Article Dumping: Writer's Block Edition

Wednesday:

• Romance University: Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry- Stretching emotions in category romance by Louisa George: Starting out with humor and then shifting it into something else.
• The Writing Nut: Wednesday Writer’s Workspace Welcomes Pam Torres: A writer cannot have too many grandchildren.
• Writability: A Lesson from Bestsellers: Write Whatever You Want: The Next Big Thing won't be the last Next Big Thing.
• QueryTracker.net: Figuring Out Your Writing Style: What's your plan, time of day, writing interval, and frequency of ideas?
• Colorimetry: Packaging Books: A neat post on how to mail novels with little money and paper packages with string.

edited 18th Apr '12 6:09:26 PM by chihuahua0

'Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favourite thiiiiiiiiings!'

That what exactly came into mind.

Is it wrong for me, as an adult male, to occasionally want to burst out singing Julie Andrews' songs from that musical in public?

Transposed into bass range, naturally...

edited 19th Apr '12 6:18:40 AM by JHM

If that's wrong I don't want to be right. :P

This man, he is my brother in song!

Thursday:

• Sorry, no links today.

edited 19th Apr '12 2:39:58 PM by chihuahua0

Strictly speaking I am an it-thingy...

Then, this it-thingy, it is my sibling in song! O, glory of tentacled glories!

Let there be cries of jubilation, to the pnigalious accompaniment of arcane flautistry and unspeakable boogieing!

-clicks link on article about writing style, hoping for analysis of word choices, advice on narratives, and other such goodness-

FUUUU—

Amen.

That's a problem the writing blogosphere has in general. I wrote a post on character voice, a topic I have little ˚nowledge about, just because I couldn't find anything on it. Fortunately, I'm still receiving some traffic from that one post, but it deserves an actual author on the subject.

Same on writing voice and style. Most of what I had seen out there is mostly how to find it, not what it actually composes of.

EDIT: To drive the point home, my blog post on the subject is the top result for "how to write character voice", the second result for "guide to writing character voice", and 4th for "distinctive character voice". The owner of Superhero Nation, B. Mac, probably receives good traffic for these results, even though his site ran˚s good on Google.

Sorry if I'm overusing this example, but I wish there's a clear and straightforward guide on "writing style" too.

edited 22nd Apr '12 4:09:04 PM by chihuahua0

I think Writing Excuses did a podcast on it... maybe.

Well, you know what to do when you can't find a good article on something.

WRITE YOUR OWN GODDMAN ARTICLE, FUCK YEAH.

But I have a few other things to work on at the moment, and there aren't many hours left in my weekend.

edited 22nd Apr '12 5:25:52 PM by SnowyFoxes

Exactly what I am going to do today! Thanks for giving me a mission, Snowy!

I'm going to try to do that again also.

Monday:

• The Character Therapist: Do Writing Contests Help or Hurt Creativity?: It can help productivity, but...
• Writability: How (Not) to Write Great Characters: Kill Em All on the very last page is really hard to execute.
• Roni Loren: Testing Your Opening Scene - 5 Steps #atozchallenge: Okay, I need to further work on my protagonist's motivations, intentions, and expectations (although the latter isn't on the list).
• Seeking the Write Life: YA Fiction and the Inessential Penis: Despite the strange title, this discusses a well-handled example.

This took longer than it needed, due to my old computer pooping out on me in the middle of the session.

I was also close to not choosing anything, but a few posts just passed my expectations:

Tuesday:

• The Writers Alley: What's Your WPH: A way of thinking about it.
• Colorimetry: Not so perfect, are we?: A brief round-up of links detailing an earlier case of plagiarism.
• Wrestling the Muse: alk to me…It’s not in your words, It’s all in the way you move…: A springboard article on non-verbal language.
• Alexandra Sokoloff: Sassy Gay Friend! Character stereotypes and archetypes: Some insight into how the Gay Best Friend and Magical Negro "archetypes" manifested.

EDIT: The last post landed into my watchlist at the very last minute. It actually hooked me, so it's here also.

edited 24th Apr '12 2:51:31 PM by chihuahua0

Wednesday:

• Hippies, Beauty and Books Oh My: Drama Llamas, Plagiarism and Bullying Oh My!: An indirect response to recent events through a true story.
• Courage 2 Creat: Please: Give Us Something That Matters: In a form that hammers the point into your head and through your skull.
• The Write Practice: The Power of Secrets: The comments are turning into a text version of this.

Thursday:

• Building Character: 13 Warning Signs You’re A Writer: First of all, I'm pacing. Second of all...
• Victoria's Pages of Romance: Ideas for Developing Intimacy in a Romance Novel Relationship part 1: Eye-to-eye...I consider this an interesting concept.
• YA Indie: So, you just got your first 1-star review.: Haters gonna hate, so you might as well get away from that keyboard and go all Cathy onto that tub of chocolate ice cream.

I love how "trying to get a second opinion to see if the negative reviewer had a relevant point" isn't an option.

That is odd. I mean, isn't balanced criticism an important part of growth as a writer? (I'm excluding self-criticism here, which should automatically be the base standard. If you're not asking whether each thing you write is better than the last thing you wrote, you're doing it wrong.)

Got an answer for you. Basicslly, it's an option, but some cool-down might be needed.

Also, consider the fact that reviewers outside of the community tend to not provide constructive criticism. They review to gush or complain, not help the author. Also, it's likely authors have more of an emotional connection to their finished novels.

That's pretty decent advice on the part of the article's author, actually.

I wish that was in the actual article, though, because that was a good answer. It struck me as very odd that it wasn't.

edited 26th Apr '12 6:22:49 PM by SnowyFoxes