- Launching a Book [Mystery Writing is Murder] An excellent resource on all things launch publicity.
- Review of Moonglass [Carolina Valdez Miller] Excellent review & signed giveaway of @JessiKirby's MOONGLASS
- Liz's Corner: Intertwined [WORD for Teens] 5 out of 5 stars for Gena Showalter's INTERTWINED. A refreshing read with a bit of meat to the plot.
- Tantalizing Future YA Releases! [/- LA FEMME READERS -/] Eleven great YA reads!
- YA: Then vs. Now [Glass Cases] The evolution of YA and the four books that defined the genre.
- First Page and Giveaway: POPULAR [First Page Panda] Read the first page of POPULAR and enter by 5/31 to win it.
- Book Trailers (1) [WORD for Teens] Three more book trailers to drool over or add to your example list.
- Get Your First 1,000 Words Critiqued By Agent [There Are No Rules] Want a free 1000 word crit of your ms by agent Kristin Nelson?
- Win a copy of Viola in the Spotlight by Adriana Trigiani! [THE BOOK BUTTERFLY] Enter by 5/28 to win VIOLA IN THE SPOTLIGHT.
- Win Critiques from Agents and Editors [Where Fantasy and Love Take Flight] FANTASTIC opp for 3-hr conversation w/agent @Ginger_Clark & more at Brenda Novak auction!
- Marvelous Middle Grade Monday--The Goose Girl (and a Giveaway!!!) [Shannon Whitney Messenger] Win THE GOOSE GIRL by Shannon Hale. Enter by 5/21.
- THE CONTEST THAT GIVES YOU MONEY [Nothing Cannot Happen Today] Win Amazon gift cards. Enter by 5/20.
- Celebration and Giveaway [Seeing Creative] Win WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL or 1st chapter crit. Enter by 5/29.
- Free Money-Oh Yeah-Contest [Nothing Cannot Happen Today] What's your favorite YA novel? Answer & follow to enter this contest to win an Amazon gift card!
- How to earn your info dump [The Blood-Red Pencil] Research deserves inclusion only if it's interwoven into the fabric of your story.
- Five ways to know your characters before you even meet them [James Killick's Blog] Forget the story until you know the characters and their motivation.
- Information. Where? When? How Much? [Between Fact and Fiction] Drop information seamlessly into your ms. Make it relevant.
- Why Plotting Sucks and How to Make it Suck Less [YA Highway] Five ways to unstick your plot and free your writing self.
- 9-Act Screenplay Structure - Novel Plotting Resource [The Kill Zone] Stumped for plot? Divide your novel into nine sections like a screenplay.
- Write The Fight Right [Write Anything] Writing a fight scene? Here's a book you might find helpful.
- Embracing the Dark Side... of Character [Paranormal Point of View] Excellent post on bringing out the dark side of your character. (and Damon!)
- Where Does My Book Fit? Figuring Out Your Genre [The Other Side of the Story] Seven questions to help you nail your genre.
- The Antagonist [GENREALITY] A good antagonist has goals that conflict with the hero's goals.
- Creating the Non-Stereotypical Character [Seeing Creative] Great trick for creating unique and quirky characters.
- Why You Should Spend More Time on Character Than Action [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Good post on why character is important even in high-action fiction.
- Resist the Urge to Explain [The Blood-Red Pencil] Great post on Show vs. Tell and R.U.E.
- Interiority vs. Telling [Kidlit.com] What's the difference between telling and character insight? See these examples.
- Worldbuilding, part 3: The Secret to Worldbuilding Success (according to me). [Dancing with Dragons is Hard on Your Shoes.] In fantasy, mirror the real world with deliberate exceptions.
- 5 Things The Great Books Taught Me About Writing [There Are No Rules] Four things great authors know, and one way they get there.
- Part 2: A Deeper Understanding of Craft [storyfix.com] Four things to master: dramatic tension, vicarious empathy, pace,compelling appeal.
- Introducing...the Character Traits Thesaurus [The Bookshelf Muse] A brand new writing tool--the Character Traits Thesaurus!
- Greyhaus Guest Blogger - Battling Themes Causing Bi-Polar Characters [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Pick your theme and stick to it or your readers will suffer whiplash.
- Anatomy of Conflict [Kristen Lamb's Blog] Scene structure: goal -> conflict -> disaster -> sequel.
- The Rule of Three [Alexandra Sokoloff] Things often come in threes--especially in ficton.
- How to get better at writing descriptions (advanced - 3 of 3) [Time to Write] Learn description by example--the second time around.
- Wordcount Dracula [Jennifer Represents...] Guidelines on word-count, with examples and sweet-spots.
- Tell Me a Story: Three Ways to Improve Your Storytelling [The Other Side of the Story] Make your characters, problems, and solutions more interesting.
- Giving Voice to a Monster [Paranormal Point of View] Writing is ALWAYS about the human condition--even when your mcs aren't human.
- What to Do With Thoughts [Writer Musings] Italicize direct thoughts? Interior monologue? Switch from past to present?
- 100,000 Reasons Why You Probably Can’t Banish Envy (and May Not Want to, if You Write) [Writer Unboxed] Great post on channeling your envy to make things happen--in your writing.
- Putting On Airs [Kidlit.com] Subtle telling--and why it still doesn't work.
- Use Manuscript Markers for Your First Draft [Daily Writing Tips] Marker techniques to keep from getting stuck while drafting.
- How to get better at writing descriptions (part 2 of 3) [Time to Write] Tips to help you brainstorm better descriptions.
- Author Janet Gurtler on VOICE + GIVEAWAY [The Bookshelf Muse] The importance of voice and a chance to win I'M NOT HER. Enter by 5/19.
- Worldbuilding, part 2: By the Power of Grayskull...I mean Research! [Dancing with Dragons is Hard on Your Shoes.] Five research tips to help you breakout of cliche and stereotype.
- Inconsistencies [Write Anything] Is your character behaving... out of character? Inner contradictions are part of real life, but make sure it doesn't confuse your readers.
- DEALING WITH BACK-STORY [Help! I Need a Publisher!] Backstory is like coffee: it's better when it's drip-fed, and you may need less than you think.
- Little Darlings & Why They Must Die..for Real [Kristen Lamb's Blog] Mistaking complexity for conflict and melodrama for connection.
- Sci-Fri [Fantasy Faction] The impossible made possible: the link between sci fi and fantasy.
- What part of your writing to cut (& what not to write in the first place) [Time to Write] Write your first chapter, get to know your character. Then cut it.
- Viewpoint Character and the Need to Choose Wisely [The Editor's Blog] The reader's connection to story is fragile. Choose your POV character wisely.
- Subtext—Revelation of the Hidden [The Editor's Blog] What do your mc's hide from others or themselves? Use subtext to reveal it.
- Your Conference Commandments [YA Muses] Intimidated & insecure at conferences? This post will inspire you, guaranteed.
- Investing in You [GENREALITY] Conferences & classes are the best way to invest in yourself as a writer at every stage of your career.
- Greyhaus Guest Blogger - How Setting My Timer Helps Me Pursue My Dream [Babbles from Scott Eagan] This homeschooling mom of 5 finds time to write, blog, & social network, 10 minutes at a time. WOW!
- Never Give Up. Never Surrender. [Adventures In Writing] Great Butler quote: You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff...
- MANAGING YOUR CONFERENCE EXPECTATIONS [YA Muses] Do's and don'ts to help you create a create conference experience.
- The Power of Words [The Character Therapist] Change your words, change your world. You MUST see this video!!!! Seriously.
- Getting Published Is All That Matters - Not always... [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Determine your writing goal. Stick to it. Don't take settle for less.
- Do You Tell People You Write? [Nathan Bransford, Author] Four types of people who make you want to keep your writing goals a secret.
- Writing Obstacles Be Gone! 3 Ways to Keep Falling Forward [Quips and Tips for Successful Writers] Love this: Stay focused on your vision, not your circumstances.
- Ideas are like puppies [Rebecca Gomez] Are the best ideas the ones that come to you, or the ones you have to chase?
- Make your brain into a story ideas machine [Time to Write] Train your brain to spin out possible story ideas.
- This is Doubt calling. Can you hear me now? [Julie Musil] Eight ways we let doubt win. Great post!
- Tenacious Tuesday [GotYA] Janet Evanovich went through every agent and publisher in New York. Twice.
- Writing Myths Busted [YA Highway] Four writing myths, including three we wish were true.
- Greyhaus Guest Blogger - Publishing is a Waiting Game, and it hurts sometimes [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Use waiting time to do what you love: write the next, even better, book.
- Adapting To The Changing World (Of Publication) [The Literary Lab] Love: The path to success is a path, not a destination.
- Dealing with Discouragement [The Editor's Blog] Challenges don't last forever. Barrel through your roadblocks.
- Why Writers Need Writer Friends [iggi & gabi] Five reasons your writer friends are above the price of rubies.
- What's Stopping You? [Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers] Lost your writing way? Seize your power and move forward.
- The Writer's Journey, From a Turtle's POV [Words and Such] We are writing turtles crossing the road. Don't be afraid to stick your neck out.
- Rejection [Class of 2K11] Rejections are proof that you're stretching yourself.
- How writers can get lucky [Time to Write] Turn bad luck to good by persevering. Great example from William Golding.
- Creativity can come from pain [Time to Write] "Use tension and pain to drive and perfect." Julie Burstein
- The Only 12½ Writing Rules You'll Ever Need [NouveauWriter] Great poster for writers. Put it in your office!
- Writer’s Block Is For Pussies– or how I Never Run Out of Ideas [www.marsdorian.com] Expect you can deliver and psyche yourself up to be creative.
- BEA Survival Tips [iggi & gabi] Health & fitness tips for BEA? You bet!
- Introducing ’5 Things You Need to Know This Week’ [GalleyCat] Need to catch up on the buzz? MediaBistro is doing a video "5 Things You Need to Know."
- Is Dystopian Lit Still Going Strong? [GalleyCat] Is the trend for full-up? Is Greek myth next?
- Battling the Stigma of the YA Writer [Anna Staniszewski] The truth about writing YA -- and what people assume it says about you.
- No-Weights Arm Workout for Writers by Melissa Paris [iggi & gabi] Got writer's arms? Tone them up without weights or special equipment.
- More agents to explore publishing models | The Bookseller [www.thebookseller.com] More agents to e-pub out-of-print books. Good news? Or more confusion?
- Thoughts for a Thursday [Laura Jane Cassidy] Love this graffiti. Wonder if my family would respect it?
- Laughing It Up Writer!! Blogfest!! [Writers' Ally aka ➔ sa larsenッ] How many screenwriters does it take to change a lightbulb?
- The Revision Process: How I Prepared My Book for Publication [Guide to Literary Agents] Seven tips for revising your manuscript.
- 10 Actions You Can Take To Improve Your Proofreading [www.publetariat.com] Ten proofreading tips to help you create stronger, cleaner looking documents.
- 10 Comma Cases in Which More Is More [Daily Writing Tips] Great examples of sentences that need an extra comma.
- Do You Copy? Tips on Copy Editing Your Own Work [The Other Side of the Story] Five things you should check before sending out your manuscript.
- Writing Profanity [Mystery Writing is Murder] Eight tests to see if cursing belongs in your manuscript.
- Why It’s Good For Writers to Love Then Hate Their Books [Author, Jody Hedlund] Love your first draft. Then turn on your inner -hater.
- Great Novels Aren't Written--They're Rewritten [QueryTracker.net] Nine things you need in your rewrite toolbox.
- Using an editor? Two questions so you don’t shoot the messenger [Nail Your Novel] Getting an independent edit? Brace yourself.
- Over Editing [Julie Musil] Edit like you'd prune a rosebush. Clip the dead ugly branches but don't make it a colorless stump.
- 5 Fixes for Pop-Culture Pile-Ups [Daily Writing Tips] Make sure your pop-culture references are airtight, or risk humiliation.
- In Review: DARedit Editing Software from AutomatedEditing.com [WOW! Women On Writing Blog] WOW! Have you tried DARedit? Easy-to-use automated editing software for writers.
- Facebook Publishes Guide to Social Marketing Best Practices [ReadWriteWeb] Promoing on social media? Pick up Facebooks new PDF on guidelines.
- Twitter Tuesday #17 [Kristen Lamb's Blog] YOUR NAME + YOUR CONTENT = YOUR BRAND. Are you unique?
- Agent Advice: Deborah Grosvenor of Grosvenor Literary Agency [Guide to Literary Agents] Great interview with agent Deborah Grosvenor.
- Agent Spotlight: Michelle Wolfson [Literary Rambles] Considering submitting to Michelle Wolfson? Here's everything you need to know.
- Exclusive Q&A with Divergent editor Molly O’Neill [Novel Novice] What sold @VeronicaRoth's editor @molly_oneill on DIVERGENT.
- New Agent Alert: Susan Finesman of Fine Literary [Guide to Literary Agents] New agent Susan Finesman is accepting queries.
- Ta-Dah!!! A New Series of Posts on Bent on Books [Bent on Books] Lovely, inspirational story from a Bent on Books client.
- The Epic Post On Trends (YA & MG) [Author/Agent Mandy Hubbard] The definitive review of what editors want and how to tweak your ms for better odds.
- Agent Sara Megibow is Teaching "How to Hook an Agent With Your Query Letter" on May 26, 2011 (and There is a Free Critique!) [Guide to Literary Agents] Query writing workshop with agent Sara Megibow starts May 26th.
- Workshop Wednesday [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Another great query dissection.
- Publishing Insiders Wrap-Up: Literary Agents and Their Evolving Role in Publishing [Author Marketing Experts, Inc.Get Published Tips and Book Marketing Advice from Penny Sansevieri] Great discussion with agents Katharine Sands and Jason Ashlock about agent roles.
- Difficult Conversations II [Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent] How do you and your agent decide what to do when your project doesn't sell?
- Craft an Exceptional Elevator Pitch [Author Marketing Experts, Inc.Get Published Tips and Book Marketing Advice from Penny Sansevieri] Take time to draft, craft, rehearse and internalize your elevator pitch.
- What the Agents/Editor Want to See [Falling Leaflets] Three wish lists from WriteOnCon's live chat with two agents and an editor.
- Synopsis Example: ''Ransom'' (Thriller) [Guide to Literary Agents] Writing a short synopsis? Here's an example.
- Is the E-book the New Query? [Anne R. Allen's Blog] Is the slushpile dead?
- Conference Preparation Checklist [YA Muses] Six things you must do before the conference.
- Agent Spotlight: Vickie Motter [Literary Rambles] Learn all about one of our fave agents, @Vickie_Motter, and what she's looking for.
- Agent Scott Eagan is Teaching "How to Target Agents and Editors: Market Your Novel to the Right People" on May 19 (and It Includes a Critique) [Guide to Literary Agents] Great op! Agent Scott Eagen to teach course on how to target an agent.
- How I Got My Agent: David Halperin [Guide to Literary Agents] You find your dream agent by being ready.
- Good advice for pitching--and for life [Time to Write] Pitch for twenty seconds to two minutes, then let pitchee do the talking.
- 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
Wow! Thanks for all the great links. Appreciate you doing all this.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me how many incredible links you keep track of. Fabulous. Thanks for linking to me!! Oh, and I received Flawless a few days ago. Thank you again!!
ReplyDeleteI've already pre-ordered a Need So Beautiful, but this was the first time I've seen the trailer for it. LOVE IT. Thanks for the links . . . all the great links. :D
ReplyDeleteWow, wow, wow. You two are just amazing. Thanks so much for the weekend reads, and for the kind mention :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mentions. I know I've said this before - and I'll probably say it fifty more times - but I don't know HOW you do it.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteAwesome links. I missed a few of these this week. I can't wait to catch up on my reading now :)
ReplyDelete(And thank you for including my post <3)
Thanks! Lots to catch up on... :)
ReplyDeleteStina, wasn't that trailer amazing? And Lisa, you can say it as often as you like. We'll NEVER get tired of hearing it.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for commenting, ladies. It's a joy to get your feedback -- and an absolute honor to include the posts you write!
Hugs,
Martina
Wow, LOTS of great links to check out. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm finally getting a quiet moment to check out some of these links--a favorite part of my week! Thanks once again for all the helpful sites to take a look at. It's such fun. And thanks for the mention :-)
ReplyDelete