Every couple of weeks I collect together a list of the articles I’ve been using to procrastinate improve my skills/knowledge in the art of writing. Here’s the latest lot.

Writing (general)

Readers love a good anti-hero, so why do they shun anti-heroines?
Emma Jane Unsworth writing in The Guardian on yet another gender imbalance in fiction… An interesting article but I’m goggling rather at her contention that Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre are anti-heroines. Really? Any strong minded, intelligent female character qualifies? Who knew?

Is Talent Overrated? 8 Things that are More Important than Talent for Writing Success
Author Anne Allen with an excellent blog post on skills vs. talent.

How To Motivate Yourself As A Writer
Chuck Wendig really has to be on everyone’s reading list. If you don’t already subscribe to his blog, go and do it. It’ll save me putting the articles in here. The man is gold.

How To Take Critiques (AKA How To Take A Punch In The Gut)
Megan Carney at the Critique Circle on her survival kit for getting through feedback on her WIP.

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Writing (skills)
The best—and worst—ways to use backstory
An old post, but a useful one, from Ninie Hammon, who doesn’t like novels being thrown at sleeping cats.

Editing Checklist for Writers
Writers Write with a checklist of what to look out for on your first-pass self-edit. It’s both a little vague and simplistic, but it’s a start.

A Playwright Explains How To Write Great Dialogue
Playwright Maggie Sulk at the Write Practice on writing dialogue. I could have done with more real discussion and examples and generally something less superficial. A starting point only.

Ten Questions To Find Your Unique Writing Voice
Joe Bunting at the Write Practice on developing a unique voice. Again, a starting point article. It may get you thinking.

Making Your Character Voices Distinctive
Susie Quint at the Critique Circle with an interesting blog on making sure your characters don’t all sound alike.

Flog a Pro: would you turn this bestselling author’s first page?
Ray Rhamey on starting your book, with a neat checklist of what’s going to grip the reader. Enlightening quote on how not to do it from a best selling book that had me yawning.

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Marketing for Writers

7 Best Seller Marketing Strategies for Writers
An older post from the Best Seller Lab with some tips on how to get your book noticed and build sales. I don’t think there’s anything there that’s earth shattering, but it’s a handy reference post.

Forget the Book Launch
Digital Book World, part 3 of a series of articles contrasting traditional promotion methods with what we need to do now.

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Publishing

The 50 Shades Effect: Women Dominate Self Publishing
A Guardian article in which the establishment is late catching up with what’s really happening in the writing world. Again.

Amazon Won’t Be Earth’s Biggest Bookstore. Facebook Will.
Mark Gimein at Bloomsberg.com with a view that one day more books will sell on Facebook than anywhere else. Am struggling with that. Yes, my circle of friends there are fellow writers and readers, so maybe that’s a skewed sample, but even so my news feed is full of memes and kitten pictures. I can’t see Gimein’s idea taking off. FB is not about reading books.

Ebook Publishing Gets More Difficult from Here – Here’s How to Succeed
Very interesting article at the Smaswords blog. Mark Coker analyses the current landscape for indie authors and has tips on how to succeed in a market that’s slowing.

Self Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: How To Choose
An interesting overview on the publishing game from the Miami Herald, published to coincide with the Miami Book Fair International. Balanced and non-judgemental. That’s a first.

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Resources

The Graveyard Shift – a resource for people writing crime novels and police procedurals.