Here’s the latest collection of articles that caught my eye over the last week or so.

Writing (general)

2015 Resolution For Writers: Be Big (And Then, Be Small)
Chuck Wendig is a writing treasure. A profane and opinionated on, I grant you, but a treasure. Read his take at Terrible Minds on the philosophy of writing. Live his final sentence. Art hard, motherfuckers!

My 2015 Writing And Publishing Wishlist
Chuck again, with thoughts on, well, everything. Just go and read it.

Why The Best Fantasy Stories Include Mundane Everyday Life
Author Anne Leonard at IO9, on how the mundane everyday things are needed in fantasy, if only to help us understand the scale and impact of magic and wonder. What she’s talking about here is worldbuilding – but ‘accessible’ world building. Interesting.

Reviewing Reviews
I picked this up from the DSP authors forum, and although it’s not new, Amy Lane is eminently sensible in how to deal with bad reviews. We all get them – she shows how she works through them. She references an earlier blog post, The Five Stages of A Bad Review, which is also very good.

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Writing (skills)

25 Must-Read Tips on Plotting from Top Authors and Editors
A useful list compiled by editor M J Bush at Anne R Allen’s blog, complete with links through to the source of each tip.

Five Stupid Writing Tricks Starting… Now
The inimitable Chuck Wendig on plot, character, writing how you think… and obsidian dildos. Only Chuck.

Stirring Higher Emotions
Donald Maas at Writer Unboxed on emotional intelligence: how to write big emotions without falling flat.

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Publishing

Evaluating Publishing Contracts: Six Ways You May Be Sabotaging Yourself
Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware on the clauses in publishing contracts that will cripple you if you aren’t watchful of your rights. Do read this and other contracts advice carefully. Publishers are out to protect themselves and their rights and profits, not yours. Caveat emptor rulz OK, right?

2015 Book Publishing Industry Predictions: Slow Growth Presents Challenges and Opportunities
Interesting thought piece from Mark Coker at the Smashwords blog – his annual predictions about where the industry is heading.

Kindle Unlimited

Is Kindle Unlimited Devaluing Books? The Dark Side of Exclusivity
Mark Coker at the Smashwords blog with more thinky thoughts on the impact of Kindle Unlimited. Honest, I’m beginning to think that I should start a whole new section just for KU.

Are Indies Treated Like Second Class Citizens?
Hugh Howey on the relationship between Amazon and indie authors, with yet more references to Kindle Unlimited. Actually quite remarkably balanced and thought-provoking.

Amazon Offers All-You-Can-Eat Books. Authors Turn Up Noses.
A New York Times article with yet more analysis and opinion on… guess what? Yup. The ubiquitous Unlimited. Majors on the problems authors are having with seeing a massive drop in income and the rise in short stories and novellas to compensate.

Subscription Model Squabbles
John Scalzi picking up on earlier thoughts on KU, with his usual acerbic take on things. He makes a compelling argument about KU reducing writing to a zero sum game, with some thought provoking comments in his penultimate paragraph that set out the issues more clearly than anything else I’ve read on the topic.