Article Dumping: Writer's Block Edition

Two blog posts in a row.

Insanity itself is kind of the primary antagonist in Welcome To The NHK, but that's a different conversation. Great show, by the way...

First, a word from yours truely.

Now to our regularly scheduled dump:

Monday:

• A Good Blog is Hard to Find: Keeping in Touch with Readers: How would you react to the situation in the thesis?
• Magical Words: On Writing: Transitions and Chapter Breaks: The cliffhanger, the time warp, and the beat.
• The Writers' Alley: Writing Outside the Box: Pantsing with ADHD!
• The Other Side of the Story: Know Before You Go: Should You Know Your Genre First?: Not really, but it could make your life easier.
• Time to Write: A different approach to procrastination: Hmm...what other unpleasant tasks would I rather do? Like look for my coat?
• YA Highway: Avoiding Family Engagements via the Crazy: Hiss...

-cries for the English language-

edited 13th Feb '12 3:22:44 PM by TerminalOptimist

"The"

^ O__o

Really?

I didn't know that had to be capitalized.

edited 13th Feb '12 6:18:01 PM by TerminalOptimist

-whaps John with rolled up newspaper for being rude-

Got any articles on narrative voice?

I spot them all the time. Unfortunately, most of them aren't helpful and say the same things without being useful. They're mostly inspirational posts about finding your voice and several examples of voice, and those usually don't land on the round-up.

If someone writes an article on different types of voices, I'll probably post it here.

Hm. How about style?

@TO: It was a pun. :P

Tuesday:

• The Editor's Blog: Jack of all Trades? That’d Be an Editor—A Reader’s Question...: Knowledge is power.
• YA Highway: Valentine's Day Blog Lovefest! Yours truly is apart of it.
• Suite T: Love Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry (To Our Characters): You wouldn't want your characters to be bored anyways, right?
• Time to Write: Warning: Before you spend money on a self-publishing course, read this!: You can't earn a million dollars without lifting a finger.
• Veronica Roth: ARC Hunt: Eee...

Since I accidently posted this early.

Trivia: This is five out of twenty-one posts.

Wednesday:

• The Writers' Alley: YA Fiction Tips For All Genres: Or why I love YA.
• Magical Words: Screenwriting: A Tyro’s Perspective: A basic type of story format.
• The Sharp Angle: Defining the Lead Character (as demonstrated by Winnie the Pooh): Winnie the Pooh! :D
• Writer's Unboxed: Make the Most of School Visits: Oh, don't forget to answer lots and lots of questions.
• Nicole Basaraba's Uni-Verse-City: Historical fiction has it all – A guest post by Marcia Richards: Again, I should read more of this.

edited 15th Feb '12 2:17:44 PM by chihuahua0

Thursday:

• Mystery Writing is Murder: 6 Ways to Energize Your Writing Naturally—by Chrystle Fiedler: Dark chocolate...

edited 16th Feb '12 2:31:39 PM by chihuahua0

It's up.

First, a word from the sponsor.

Monday:

• A. Victoria Mixon, Editor: 3 Things I Learned from Henry James: I must find out who is Henry James is.
• The Other Side of the Story: How Important is Genre in Today's World of E-Books?: Hmm...interesting points.
• Writer Unboxed: How to Restore a Character’s Voice When They Develop Laryngitis: Or when you develop Laryngitis.
• YA Confidential: Geeks Are Dead, Long Live Geeks: Told ya they'll rule the world.

I'm going to start with this:

Tuesday:

• Daily Writing Tips: The Story Behind Words for Hair Color: Blonde and brunette!
• The Editor's Blog: What To Write First When Writing Fiction: Write in the heat of the moment...or save the heat for last.
• Writer Unboxed: Making and Learning From My Mistakes with PR To PR or not to PR?
• Superhero Nation: A Hopefully Encouraging Note on Talent and Effort: Time and work makes skill.
• TalkToYoUniverse: Translating "issues" from our world into fictional worlds: The latter two issues are especially current.
• Ghostwriter Dad: Traffic Generation for Writers: How to Get All the Traffic You Want: Hmm...Youtube.
• The Sharp Angle: Keeping Things In Perspective: Non writing-related, but powerful.

edited 21st Feb '12 2:16:35 PM by chihuahua0

Wednesday:

• The Writers Alley: Four Simple Ways to Become a Healthier Writer: Stability ball? Check. Treadmill? Nah...
• Fiction Notes: Why I Don’t Do Cold Submissions–Usually: It's like being a car seller and leaving a car at a stranger's house.
• The Other Side of the Story: And...End Scene: When to Add a Scene Break: Sleepy time? Never did it in pre-school.
• Babbles from Scott Eagan: Writing For Harlequin - Things Scott Looks For In Submissions: Romance is Serious Business!

edited 22nd Feb '12 2:19:52 PM by chihuahua0

Thursday:

• Romance University: A Deep POV Refresher Course with Elisabeth Staab: Again, a refresher, but...
• Suzanne Van Rooyen: A Discussion on Voice in YA with Janice Hardy: A nice list of ways a YA's POV can be bent.

^ Just a thought: is "voice in YA fiction" really conflatable with "YA voice?" While I can't think of a book specifically marketed as YA that didn't have a YA protagonist, it's long since been proven (at least in the context of anime) that teens can identify with adult protagonists.

Time for another round-up.

I'll be posting more later:

Monday:

• Romance University: Character Questions: How To Dig Deep by Lynne Marshall Here. Read this list.
• Jenny Hansen's Blog: You CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (if they take notes…): More of a heart-warming tale, if anything.
• The Other Side of the Story: Footloose and Not So Fancy Free: Four Ways to Update an Old (And Familiar) Stories: Why it isn't always a good idea to make the remake the same.

edited 28th Feb '12 4:45:37 AM by chihuahua0

Tuesday:

• Ghostwriter Dad: Everyone is a Writer: How to Stop Thinking, “I’m Not Good Enough” Forever: If you can speak, you can write.
• Romance University: Top Ten Pacing Tips by Alicia Rasley: For some reason, I love articles about pacing.
• The Writers Alley: A New Way to Market Yourself: Slideshows!

edited 28th Feb '12 4:54:06 AM by chihuahua0

There is a problem, I think, with the title of the first one; it's not about being a writer so much as being able to write things legibly. Which is fine and all, but let's be honest here: While I would never tell someone else that they should not write, or that they should give up writing, a true writer, a great writer, is not made. They are this by their nature, and while they may come into their own after a long period of mediocre work, a truly mediocre writer will not "learn" talent. They will learn technical skill, yes, but not talent. You either have it (in whatever quantity) or you do not.

</crazy_switch>

Is it bad form to post a link to something that a friend wrote? Especially if it's not really an article, just an introspective blog post. But it's related to writing, I swear, and I love it.