I am terribly behindhand with the links list, but I consider that I had good excuse this month! Normal service is being resumed, and here is the latest collection of articles that caught my eye recently. Enjoy!

Writing (general)

How To Succeed As A Writer in 2015 – Deborah Ross at the Book View Café with an amusing (and yet depressing) analysis of what sells.

Science Fiction Writers of America welcome indie and small press authors – but still with an earnings criterion applied, which would probably eliminate a lot indie authors. Let’s just say the $150 dollars FlashWired earned me wouldn’t get me a foot in the door. I shall have to hold out hope on Gilded Scarab and the Taking Shield series.

Who Decided Our Worth? Do Free Books Give Away Authors’ Value  – fascinating and really thought provoking review of the practice of giving away ebooks for nothing as a way of enticing in new readers.

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Writing (skills)

Posts at Writers Write on technical aspects of writing, all of which are worth a look:
How to use dialogue to show and not tell
The Nine Types of Unreliable Narrator
Three Steps To Help You Write Brilliant Description
Six Simple Ways To Handle Viewpoint Changes
Six Uncommon Romantic Love Interests – let’s just say that number 2 made me snort and wonder just how far some people are behind the curve.

Spectacular Settings  – David Farland’s writing blog. Nothing mindblowing, but a two minute read that may just give you one or two pointers.

Story Shapes: Four Ways To Think About Narrative Architecture  –  Chuck in a quite brilliant essay on how to approach plot structure.
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Writers on Writing

The Emotional Milestones of Writing A Novel: A Handy Guide  – sometimes I think I need to give Chuck Wendig a section all to himself. Or just write in 75pt font at the top of each one of these link roundups: GO AND READ HIS BLOG.

Trigger Warnings – the inimitable Chuck on warnings on fiction, something that’s almost ubiquitous in fanfiction writing

Fuck Your Pre-Rejection, Penmonkey  –  Well who else would come up with a title like that? Chuck on a writer’s tendency to defeatism before they even get started.

Brian McClellan on “Five Things I Learned On Writing Autumn Republic  – a couple of interesting points on writing trilogies re character arcs and wrapping up everything at the end. At Chuck’s blog.

SL Huang on The Subject of Unlikable Women Protagonists  – Huang guesting at Chuck’s blog with an interesting take on the trend for making women characters unexceptional. She doesn’t like it. Nor do I. (Quist rules! Grins.)

Mitchell James Kaplan on There Are No Ugly Words  –  Kaplan at Writer Unboxed on how writing styles cripple creativity. Spool down past his bio and backslapping to get to the meat of his post.

Adam Christopher on Everything I Learned, I Learned From Fanfiction  –  guesting at Chuck’s blog with something that is music to the ears. These fanfic writing ears, anyway.

Gareth Powell on A Trilogy Of Things I Learned Writing A Trilogy  –  I was particularly struck by his last point that every installment has to *change the game*. Yup. Intensify it.

33 Experts Share What They Want Next From Female Characters  –  experts in what, you may ask yourself. I did.

Ilana C Myer on The Strong Female Character Deconstructed  – I seem to have something of a theme going here, but I did like this post. Trenchant advice here.

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Marketing for Writers

Social Media Is A Waste Of Time For Writers—Hmmn. Think Again  –  Kristen Lamb, with some wise words that sum up as “A LOT of any sales is the follow up then the follow-through.”

How Not to Fumble Your Social Media Presence  –  James Scott Bell (whom I love only slightly less than Chuck Wendig) at the Kill Zone with some thoughtful thoughts on how not to be the writerly equivalent of Groundhog Day’s Ned Reyerson. See his thoughts on what you should be covering on social media, in terms of proportion of ‘adverts’ to real content.

Beyond 0.99: New Tips On eBook Price Promotions – Laura Owen with some pointers on getting your book out there.

Facebook Tips for Authors  – video at The Passive Voice. Bloody irritating presenters, though.

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Publishing

Why Fanfiction Is The Future Of Publishing – interesting, but short, article at The Daily Beast, building on the 50 Shades phenomenon.

Top Ten Things All Writers Should Know About Amazon  –  sadface here at point number one and that rankings have nothing to do with sales. Boo. Hiss.

 

Resources

Veronica Siccoe’s list of Writing Advice Books

15 Tab Book Marketing Spreadsheet  – created by Jenny Blake. This is awesome. In a frightening sort of way.