scene [San Diego Professional Writer's Group] Meaty article about plot, character goals, conflict and frustration. Excellent.
- What Makes a Character Unlikable? [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author] Good post on analyzing what makes a character unlikeable and how to fix the problem.
- Three Dimensions of Character [Katie Ganshert] Your character needs all three dimensions: physical, backstory, and action.
- Off-Limits [StoryBug] Great exercise. Write about something your mc won't admit even to herself.
- Dialogue Disasters [*Lynnette Labelle* @Chatterbox Chitchat] Five ways to kill your dialogue.
- Key Ingredient to a Solid Plot [* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *] Solid plots have one and only one dominant objective for the mc: the story question.
- Everything YOU Wanted to Know About CONFERENCES and the NY TRIP [Adventures in Agentland] Going to a conference? Great! But DON'T go to find an agent. DO go to hone your craft.
- Story vs. Craft [Rachelle Gardner] Writers must learn the craft and also write from their heart.
- Why writers give the best parties [Nail Your Novel] Party scenes can serve many purposes if they follow these rules. RSVP at @DirtyWhiteCandy
- Nancy Ellen Dodd Explains How to Write a Manuscript in 7 Stages [Creative Writing Ideas Blog] The seven stages of writing -- and reducing the editing process.
- Thought for the Day [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Don't use fancy email backgrounds when queryng.
- Character Quiz: Does Your Character Have Trust Issues? [The Character Therapist] Trust me: take this cool quiz from @jeanniecampbell to see if your characters have trust issues.
- That Pesky Exclamation Point!!! [Rachelle Gardner] Something in this sentence makes us look like amateurs!!! What is it?!?!
- How to Find Writer Resources – Guest: Elizabeth Spann Craig [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author] The how and why of @ElizabethSCraig's Writers Knowledge Base. Great resource!
- Resolution—Tying up the Ends [The Editor's Blog] Great --> What should/must you include in final pages? What should you skip?
- How to Take a Critique on the Chin [Notes from the Slushpile] Coping strategies for the face-to-face critique.
- What Makes A Book "Real"? [Between Fact and Fiction] What makes a book legitimate? Finishing it? Pubbing it? Reaching readers?
- Not Writing Enough? 5 Tips for Disorganized, Distracted Writers [Quips and Tips for Successful Writers] Need to up your productivity? Great tips to get more writing done.
- The Long and Short of It [Pimp My Novel]
- 4 Ways to Get Your Family to Support Your Writing Career [Author, Jody Hedlund] Want your family to respect your writing? Here's how to respect yourself.
- Write What You Know? Maybe Not [The Editor's Blog] If you write about your passions, your fervor shows in the stories you create. <3333 this post by @NovelEditor
- Write Your Truth [Rachelle Gardner] Love this post by @RachelleGardner: Be honest in your writing & you will eventually connect with readers.
- My real advice to new writers [Don't pet me, I'm writing] Enjoy your own goofy, hopeful, deliriously dopey moments as a new writer.
- How to Reap Benefits From the Painful Moments of Life [Author, Jody Hedlund] When we write, we pour out our hearts and souls; when we live, we fill our hearts back up.
- Tips for Writing Away from Home [Mystery Writing is Murder] Need to find ways to write while chauffering the kids this summer. Great tips.
- Friday Speak Out!: Being a Real Writer!, Guest Post by Rochelle Melander [WOW! Women On Writing Blog] All you need is twenty minutes and the desire to put words to paper no matter what.
- Guest Post: Janni Lee Simner on Writing Your Way [Cynsations] You can only write like yourself.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly DRM [GalleyCat] JKR decides no DRM on Harry Potter books. Will use watermarks only.
- Read Faster with Spreeder [PWxyz] Need to get through the TRB pile faster? Try Spreeder!
- Word Count in an epub world [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] How much does paper cost drive word count? Does that change in eBooks?
- The Changing Publishing Landscape [Rachelle Gardner] Is timeliness vs. permanence going to drive the e-pub vs. print pub decision?
- BookCrossing: A Modern-Day Message In A Bottle For Readers! [Falling Leaflets] Global book library. I LOVE this idea!
- Friday Fun! [Rachelle Gardner] A perfect lesson in proofreading. Check it out.
- 12 Super Powers and Super Tools for Writers [Mystery Writing is Murder] Fun post! What writerly superpowers and devices do you wish you had?
- Is your story worth saving? [Julie Musil] Do you have the patience, stamina & betas to 'rewrite until you get it right?'
- Five Openings to Avoid [Nathan Bransford, Author] Five cliche and/or problem novel openings to rewrite immediately.
- Commonly Confused Words [Rachelle Gardner] Writing basics: don't confuse these words. Especially in your query.
- "come on, baby, let's start new": on getting back together [The Intern]
- 10 Varieties of Syntax to Improve Your Writing [Daily Writing Tips] Syntax stuck and stale? Ten ways to say the same thing.
- En Dashes Clarify Compound Phrasal Adjectives [Daily Writing Tips] Do you know how to use an en dash?
- Levels of "Done-ness" [YA Muses] Five levels of finished to guage where your ms falls in the revision process.
- Final steps in getting submission-ready [Ara's Blog] Three ways to catch things in your ms you wouldn't catch in editing.
- 30 Blog Topics For Writers [WOW! Women On Writing Blog] Thirty ways to do something interesing on your writer's blog.
- When Is the Best Time To Post on Twitter? [GalleyCat] Want to know when to tweet to reach more writers?
- Give a Dry Blog New Life–The Power of Themes [Kristen Lamb's Blog]
- Listen to Your Gut [QueryTracker.net] GREAT post about how to avoid signing with the wrong agent.
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Revisions [Glass Cases] Revision requests as extensions of the query process, and a test.
- How I Got My Agent: David Kazzie [Guide to Literary Agents] Unique approach to getting an agent!
- Meeting an Agent at a Conference [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Seven important tips for introducing yourself to an agent at a conference.
- PERFECT PITCH [Help! I Need a Publisher!] Pitch workshop and recipes for crafting the right pitch for your story.
- On Genre Blending [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Think of where your writing fits. Pick one and stick to it.
- Selling Yourself, and Selling Yourself Short [Jennifer Represents...] Turning your uncooked lump of Idea Dough into a Book Pie is not an agent's job.
- New Agent Alert: Stephanie Sun of Weed Literary [Guide to Literary Agents] Stephanie Sun is looking for commercial MG, YA, debut & upmarket fiction.
- ELEVATOR PITCH - THE VIDEO [Help! I Need a Publisher!] Going off to a conference? Watch this before you hit the elevator.
- JK Rowling's Harry Potter Announcement and Mid-month Agent Tweets! [Falling Leaflets] Best agent tweets of the week.
- Agent Spotlight: Mandy Hubbard [Literary Rambles] Agent Mandy Hubbard seeks MG/YA with heavy focus on romance, humor, or issues.
- Jane Friedman of Writer's Digest does a wonderful list of best tweets of the previous week.
- Alice Pope does a Wednesday Tweet Roundup for the SCBWI Children's Market Blog.
- Northern Colorado Writers do This Week in the Writing World every Friday.
- Jennifer Roland does a Writing Roundup on Fridays.
- Ricki Schultz does an "In the Blogosphere" post on Fridays where she lists posts she's enjoyed during the week.
- Elizabeth Craig posts a weekly list of all her helpful Twitter posts.
- And don't forget to check Nathan Bransford's blog later this morning for his weekly recap of publishing news and information.
- Saturday Link Party [Forever Young] Jessica rounds up fun and interesting links.
- Stina Linddenblatt does a Cool Links Friday. This week, she caught a lot I wish we had on ours. I know what I'm doing for the next few minutes!
- DuoLit does a weekly list of links with some emphasis on self-publishing and marketing.
- YA Highway's Friday Road Trip hits the high points of the publishing industry, writing craft, submissions process, and other fun stuff.
- Cynthia Leitich Smith at Cynsations does a Cynsational author and book news review.
Happy reading and joyous writing,
Martina, Marissa and Clara
Great links as always. There's too many I want to check out. Thanks for the hard work.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks again for putting this list together--I always love coming here on Friday's :-)
ReplyDeleteAwesome links!! And I'm having a giveaway on Writers' Ally: Christine Fonseca is offering up a copy of her book and a 1st 5 Page Critique!! http://bit.ly/j9Sr8Y
ReplyDeleteYour work makes my work easier, so a huge thank you.
ReplyDeleteMartina, Marissa and Clara -
ReplyDeleteWow - what an awesome round up! I can't believe how many articles you've collected. What's your secret - do you gather them all week long?
Thanks for including Quips and Tips for Successful Writers - I appreciate the mention :-)
Blessings,
Laurie
Thanks SO much for all this amazingness!! And thanks for the shout out. I appreciate you guys like crazy. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteDitto Julie!! :D Thank you for the links. Hope you have a fabulous weekend.
ReplyDeleteWow! As always, terrific, helpful links. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies! We love doing this. And Laurie, we do collect (and tweet) them all week. We try to catch the best of the best, but it's so hard. People like you, Julie Musil, and Lisa Gail Green -- not to mention all the other fabulous bloggers -- just put out too much GREAT stuff!!!! If you're a blogger and we've missed you, please put a link directly to any great post you want featured directly into the comments here!
ReplyDeleteMartina
Working my way through these! I liked the one about trusting your reader and how much of yourself as a writer to put into your works. (Second link under Craft of Writing) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thanks for the list - hope you have a terrific weekend! :)
ReplyDelete