Article Dumping: Writer's Block Edition

To be honest, I don't care about "depth"; I just find overly Purple Prose to be unreadable in a way that no Beige Prose I've ever seen has been.

edited 18th Sep '12 8:00:29 PM by nrjxll

And yet therein lies the rub: Terrible purple prose is memorably bad; bad beige prose is simply boring. I'd rather be repulsed than bored, if only because it's harder to make fun of something that is simply unbearably dull.

Really though, I think that simpler and denser writing both have their respective merits, but the total rejection of maximalism in favour of minimalism in prose has really been a detriment to popular literature, especially realistic fiction. Granted, your and my respective backgrounds in science fiction and supernatural horror probably have something to do with our difference of opinion here...

edited 18th Sep '12 8:13:04 PM by JHM

Wednesday:

• Jane Friedman: 5 Free Services That Help You Build Author Platform: I use two of them.
• A Tapestry of Words: Guest Post: Best Friends Forever...Whatever: Does it send a bad message?
• Duolit: 31 Book Marketing Ideas You Can Use — Today!: In fifteen minutes!
• Roni Loren: Your Facebook Page May Be Blocking Your Fans: It's on the tech side.

Thursday:

• The Other Side of the Story: Contributing Author Tiffany Reisz: Han Versus Luke – Who’s the Better Hero?: Hint: I wrote about Han Solo for film class once.
• YA Indie: Three Language Peeves: A grammar post for once!
• YA Outside the Lines: Why write about sexuality if you're not gay?: You can still relate to those issues.

Okay, a note.

I find that compiling this round-ups are very time-consuming. Usually 30-60 minutes per day. And I have no idea if I'm serving helpful articles.

So I'm considering whatever I should cut down on round-ups or not.

If I did, is there anyone interested in doing them? There must be a way to export one's RSS subscriptions from one reader to another.

Now, to the usual:

Monday:

• The Other Side of the Story: Breakaway Body Parts: Are Your Characters' Body Parts Acting on Their Own?: It might or might not matter in the end, but you wouldn't want to gorge your character's eyes.
• Katy Upperman: Run/Revise: I've become a sucker for running metaphors.
• Novel Rocket: The Crusade for Profanity (and Other Ploys): It's not a misaimed crusade.
• YA Confidential: Hitting Close to Home: A shooting at the school you went to is chilling.

edited 24th Sep '12 6:22:06 PM by chihuahua0

I look forward to them, but I understand not having time.

Tuesday:

• Rhiannon Paille: What It Feels Like Writing a Sex Scene: Told through pictures!

I thought this one was really good:

TTYU Retro: Tired of cliché? Want to be unique? Pursue the why.

Wednesday:

• YA Confidential: Book Banning: Book Banning week is next week!
• Would Hemingway Blog?: He was a journalist. And a successful writer, of course.
• Kate Messner: Think Before You Thank: Writers & Acknowledgments: Public thank yous can put people in the spotlight.
• TalkToYoUniverse: Why sidekicks are so useful!: Sidekicks can draw out your protagonist!

I actually seriously doubt that Hemingway would be a blogger. I stated my reasons there, but I think it bears repeating: Hemingway was not the kind of person who thrived on directly interacting with his audience. Sure, he was adventurous and the very model of the intrepid reporter, but he was also a very private, introverted and depressive individual, and not really someone who I think would enjoy blogging.

Hemmingway was an exceptionally bad journalist, honestly. A sentimentalist and far too concerned with his own feelings and interests, not with what was going on.

Thursday:

• AndiLit: Why I Loathe Much “Christian” Art: The world isn't all puppies and rainbows. Literature should reflect that.
• Jami Gold: What Should Newbie Writers Focus On?: It's important for writers to have some life experience.
• The Renegade Writer: How a Baseball Bat CAn Help You Get Your Money from Delinquent Clients: Freelance writers must use their tools to collect late payments!

Which, incidentally, is what made his fiction writing interesting: His prose is direct and dispassionate, yet there is a lot of subtle emotional intensity in it.

edited 27th Sep '12 5:54:13 PM by JHM

That depends very much on whether you appreciate the headspace his writing crawled out of.

That's every writing ever.

No, not really. There are plenty of authors out there who are capable of writing without their personal reflections on reality intruding quite so heavily on the work as Hemmingway, who's really only capable of writing in the context of his personal feelings towards the rest of the world. See also: James Patterson.

edited 28th Sep '12 1:50:12 PM by Night

I love Hemingway for making Beige Prose into a legitimate form of writing.

I hate him for just about everything else.

It seems like Hemingway is the Love It or Hate It writer of classic literature.

Curious does anyone know were I might be able to find an article about writing an addict, particularly being in the head of one?

All right. I'm going to try seeing if I can keep the round-up going until the end of the year. Once 2013 hits, I can't guarantee letting it stay.

Monday:

• NA Alley: Let's Talk Tropes...: Guess why I added this article on tropes.
• Krissy Media Ink: 3 Reasons Why You Should Write When You're Tired: You're going to be tired, so write through it!
• QueryTracker: No protagonist? No problem! (but don't try this at home): The Avengers gets away with a true ensemble cast.
• YA Indie: 8 Indie Book Cover Design Secrets Revealed: Here's another post on the cover making process!

Tuesday:

• Terribleminds: 25 Ways to Get Your Creative Groove Back as a Writer: The more projects you finish, the more projects you finish.
• Jami Gold: Goodbye, Feedburner! Hello, Ownership of Our Platform: This is one other reason why I'm being frugal and stubborn.
• The Writer's Resource: Scene/Sequel Checklist: Here's an actual sheet to download!

From this point, I'm going to pull back on this kind of linking, just from the sheer fact that they're time-consuming, and I want to use the time for other stuff.

For now, here's a video I was linked to on You Tube: A speech from the author of Eat Pray Love:

I want to say I found the last two round up's bebfore the vid very useful, and from now on I'm going to try and check Terrible Minds out daily.

I've decided that I'll keep posting links, but not in such a committed format.

• I haven't read through this entire post, but it comes with the idea of writing an entire 60k word draft in three days.
• And on another NaNoWriMo note...

Monday:

• First off, traditional publishing from an indie's point-of-view.
• These are some really great examples of showing.
• Chuck Wendig compiles a primer of his crass-yet-effective "25 Things" list for Na No Wri Mo.
• Lastly, one way to handle a bad book.