11 This Week for Writers 11/11/11: Our Favorite Articles and Blog Posts

Okay, the format is far from perfect, but here's the week's roundup in accessible format. You can still get the instant feed on Google+. Find us using email addy kidlit (at) writeedge dot com. I'm still wrestling with a solution to the Google Reader issue, so please bear with me. The format will get better in the next few weeks. And I will post contest information later this morning.

The winner of last week's book was TAFFY LOVELL. And this week's giveaway? Fill out the form below to win:

Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

DARK PARTIES by Sara Grant

Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...
Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most.



Happy Friday!

Martina

Clara's Favorites

• The Art of REwriting
  by Susan Dennard With enough hard labor, you CAN turn that horrible first draft
  into a masterpiece.
• YA Muses: FRACTURE by Megan Miranda
  FRACTURE by Megan Miranda. Posted by Talia Vance. I cannot wait for this one.
• Cynsations: Guest Post: Kimberley Griffiths Little on Deepening Character with Setting
  Deepening character with setting. Brilliant!
• Writer Unboxed » Be a More Confident Writer: 5 Choices That Might Be Hurting Instead of Helping
  5 ways to kill your confidence as an aspiring author. LOVE THIS.
• Give a Military Family a Free Children’s Book for Veteran’s Day
• Paranormal Point of View: How Many Drafts Does It Take To Get To The Query Stage?
  Authors answer @lisagailgreen's question: How many revisions before you should query
  that ms?
• Cynsations: Light Up the Library Online Auction: Bid to Win Agent/Author Critiques, Signed Books, Original Artwork, Gifts & More
  Light Up the Library Online Auction: Bid to Win Agent/Author Critiques, Signed Books, Original Artwork, Gifts & More. Join in Jean Reidy's Light Up the Library online auction
• Get Setting Details Right--Check Story Facts | The Editor's Blog
  Get your setting details right and check story facts against history. A reminder to look at products, social practices, and the history of your story era.
• edittorrent: Free writing books! Hurry!
  Free writing books! Hurry! Lisa K passes this along: Here are 6 Kindle books on writing that are free right now. Normally most are $15-20.
• YA Cafe: YA Appreciation Month « Iggi & Gabi
  Why @iggiandgabi love YA, & why you should too (Note: YA's an audience, NOT
  a genre). Love, love, LOVE this.
• The Secret Archives of the Alliterati: Joy thief! Come back with my WIP!
  Joy thief! Come back with my WIP! So I found a quote the other day that just about slapped me senseless: (free printable courtesy of www.howjoyful.com). Confession: I compare.
• Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors: Most Common Mistakes Series: Do Readers See Your Characters the Way You Want Them To?
  The wrong choice of just a single word can be enough to give readers a completely different (and, from the writer's viewpoint, wrong) perspective of a character.
• Chipping Away at the Scariest Number Ever
  Perspective is a beautiful thing. Keeps us sane. Smacks of reality therapy. Lets us know we are not alone, yet we are the primary architects of our own destiny. Success takes 10,000 hours of blood, sweat, commitment.

Martina's Favorites

• 10 Debut Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels That Took the World by Storm - StumbleUpon
• Great book jackets: Tips from 4 design pros
  Every good book needs a great cover. It’s a powerful billboard for conveying the spirit and content of your book. Tips from 4 professional jacket designers.
• Tips for Using a Storyboard in Revision Guest Author Joan Swan | Plot Monkeys  The Twisted Storyboard Typically, storyboards are used in conjunction with plotting, but never fear pansters, that’s not what I’ll be talking about
• Trying Too Hard To Impress Trying Too Hard To Impress. Posted by - mooderino. It's always difficult to know if you're good enough as a writer.
• The Daring Novelist: Slush Pile Secrets Part 2 - The Bell CurveBrilliant post on the skill levels of fiction submissions.
• Vicky English's Camelot and Other Stuff: Tips for Creating a Character Arc
• The Daring Novelist: Slush Pile Secrets Part 2 - The Bell Curve
  Brilliant post on the levels of fiction submissions.
• Operation Awesome: November Mystery Agent and Winners Revealed! Agent Natalie Lakosil's November Mystery Agent and Winners Revealed!

After the Sale 

• Publishing Insiders Wrap-Up: Speaker Tips for Authors - Author Marketing Experts, Inc.
  We had a great show featuring Martha Lanaghen with tips for how authors can be more effective public speakers.

Contests

• Cynsations: Light Up the Library Online Auction: Bid to Win Agent/Author Critiques, Signed Books, Original Artwork, Gifts & More
  Light Up the Library Online Auction: Bid to Win Agent/Author Critiques, Signed Books, Original Artwork, Gifts & More. Join in Jean Reidy's Light Up the Library online auction
• Fantasy-Faction November Writing Competitions | Fantasy Faction
  Fantasy-Faction November Writing Competitions. Enter your short story, vote on last month's winner, and read our winning stories from previous months.

Craft

• The Bookshelf Muse: Writing Heroes: Elizabeth Spann Craig
  Writing Heroes: Elizabeth Spann Craig. Posted by Angela Ackerman.
• As soon as your readers realize they’re reading words on a page, you've taken them out of your story. What Makes a Story Feel Unrealistic? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author
• Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *: A Polishing Till It Shines Checklist from Mia Marlowe
  A Polishing Till It Shines Checklist from Mia Marlowe.
• Can You “Fast Draft”? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author
• Deepening Character with Setting
• Paranormal Point of View: How Many Drafts Does It Take To Get To The Query Stage?
  Authors answer @lisagailgreen's question: How many revisions before you should query
  that ms?
• Get Setting Details Right--Check Story Facts | The Editor's Blog Get your setting details right and check story facts against history. A reminder to look at products, social practices, and the history of your story era.
• Hurry! Free writing books! Hurry! Lisa K passes this along: Here are 6 Kindle books on writing that are free right now. Normally most are $15-20. 
• Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors: Most Common Mistakes Series: Do Readers See Your Characters the Way You Want Them To?  The wrong choice of just a single word can be enough to give readers a completely different (and, from the writer's viewpoint, wrong) perspective of a character.
• The Blood-Red Pencil: Busted!—Tatiana de Rosnay Caught Doing Something Right
  Busted!—Tatiana de Rosnay Caught Doing Something Right. How to use white space to enhance your story.
• Ways to Develop Your Unique Writing Voice Ah, November. National Novel Writing Month. Boundaries are necessary for creativity.
• Harry Potter for Writers: When to Put Your Brains into Your World Building
  Excellent post on world-building lessons from Harry Potter.
• The Other Side of the Story: You Had Me at Chapter One: Different Ways to Hook Your Reader 
• Examples of Bad Dialogue | The Editor's Blog  How not to write what your characters say.
• Harry Potter for Writers: How Deep is Your Department of Mysteries? 
• The Pen and Parchment: Guest Post by Janice Hardy  Letting your characters find themselves in a structured plot
• Writing and Editing Skills Critical for Entry-Level Writers 
• What the Hell Do You Do About Profanity? What place, if any, does profanity have in writing? There are as many different answers as there are types of writing.
• The Bookshelf Muse: Weather Thesaurus Entry: Heat Wave  Weather Thesaurus Entry: Heat Wave. Posted by Becca Puglisi. WEATHER is an important element in any setting, providing sensory texture and contributing to the mood the writer wishes to create in a scene.
• Openings  Novel Openings.  You want to snag the reader as quick...
• The Character Therapist: Backstory: A Lesser Known Reason Why Not to Dump it Upfront
  Putting in that backstory can make the reader put down the book.
• How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book: Crafting an Agent-Catching Chapter One  Do your first two pages make the cut?
• Notes on Craft | Beyond The Margins
• Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers: Plot Book Group for Writers 
• How Not To End Things | Beyond The Margins  Five novel ending mistakes to avoid.
• NaNoWriMo Tip #2: Use the Reference Desk - GalleyCat  Great research links!
• Writing A Series: 7 Continuation Issues To Avoid  If you want to construct a writing career that spans decades and provides a decent income, it seems a good idea to write a series that readers will love.
• Help! I Need a Publisher!: Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 1: On Writing Fiction  Excellent tips!
• Blind Spots of Writers That Derail Them | GENREALITY  “Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total oblivion. I must face my fear. Must allow it to pass over me"
• The Character Therapist: Character Clinic: Thomas and Personality Disorders 101 
• The Sharp Angle: Defining Your Catalyst, Your Inciting Incident, and Your Premise (and how they all work together to create Act One)  Defining Your Catalyst, Your Inciting Incident, and Your Premise (and how they all work together to create Act One).
• Oasis for YA: WRITER WEDNESDAY: Plot Vehicles 
• The Writer Coaster: 6 Things NOT to Put in Your YA Novel  6 Things NOT to Put in Your YA Novel. More than one description of your main character's lovely, lovely hair. You heard me. One. Attractively disheveled counts.
• The Other Side of the Story: Guest Author Cheryl Rainfield: Bringing Tension and Conflict to Your Novels 
• Julie Musil: A Writer's Notebook Trap 
• Read 30 Tips from Last Year's #NaNoWriMo - GalleyCat
• Drafting in Word for NaNoWriMo Great tips for setting up styles in MS Word. via Dad Who Writes
• Paranormal Point of View: When You're Too Close to the Book  Put your ms away so you can rediscover it. Excellent tip!
• The Blood-Red Pencil: Adding Conflict to Your Story  Adding Conflict to Your Story. If your manuscript has come back from your editor noting a lack of conflict, don't despair. Adding conflict in retrospect is easier than you might think.
• The last installment of @LynetteLabelle's Write Tight series. How to Write Tight - Part 4
• 35 Troublesome Irregular Verbs  In English, many verbs adapt simply to the past tense with the attachment of either -d or -ed, as in walk/walked or brake/braked.
• Some excellent quick resources.
• QueryTracker.net: Common Grammatical Mishaps
  

Inspiration

• With enough hard labor, you CAN turn that horrible first draft into a masterpiece! The Art of REwriting by Susan Dennard
• 5 ways to kill your confidence as an aspiring author. LOVE THIS. Writer Unboxed » Be a More Confident Writer: 5 Choices That Might Be Hurting Instead of Helping
•  Love, love, LOVE this. YA Cafe: YA Appreciation Month « Iggi & Gabi  YA Cafe: YA Appreciation Month.
• This quote will slap you senseless (& inspire you). The Secret Archives of the Alliterati: Joy thief! Come back with my WIP!
• Write your own slogan to keep you motivated. Just do it! via @YAHighway>YA Highway: What's Your Vision?
• Do you do any of these? via The Kill Zone>The Kill Zone: How to Feel Miserable as a Writer 
• Success takes 10,000 hours of blood, sweat, & commitment. Chipping Away at the Scariest Number Ever
• How you can use visuals to stimulate your writing - Time to Write
  Do you ever need to be jolted out of writer’s block, or would you like to know a way to generate new ideas quickly?
• Need a jump start for writing inspiration? Writing Prompt Resources
  Check out one of these fantabulous resources: Creative Writing Prompts: lists hundreds of story starters and creative questions
• Love the idea of a positive feedback file! YA Muses: Facing Down Writing Fears
• Deadlines with Teeth & other inspiring tips via @NathanBransford#writing Five Ways to Stay Motivated While Writing a Novel | Nathan Bransford, Author
• Where Do Characters Come From? | Mystery Writing is Murder 
• Tale of Two Writers  The Other Side of the Story. Creating Conflict. Backstory. Finding a Critique Group. Writing a Synopsis. Word Count. Plotting In Layers. What Your Query Says About Your Book. Describing Your Character...
• Eight great tips. YA Muses: Overcoming Writing Fears
  Overcoming Writing Fears. Posted by Talia Vance. Katy and Donna have done a great job of articulating some of the fears that grip us all when it comes to writing for publication.
• YA Writers: Read It, Or Don't Bother Writing It by Julie Cross
• How to Start Writing a Novel | Nathan Bransford, Author
• LOVE this. Harry Potter for Writers: NaNoWriMo Tips from Harry Potter: On the Benefit of Failure 
• Tuesday Ten: How to Write When You Aren’t in the Mood
• BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: Gina Robinson on the Creative Spark
• Lessons learned from a NaNo veteran. #NaNoWriMoIt's a Mystery: My 10 Tips for NaNoWriMo
• Background on the month-long celebration of the pb format! via Cynsations: Picture Book Month: A Celebration

Social Media

• #SCBWI has a new intensive on marketing at the 2012 winter conference. A great opportunity! #writetip #writingThe Official SCBWI Blog: The Writers Intensives at the Upcoming 2012 SCBWI Winter Conference
• Online marketing practices that turn readers off. Hope you're not doing any of these! via @JodyHedlund  Jody Hedlund: 5 Ways to Take the Ickiness Out of Marketing Our Books
  5 Ways to Take the Ickiness Out of Marketing Our Books. Tuesday, November 8, 2011. My twin daughters joined a synchronized swim team this fall. As part of the process of trying to reduce the fees, the...
• Want to start a #blog? Here's some good tips via @wordforteens #books #bookreviews #writingWORD for Teens: Nicole's Official List of (Unofficial) Rules for New Bloggers
  Nicole's Official List of (Unofficial) Rules for New Bloggers. There are a lot of new book bloggers cropping up nowadays. How can you stand out?
• Why you're selling yourself short if you don't have a Facebook Author Page. via Dead Guy. #writing #amwritingI Like You…But Do I Like You? - Hey, There's A Dead Guy in the Living Room
• What can you do to stimulate interaction on your blog? Author Blogging 101: Up With Comments!
• What makes a novel stand out among the masses? Excellent! The Sharp Angle: The Benefits of Book Reviewing The Benefits of Book Reviewing. Take your publishing career seriously by improving your reading habits.
• Rediscovering the blogging sweet spot. The Blogging Cycle: How Do You Stay Sane? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author
• Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *: The Life Cycle of a Blogger - Ten Stages
• Crabbit's tips for getting published. A must-read. Help! I Need a Publisher!: Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 2: On Getting Published
• A hair-of-the-dog approach to treating the pain of rejection. QueryTracker.net: Treating the Pain of Rejection
• The submissions process, step-by-step. Lots of great advice from BookEnds Lit Agency. BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: Submissions 101
• A NaNo no-no: querying that book in December! via @Natalie_Fischer Adventures in Agentland: My NaNo Post
• What authors can learn from the bestseller lists  The gold standard for success as an author is to make the New York Times Best Seller list. But how do you get there?
• Jill Corcoran Books: INTERVIEWS WITH ME--Who the heck is Jill Corcoran:)?
• Don't expect an agent to offer career advice in response to a query. Janet Reid, Literary Agent: Today's Query Pitfall
• Cynsations: Author Lena Coakley Interviews Editor Hadley Dyer of HarperCollins Canada
• Great opportunity to ask all your agenty questions. Jennifer Represents...: Falling Leaves open thread 
• More pros and cons to ponder. Ask Jami: E-Publishers vs. Agents | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author 

Book Reviews

• YA Muses: FRACTURE by Megan Miranda 
• Incredibly addicting. 5 stars! via @MundieMoms#reading Mundie Moms: Book Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
• Fast paced. Amazing characters. 5 stars!  Candace's Book Blog: Book Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez {Just Contemporary Review}
• What makes a novel stand out among the masses? Excellent! The Sharp Angle: The Benefits of Book Reviewing
• Mundie Moms: Thoughtful Thursday- Character Chemistry 101
• 10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year: Free Samples - GalleyCat
• More books to look for. Fantasy Books due in 2011 – Publisher’s Choice | Fantasy Faction
• This book sounds as unique as @TaherehMafi! YA Muses: SHATTER ME by Tahereh Mafi - a Bookanista Review
  

Critiquing

• Guidelines for weighing criticism: the feedback you should be listening for. The Art of Receiving Criticism  You signed up to be a writer. But the fine print it says: you will occasionally be eviscerated by someone who doesn’t like or appreciate your work. It’s part of the deal. Feedback can be a real gift... >Angela Ackerman>0> comments>0 older comments
• Authors answer @lisagailgreen's question: How many revisions before you should query that ms? Paranormal Point of View: How Many Drafts Does It Take To Get To The Query Stage?
  I was asked: How many revisions does a writer go through before she is ready to query? So for the answer I went to some trusted writer friends. Below are answers from those at all stages of the proces... 
• Need a critique group? Sign up here for placement. GREAT questionnaire, too. Lynnette Labelle* @Chatterbox Chitchat: The Great Critique Group Matchmaking Service Is HERE.
• The space between looking for things and letting them go.>BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency: Finding Your Middle Editor 
• We grow by being pushed. A case against rushing to self-pub. Writer Unboxed » Self-Published Authors Have Great Power, But Are They Taking Responsibility?
• Easier to define than find! Novel Matters: Recipe for the Perfect Writers Group
• Babbles from Scott Eagan: Time To Evaluate Your Critique Partners
  

Issues

• Pro: lots of shiny new words. NaNo con: Quantity over quality. Justine Dell: The bad side of NaNoWriMo  The bad side of NaNoWriMo.
• In honor of Veteran's Day: Give a military family this free children's book.  Give a Military Family a Free Children’s Book for Veteran’s Day
• Book piracy & what you can do about it. Excellent analysis by @RachelleGardner Authors and Book Piracy | Rachelle Gardner
• Auction for Light Up the Library with great prizes for ! via @cynleitichsmith Cynsations: Light Up the Library Online Auction: Bid to Win Agent/Author Critiques, Signed Books, Original Artwork, Gifts & More
• E-readers are transforming the basic experience of reading. How does this affect the writer? Writer Unboxed » You Can’t Judge A Person By Its Cover
• Why @iggiandgabi love YA, & why you should too (Note: YA's an audience, NOT a genre). Love, love, LOVE this. YA Cafe: YA Appreciation Month « Iggi & Gabi

OTHER ROUND-UPS

As always, see stop by the following blogs for more great writerly links:

• Elizabeth Craig posts a weekly list of all her helpful Twitter posts.
• And don't forget to check Nathan Bransford's blog for his weekly recap of publishing news and information.
• 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.
• Debbie Ohi always hits the kidlit/ya high spots with a great list of links.

Did we miss anything? Anyone? Please leave a comment!

Happy reading and joyous writing,

Martina, Clara & Marissa