Happy Friday, all! It’s a busy, busy day, so I will link and dash. There should be a little something here for everyone. Wishing you all a lovely weekend. Enjoy, and happy writing!
Who Gave You That Book? – An interesting look at how book recommendations and gifts can influence our reading — or not.
Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Racism and Sexism – Fabulous listing, whether you’re writing the books or reading them.
A Booklover’s Map of Literary Geography, circa 1933 – So much fun. I would love to track this down for my office.
The Art of the Sentence – Another wonderful sentence deconstructed over at the Tin House blog.
A Thoughtful Look at Fanfic – From author Seanan McGuire.
Sequels, Prequels, and Companions: Is it Fanfiction? – And another look at fanfic, from a very different angle.
I love the literary geography link! I have a Master’s in cultural geography, so that post my heart pitter-patter. Have a great weekend.
The list of ways to analyze sexism and racism in children’s books offers some good advice for writers for any age group and genre, although obviously a book without pictures will take a bit longer to analyze. It’s a good thing that all authors should do, though, and I’m always glad to have a list of specific things to look for. One of my big fears as a white author from a middle-class background is that I’ll inadvertently do something in my story that comes off as racist, though obviously I try to avoid that. Having a concrete checklist or two adds another level of security.
Thanks for the fanfic links. I’m not into fanfic much myself, but I have the same general attitude toward it as McGuire, and who doesn’t love a little confirmation of their biases once in a while?