It has been a very long time since I last did a links roundup of all that juicy advice to writers out there. And much as I’d like to claim it, I don’t have any reasonable excuse. So, picture me shuffling my feet and mumbling a bit, and holding out this list of recent(ish) advice posts that caught my interest and that I think are worth sharing. Also, I’ll try and do better in the future. Promise.

 

 

General Issues

In Writing, Progress Doesn’t Always Look Like Progress – Chuck Wendig

Self-Rejection: What It Is, Why You Do It, And How To Eject Its Ass Out The Airlock – Chuck Wendig

 

Genre

Fizzle or Sizzle? How Genre is Fundamental for Story Success  Kristen Lamb

How to Write a Mystery Novel – Joslyn Chase at The Write Practice

 

Legal/Contracting Stuff

How to Prepare and Use a DMCA Takedown Notice – Writers Unblocked

 

Publishing

5 Tips for Success from an Indie Author  By Shaz Kahng

The Indie Author’s Publishing Checklist –  Jan Lewis at Fiction University

Top Five DIY Book Layout Mistakes – How indie authors can avoid book design pitfalls

Things to Consider When Considering Self Publishing

 

Resources

The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2018 – Dana Sitar at the Write Life

48+ publishing resources! at Bookbub

 

Reviews

In Praise of Negative Reviews and On Bad Reviews

 

Writer’s Block

How to Write When the Last Thing You Want to Do is Write  Janice Hardy

 

 

 

How To… Writing Skills and Tips

Action Scenes

How to Write Kick-Ass Action Scenes (Part 1) and (Part 2)– Laurence MacNaughton

4 Tips on Writing Action Scenes – Janice Hardy

Body Language

Your ultimate body language guide Alex Limberg

 

Characterisation

The 5 Turning Points of a Character Arc and Sorry, Your Services are no Longer Required: Eliminating Characters from Your Novel  Janice Hardy

Character Building: How Story Forges, Refines, and Defines Characters  Kristen Lamb

Not Your Mama’s Character Descriptions  Margie Lawson

How Much Do You Need to Describe Your Characters? –  Janice Hardy

Dismemberment–Taking Characters Apart in All the Wrong Ways – Cait Reynolds

The Ultimate Guide to Character Motivation (Part 1) and (Part 2)– Laurence MacNaughton

8 Tips for Creating Characters -Janice Hardy

Alternative Ways to Describe Character Reactions -Janice Hardy

Secret-Keepers: Generate Page-Turning, Nerve-Shredding Tension – by Kristen Lamb

How To Make Dominant Female Characters Likeable – Lisa Hall-Wilson

 

Description

One Common Way Writers Weaken Their Descriptions -Janice Hardy

 

Dialogue

Getting Dialogue Right: How to Use Dialogue Tags and Action Beats – Ali Luke

Bring Your Dialogue to Life – Writer Unboxed

 

Emotion

Emotion Commotion: Getting Emotion Right on the Page and Putting Wow on the Page! – Margie Lawson

 

Plotting

Plotting With Layers: 4 Steps to a Stronger Plot – By Janice Hardy

 

PoV

Using Deep Point Of View Without Dragging Down The Pace Of Your Novel – Lisa Hall Wilson

5 Key Ways to Balance Internal Monologue with Pitfalls to Avoid – Jordan Dane

5 Quick Ways To Shift Description and Setting Into Deep POV  Lisa Hall-Wilson

 

Series

6 Things to Consider Before Writing a Series Janice Hardy

Six Common Problems With Long Series – Oren Ashkenazi at Mythcreants

A 3-Step Plan for Handling Backstory in a Series – Janice Hardy

 

Sequels

Six Tips for Sequels – Mythcreants

The Difference Between a Sequel and a Scene – Janice Hardy

Fonda Lee: So, You Think You Know How To Write A Sequel

 

Show, Don’t Tell

7 Ways to Master “Show, Don’t Tell”  Laurence MacNaughton

Showing and Telling Particulars by Beth Hill

 

Storytelling

Pixar Storytelling – 20 Points Writers Can Learn From Animated Stories –

Six Common Storytelling Problems in New Manuscripts at Mythcreants

 

Structure

5 Ways to Structure (and Plot) Your Novel  Janice Hardy at Fiction University

Tips on Writing Scene and Chapter Transitions –  Janice Hardy

A Scene Template For New Writers – James Scott Bell at The Kill Zone

A Little About Endings – Philip Athans

Ten Tasks of the First Chapter – Blood Red Pencil

How to Avoid Repetitive Sentence Structure –  Janice Hardy

 

Worldbuilding

7 Tips for Creating Believable Fantasy or Science Fiction Worlds –  Janice Hardy

6 Secrets of Science Fiction and Fantasy World Building –  Laurence MacNaughton

Seven Things Writers Get Wrong About Language at Mythcreants

Should You Give Non-Human Groups Marginalized Traits? at Mythcreants

 

 

 

Editing

Business Musings: Editorial Encroachment – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Difference Between a Revision, a Rewrite, and a Redraft  –  Janice Hardy

The Dangers of Premature Editing: Pruning Our Stories vs. Pillaging Them  Kristen Lamb

Perspective: Self-Editing Your Dialogue and Characters and Editing for Authors: 7 Ways to Tighten the Story and Cut Costs –  Kristen Lamb

Self-Editing One Step at a Time: How to Identify Dragging Narrative | Weeding Out Unnecessary Adjectives and Adverbs |  Searching for More Silly Stuff |  Identifying and Eliminating Your Habit Words |  Cleaning Up Those Dialogue Tags |  Analyzing Sentences for Redundancy and Wordiness |  Fine-Tuning Sentence Structure |  Read Your Manuscript Aloud – at The Blood Red Pencil

 

 

 

 

Marketing

Advertising

10 top book marketing articles of 2018 – Bookbub

20 Top BookBub Ad Designs Readers Want to Click

Understanding Pay-Per Advertising – By Marcy Kennedy

How to Write Attention-Grabbing Promo Copy for Books  at Bookbub

Biggest BookBub Ads mistakes authors and publishers are making.

 

Newsletters

Author Newsletters: The Good, the Bad & the PLEASE JUST STOP!  Kristen Lamb

 

Pricing Strategies

5 Ways That Playing with Pricing Can Sell More Books – Penny Sansevieri

 

Promotion

Promotion is NOT Platform & Ads are NOT a Brand: Know the Difference – by Kristen Lamb

10 Ways to Promote Backlist Titles – Chyrs Fey

11 creative ways authors have announced their book launch! – Bookbub

How to promote your book for free! – Bookbub

Exactly When Is the Best Time to Begin Your Book Marketing? – Penny Sansevieri

 

Sales

The Evolution & Devolution of Sales: Why Your Books Aren’t Selling  Kristen Lamb

 

Strategies

6 Top Ways for Indie Authors to Make Self-published Books More Discoverable and More Competitive on Amazon –  Jyotsna Ramachamdran

 

 

Social Media

Blogs

Why Should Fiction Writers Blog? – Anne R. Allen

 

Facebook

How To Make A Pretty Facebook Page by David Gaughran

 

Strategy

10 Tips for Authors on Using Social Media from a Literary Agent

Five Tips for Increasing Sales Through Social Media (NSFW) – John G. Hartness

 

 

 

Technical Stuff

Cover Design

12 questions to ask when hiring a book cover designer at bookbub

How to Get a Great Cover for Your Self-Published Book – theryanlanz at A Writer’s Path

The Latest Trends In Cover Design: Think Pink? –  PJ Parrish at The Kill Zone

3 Ways to Get Book Covers on a Shoestring Budget – J. Kathleen Cheney at Fiction Uni.

3 Signs Your Book Cover Design Misses The Mark –Liesha Petrovich at The Write Life

 

Blurb

Better Book Descriptions in 3 Easy Steps – Sue Coletta at The Kill Zone

How to Build an Author Website: The Complete Guide » – The Write Practice

 

Websites

How to Build an Author Website: The Complete Guide » – The Write Practice

Review of the 10 best website builders – Robert Mening