10 This Week for Writers 2/3/12: Our Favorite Articles and Blog Posts

WONDERFUL news!!!!

Our own lovely Clara Kensie just signed with Laura Bradford of Laura Bradford Literary!!!! Much more about this later, but I had to give her a shout out. Isn't that great? We're SO proud of her. And seriously, seriously, it couldn't have happened to a lovelier, more talented, more generous person.

Martina

Book Reviews and Giveaways

• Great story from @SWMessenger on how she got YA and MG deals from the same editor.
  How I became the most accidental YA writer ever
• What do you do when someone finds your work offensive?
  “Offensive” Writing
• Great and critique opportunities. Congrats @S_M_Johnson on the new web site.
  Down Under Wonderings: Website Launch and Gigantic Giveaway
• Oooo... these 5 debuts sound fantastic! Interesting interviews with the authors
  The Debut Dish: January IIII - The Story Siren
• Looking for some awesome reads?@PJ_Hoover lines them up for you.
  ALA Midwinter—The Books

Craft of Writing

• Fantastic advice on THE END: juxtapose your first & last chapters.
  YA Muses: Avoiding The End
• Six important tips for your opening chapters.
  Opening Chapters
• What's in a name? Anything can happen in speculative fiction.
  What Is Speculative Fiction?
• Eight ways to get a deeper POV on your mc and have fun while you do it.
  Ransacking Apartments (& Others Ways to Get to Know Your MC Better)
• Important point: 1st person POV needs a unique voice and perspective.
  Don’t Even Think About Using First-Person Unless...
• Literary and commercial fiction defined--no judgments. Great post
  Literary vs. Commercial
• Pressure points, challenging reader beliefs, and whispering to the reader. Great insights from Stephen King
  7 Things I Learned Last Week from Stephen King
• Planning out your story? Starting a revision? Read this post on structure.
  25 Things You Should Know About Story Structure
• Making the end of the novel come from the characters.
  Finding a Satisfying End
• Great post on what adults (and ya writers) don't get right about teens today.
  Teen Roundtable: What Have Adults Forgotten?
• Meeting your characters in the middle without added flab.
  We All Get Them Eventually: Sagging Middles
• Honor your fabulous personality and let it barf out in your writing. Love this post.
  Another word about Voice
• Bar = Build up, Action, Reaction -- the pacing triad. Great post.
  Google Reader
• Five new questions to ask your characters.
  Questions you should ask the characters in your novel or screenplay
• Considering self-pub? Need a professional eye before you query? Here's what you should know before you hire a pro editor.
  4 Ways to Find the Right Freelance Editor
• Need a punctuation refresher? Here you go.
  Self-Editing #6 - Clean Up Crew: Punctuation
• Start at the end, work backwards to the middle, and keep going back until you find the starting point of your story.
  KM Weiland on Reverse Outlining + GIVEAWAY
• Four steps to finding the right metaphors in your fiction.
  Think Backward to Write Meaningful Metaphors
• Letting go of the baggage and releasing the power of revision.
  Project 2012: Scene selection: what to throw and what to keep
• Meeting goals, breaking rules, and taking names.@LisaGailGreen answers questions.
  A Whole Bunch of Answers!
• Don't leave the emotion out of your action scene--give the reader a reason to feel.
  Writing Kickass Action Scenes: Part Three
• The latest entry in the Character Trait Thesaurus: Disorganized!
  The Bookshelf Muse: Character Trait Entry: Disorganized
• Make your characters more vivid & visceral with this inner dialogue concept from @StoryFix. Brilliant!
  Game Changer: Create An Inner Dialogue Within your Hero, and Your Villain
• Twenty BRILLIANT questions to ask before you say your ms is done.
  A Personal Check List for Fiction Writers
• A great beginning is a balance of setting, fully-formed worlds, and complex characters…
  The DNA of a Beginning
• Five ways to sabotage your writing career.
  5 Attitudes Toward Publishing You Should Avoid
• Do your scenes all have goals, conflicts, stakes, and choices? And why do you need them?
  Fundamental Check: Do Your Scenes Have What They Need?
• A breakdown of one writer's outlining process. Good tips.
  Outlining your novel: a method.
• Fact-checking applies to fiction, too.
  The Blood-Red Pencil: Be My Guest - Jodie Renner

Inspiration and Smiles

• "Be daring. Be bold. Embrace chaos, death, anxiety…" Christine Fonseca on fearlessly. I. Love. This.
  Where Fantasy and Love Take Flight: Guest Blog with Christine Fonseca - The Act of Being Fearless
• Step away from your writing and see if from a different perspective.
  Cooking Up Some Good Writing
Fascinating. How do you look compared to how you think you look? Get comfy with it. 52 Weeks ~ A self portrait (4/52)
• Triple your daily word count by using Google+ Hangouts to host "write-ins." Great idea!
  YA Highway: How I Tripled My Daily Wordcount with Google+

Issues, News, Trends, and Congratulations

• Congrats @KamiGarcia @MargaretStohl on your first (Oscar nom!) cast member!
  Alcon Sets Richard LaGravanese, Viola Davis For ‘Beautiful Creatures’
• Congrats to Maggie Stiefvater and Scholastic. I can't wait for September!
  Maggie Stiefvater Inks Deal for 4-Book Epic Fantasy
• What do Murphy's law, Gaiman's Law, and six others have in common and why can you relate?
  8 Laws Named For Writers « PWxyz
• Congrats to @JosinMcQuein on the book deal. WOOT!
  My Bloggish Blog Thing
• The YALSA 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adult lists. Congrats to everyone on it!
  2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults | Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

Self-Publishing, Book Promotion, and Author Marketing

• Five quick things you can do to promote your pen name.
  Promoting a Pen Name
• Does the author's gender matter enough in your genre to merit using your initials instead of your name?
  Gender Issues In Publishing. Using Initials As A Female Thriller Writer
• Four tips to help you make the most of your book tour.
  Your Book Tour: Seize the Opportunity to be Memorable

To Market

• Check these great agent interview links.
  Interviews with Literary Agents
• Crossing genres? Be smart, pick the alpha element as a tag, and never give up.
  Is it OK to cross genres?
• Great interview about what makes Entangled Publishing different.
  Interview: Liz Pelletier, publisher of Entangled Publishing
• Pitch critique fest -- hurry up and join the workshop.
  Pitch Workshop with Brenda Drake, Shelley Watters, & Cassandra Marshall
• Interesting query observations from Red Sofa Literary.
  A Penny for Your Thoughts: Queries from 2011
• Great way to think of the pitching process.
  Pitching Is A Job Interview
• New MG twitter hashtag, plus wonderful online events for MG writers.
  Love to Write Middle Grade Fiction? Fabulous News...
• What to do before you query so you'll be ready for the call.
  Before THE Call: Ten Tasks to Complete Before an Agent Calls
• Don't think an agent earns her keep? Read this.
  playing for the house: an editorial assistant on the dangers of going agent-free
• What agents and editors really talk about.
  The Inevitable Shit Agents and Editors Say
• Great post on the small press vs. large press experience.
  Harry Potter for Writers: Guest Post: Why A Small Press? by Alicia Rasley
• Why a huge advance isn't always in your best interest.
  It’s Not Always About the Money | Rachelle Gardner
• Twelve great tips to get your 90-second pitch perfect.
  Crafting Your 90-Second Pitch
• On a journey to publication? Read this guide by @JaneFriedman
  Start Here: How to Get Your Book Published | Jane Friedman
• Agent Chris Richman of Upstart Crow Lit seeks YA/MG books for boys, books w/unforgettable characters, & high-concept material.
  The Official SCBWI Conference Blog: Chris Richman: the Current Market for Your Work
• Interesting post about agents, submissions, and the publishing environment.
  25 Things Writers Should Know About Agents

Other Weekly Round-Ups:

• Cynthia Leitich Smith at Cynsationsdoes a Cynsational author, craft, and book news review.
• Elizabeth Craig posts a comprehensive weekly list of all her helpful Twitter posts.
• Stina Lindenblatt does a fabulous Cool Links Friday post every week.
• YA Highway's Friday Road Trip hits the high points of the publishing industry, writing craft, submissions process, and other fun stuff.

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

Happy reading and joyous writing,

Clara and Martina