You May like these links

Some links to peruse and a treat at the end.

The Writer and Money
Matt Haig write a fun post on why writers should not write only for money.

Firstly, writing is not for those who want the security of knowing what they are going to be earning. If you are after something financially predictable try something more sensible. Like acting. Or street-performing. Or the lottery.

The Art of Story Velcro
Rachel Aaron on how hooks don’t just get the reader to start the story, they keep them stuck to it like – well, velcro.

You know how sometimes you’ll have a book that you’re enjoying, but it takes you forever to finish? Like, it’s good and you want to know how the story ends, but life conspires and you just keep putting it down. Now, you know those books that take you over? The books that keep you up until all hours of the night when you desperately need to sleep but you simply can not put the sucker down? Yeah, those books.

Five Goodreads Do’s and Don’ts
Heidi Belleau with advice on how to use Goodreads as an author without pissing everyone right off.

So earlier this morning I got linked to a blog post series for authors on how to use Goodreads that quickly devolved into some 100% Bad Advice, namely that you should PM all the readers in the groups you’re a member of with a sloppily disguised form message telling them about your books (but saying you’re not going to pressure them into buying them or anything, so that makes it all okay, right? WRONG!!!)

In Defence of Dirty Books
Josephine Myles on Jessewave’s blog talking about the naughtier end of the erotic romance genre.

What books am I talking about? I’m talking romantic porn. You know the sort of book: the one where the plot is the thinnest excuse for hanging together a series of sex scenes. Romance readers feel cheated because there’s little in the way of a romantic arc: just two unfeasibly hot men (or whatever gender combination you like) shagging like rabbits at every opportunity. Erotica addicts get annoyed because it isn’t edgy or literary enough, and there’s too much lovey-dovey snuggling for their tastes.

Plot Fixer, Part 7: How To Pick Up The Pace In Your Story
Kara Lennox on Writer’s in the Storm blog about saggy middles and plots that run too fast.

If a number of bad things are going to happen to your character, try to arrange them from least horrible to most horrible. And give the reader a bit of reaction time between scenes of high drama or high action or danger, so they can catch their breath. Then, just when the reader has relaxed a bit, BAM, you hit them with something else.

What do editors look for?
Some practical and general advice from Treva Harte about submitting. Short, but useful!

1) Put your email addy on your manuscript. Things can be separated, even in cyberspace, and definitely on paper. It’s incredibly frustrating to read a ms. and then try to figure out how to contact someone.

… and some have controversy thrust upon them …
Melanie Tushmore blogs as a guest of Clare London about her surprise at the controversy a menage scene in her new book Crucifox has caused.

Lately, I’ve read a lot of rumblings online about readers becoming bored with the predictable plotlines in m/m romance books. I can’t comment on that, because typical romances aren’t what I read anyway (to each their own, c’est la vie, and all that…) but if there is such a gripe towards reading the predictable, why are readers so reluctant to try something different?

Guest Blogger Alex Beecroft – Some Thoughts On Fifty Shades Of Grey
Alex Beecroft on the 50 Shades phenomenon and the shaming off women for their choice of reading material.

And what happens? Do we celebrate the fact that women are getting rich from giving other women what they want? That female authors are on top of the world? Do we celebrate the fact that some women are discovering that they can talk about their sex drives in public? Even while we’re shaking our heads in bemusement that their kink is not our kink, do we feel happy for them that they at least are feeling safe enough to express themselves? No. What happens is that the world comes together to denounce those women for wanting to read what they want to read, and to belittle those authors for giving it to them.

Fun story of the month – Saudi Arabia apparently deported three men visiting from the United Arab Emirates for an arts festival on the grounds they were too handsome. The story was already doing the rounds nicely as a silly story. And then the guy below – Omar Borkan Al Gala – got attached to the story as possibly being one of the men, and naturally the whole thing exploded. It’s still unclear if he was one of them or not, but he certainly fits the profile. He’s from the UAE. He’s in the arts. Oh and he’s quite ridiculously handsome.

Me? Too handsome?

Okay, it’s a fair cop.

Guilty as charged!

April Links

Winter is wearing out its welcome around here, but these links kept my mind off the cold.

Sleep On It: Notion Potion #11
Jordan Castillo Price talks about the advantages of letting an idea simmer while you sleep, and how to make sure you capture the results in the morning.

It’s important to set your intention just before you go to bed. (This is true too if you’d like to remember your dreams.) As you lie down, think about the point in your project in which you normally hit a wall. You’re not looking to come up with an answer right then…and, in fact, you’re not encouraging yourself to stay up worrying about it, either. Think about your issue, the crucial question that will allow you to move forward with your project. Jot it down and plant it. Then, intend to mull it over as you sleep.

When the Links Come Marching In

A collection of luscious links to spring you into March.

When we defend romance reading as escapism, the critics win
Sunita at Dear Author talking about romance and escapism, and why that’s neither a good defence or a valid criticism of romance.

I think we make a mistake when we rebut the critics of the genre using the terms of the debate they’ve established, rather than forcing them to consider how pejorative their assumptions are. I absolutely read romance when I want to be cheered up. But I also read it when I’m feeling good about life. Some romance readers want to avoid stories that are too gritty, too reflective of the dark times in which they are set. Other readers come out of a story like The Bronze Horseman feeling uplifted and positive about humanity. Luckily we have really good romance novels to make both groups happy.

The Mainstreaming of M/M
Josh Lanyon on the Jessewave blog about whether M/M fiction is gaining a foothold in the mainstream.

But even with the best timing in the world, is it realistic to expect that a successful M/M release from an already bestselling mainstream author will translate into a boom for indie M/M authors? Won’t much of that enthusiasm be chilled when these readers purchase their first badly-edited piece of schlock from Schnooky-Nooky Press? Is it not likely that these enthusiastic new readers will look for more offerings from already established mainstream authors?

To the mainstream!
Writer and editor Kate McMurray’s reponse post to Josh Lanyon’s post above.

I think two things will happen by the end of 2013. We’ll see a few mainstream romance authors write m/m (or other LGBT romance) and we’ll see a few established m/m (or other LGBT) writers get picked up by “mainstream” publishers. (Examples: Katie Porter is the writing team of Lorelie Brown and Carrie Lofty, both established m/f writers. They wrote a couple of m/m holiday stories that were well-received. ZA Maxfield has a book deal with Berkley.)

Yverdon-Les-Bains and Cliffhangers
While responding to the fan reaction to the last episode of series 4 of BBC Radio comedy Cabin Pressure, writer John Finnemore makes some interesting points about cliff-hanger endings.

2) You can’t use a cliff-hanger instead of an ending. Some shows do, but I think it’s cheating. Any episode that ends with a cliffhanger must also have a satisfying conclusion in itself. Ideally, the main question of the episode should be answered – but the answer should then throw up an unexpected larger question, which provides the cliff-hanger.

Women Writers and Bad Interviews
Lorraine Berry at Talking Writing on the intrusive, irrelevent, and just plain sexist questions women writers have to suffer in interviews.

Connie Willis insists that all writers get asked dumb questions. In a recent TW interview I did with her, the renowned science fiction author points out that, for the average reader (or literal-minded reporter), the idea of making up something whole-cloth out of your head is a foreign concept. They assume you must be drawing on some event that happened to you personally.

This is Willis’s generous explanation for why people have actually asked her if she’s experienced the things she’s described in her novels, including time travel and death.

Inspired Openings: Special Agent Edition
Literary agents talk about what grabs them – and what doesn’t – about a novel opening. Rule #1 seems to be no “waking up, getting ready, eating breakfast and going to work/school” openings, please!

I tend to refer to this as the balance between the familiar and the unexpected. Think of Beethoven’s fifth symphony. Those first four notes are strikingly recognizable, but the first three are the same. It’s the fourth, that unexpected changeup, that catches your attention.
- Amy Boggs, Donald Maass Literary Agency

Self-Editing 101—13 Questions to Ask Yourself about Your Opening Chapter
Anne R. Allen talks about opening chapters and why they are the hardest to get right, but are the most important to get right.

Introducing your reader to your characters and your fictional world may be the single trickiest job a novelist has. You have to present a lot of information at the same time you’re enticing us to jump into the story. If you tell us too much, you’ll bore us, but if you tell us too little, you’ll confuse us.

Size Matters
Alex Beecroft on how you decide if you’ve got a short or a beast of a novel on your hands when you come up with a story idea.

Whether you gravitate more to short or long forms will largely depend on the kind of story ideas that come to you by nature. The minimalist, single brilliant ideas of short stories can’t really be developed into novels, and the sprawling complexity of novel ideas can’t usually be reduced into shorts.

Picture of the Month

Deep midwinter links

It’s February already? When did that happen? Oh, on the 1st I suppose. Here are a few good blogs and articles to see you through the grimmest (but thankfully shortest) month.

On formatting: how do these tiny buttons work?
Good practical advice, that answers many of the questions writers seem to either fret too much about, or don’t take the trouble over they should.

Now, a perfectly formatted manuscript is an editor’s delight. It makes me know that you read and cared about the submission guidelines, that you’re detail oriented and thorough, and that means you get moved to the top of my reading pile. So before you nudge your manuscript out of the nest to take flight, I want to show you a couple of helpful hints for formatting that will make your editor, and eventually your formatter, very happy campers.

Why I Like Science Fiction by A Woman
Nanci of the Toshe Station podcast writes about the common misconception that women don’t like science fiction and must be tricked into going to see it.

Male creators need to stop asking “how do we get women to buy our stuff?” and instead focus on telling a good story. Because when you start asking “how do we get women to buy our stuff?”, you only end up condescending to women. (You know how to get women to buy your stuff, male creators? Stop perpetuating the myth that women don’t like sci-fi.)

Self-Publishing – the “easy way” to get published?
Lana Penrose talks about how the supposed “easy” option of self-publishing her rights-reverted books wasn’t so easy at all.

Every man and his dog were proclaiming how easy it is to self-publish in the twenty-first century. Yet this exercise literally swallowed up the better part of my 2012 and today I find myself bitter towards the Mayans for claiming what is left of my time on planet Earth.

When You Have Editorial Differences
Quite long, but excellent post on the blog of Behler publishing, about how authors and editors can handle disagreements, and great stuff about the relationship between authors and editor generally.

So you’ve signed the contract, the ink is dry, and now your book is in editing. Yay! Welllll…maybe. There are times when authors will have differences of opinion with their editor, and this can either go well or make you want to mainline Drano. Let’s face it, there are few authors who agree with every suggestion their editors bring up. Ten years in the biz has afforded me all kinds of experiences in the editor chair, so I thought I’d offer some perspective that may help you when your manuscript is under the bright lights.

The Argument for eBooks
Dan Coxon argues that criticism of ebooks as a threat to literature is misguided.

So why this fear of ebooks? In part it’s simply old fashioned technophobia. While the Sixties and Seventies looked to the future for their inspiration – creating a wealth of science fiction along the way – the current trend is to harken back to simpler times. Things used to be better before technology had its way. Human existence was deeper and more fulfilling. Modern life is rubbish.

Including Female Characters in your M/M Romance
Alex Beecroft addresses ways you can keep your m/m romance from suffering testosterone poisoning.

Clearly the main problem in getting female characters into your m/m fiction comes from the fact that both of your main characters are men. Your viewpoints will be overwhelmingly male because your romantic couple are both male. And there’s nothing you can do about that without completely changing the genre to m/f, which rather defeats the object.

25 Hard truths about writing and publishing.
Chuck Wendig shoots from the hip with some facts that can make writers stick their fingers in their ears and sing “la la la I can’t hear you!”

… you can get a ton of editors who love your book who won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. That’s disconcerting at first, because you think, “Well, you’re an editor, this is your job, you are in theory a tastemaker for the publisher, and here you’re telling me you love the book but wouldn’t buy it with another publisher’s money.” You’d almost rather they just send you a napkin with FUCK NO written on it. But then you realize…

New Year Links

Happy new year! Check out this month’s links to help you with your writing resolutions, among other things.

NaNoWriMo
Words of wisdom from Jeff Seymour on the Carina blog about giving your NaNoWrimo novel – and heck, any novel – some time to simmer before you edit and maybe submit it.

You’ve just spent a month pouring yourself into this project. Maybe it came easily for you. Maybe you had to grind out the last three chapters by sheer force of will. Either way, your brain is saturated in it right now, and unless you’re a phenomenally talented self-editor, you can’t look at it objectively.

Writing Tip: Too Much Dialog Can Spoil the Soup
Writer Alan Chin on why too much dialogue will hurt a book, however good the dialogue is.

Dialog should not be used to tell the story. It should be used to punctuate the action in a story. Think of dialog as TNT. You want small controlled detonations in your prose in order to highlight certain ideas or actions or character traits.

Don’t Reject Yourself
Maisey Yates talks about how fear of rejection can stop you getting your work out there at all.

As the deadline for that book gets closer (March) and the need to get going on it LOOMS (like a doubt crow) those sorts of fears were starting to get really, really big in my mind. And it’s silly, because I haven’t written more than 1K on that book and I’m turning it into a demon beast before it even has a chance to…at least evolve into that organically.

Authors – Run your business like a business
Sarah York advises authors to make sure they are being hard-headed about the business of writing.

I know this isn’t a popular subject or maybe it is right now depending on where you are sitting. If you are a full time author you need to diversify. You can not depend on any one publisher to be your meal ticket. And you actually shouldn’t depend on any one genre to be your meal ticket.

8 Words to Seek and Destroy in Your Writing
Rob D Young on those annoying words that bog down your prose.

Creating powerful prose requires killing off the words, phrases, and sentences that gum up your text. While a critical eye and good judgement are key in this process, some terms almost always get in the way. Here are eight words or phrases that should be hunted down in your story and deleted with extreme prejudice.

Why You Need a “No Rules” Creative Process
Marcia Yudkin on how not to get hung up on so called writing rules that don’t work for you.

You see, we’re not all wired in the same way. What works for the writer who lives down the street, the guru teaching the rules of productive writing or the guy working in the next cubicle may not work for you. I discovered this years ago while teaching creativity workshops and paying careful attention to the comments, questions and worries of people trying to write the way they were supposed to.

What Does It Really Take to Be a Die-Hard Writer?
Jody Hedlund on what a writer who’s in it for the long haul needs.

Obviously there will be seasons in our lives. Some writers go through times when they need to take a break for one reason or another. I’ve been there, done that.

But what about everyone else? Why do so many quit?

Why I love Twitter and barely tolerate Facebook
Matt Haughey expresses much of what I feel about Facebook and Twitter. Facebook drags you down to Earth, but on Twitter, you fly.

For the past decade, I’ve tried every new social media product to come along but I find myself returning to the two giants of the industry most often: Twitter and Facebook. I’m optimistic and delighted every time I open up Twitter on my browser, while Facebook is something I only click on once or twice a day and always with a small sense of dread. This week I sat down to think about why that is.

Ellen Ripley and the changing nature of Heroines
Sally Quilford has a series about Advent Heroines on her blog, and discussed the iconic character of Ellen Ripley and how she broke the stereotype of women characters.

Before Alien, women were generally treated as baggage in a story; to be carried around and cared for by the hunky hero. In romances, that role was played up the nth degree as breathless damsels waited for a man to save them from their lives of drudgery.

So when I first watched Alien, I expected that Dallas, as played by Tom Skerrit, would be the one to save the day. I don’t think I was the only one.

Who would you have pegged as being the one who’d make it to the end of the movie?

How to Edit Your Own Writing
Caroline McMillan on Lifehacker talks about the art of editing. Focused on business writing, but still useful to fiction writers too.

It could be a company memo, a PowerPoint presentation, an email, or a report—but no matter the medium, these quick editing skills will always come in handy. Some other bonuses of good self-editing skills: People are less likely to misunderstand you, and bosses and peers will pay more attention to the meat of your message.

How Long Should You Keep Trying to Get Published?
Article by Jane Freidman about how to know how close you are to achieving your goal of publication.

I’ve counseled thousands of writers over the years, and even if it’s not possible for me to read their work, I can usually say something definitive about what their next steps should be. I often see when they’re wasting their time. No matter where you are in your own publishing path, you should periodically take stock of where you’re headed, and revise as necessary.

write or DIE
Editor Jenn, a Senior Editor for Etopia Press, talks about how to make this the year you finish your novel.

I’ve made some pretty important New Year’s resolutions this year, like finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I know that some people have made really silly resolutions, like writing or finishing a novel. So I thought I’d use this space to drop some hints and tips in hopes that you’ll get your pesky book out of the way, thereby freeing up some time for you to practice your cookie recipes. Because we should stay focused on what’s important, right? Right.