July 2017

Friday Links: Finding the Best Way to Frame Your Story

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday, all! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week with some productive writing time and maybe a good book on your nightstand. Heading into the weekend, I’ve some lovely links for you all, and in particular I’d like you to consider how you frame your stories. I don’t just mean the ones you’re writing, but the ones you tell about yourself, your life, your experiences, your daily frustrations.

While not everyone is a writer, we’re all storytellers, so that’s something to think about when you look at the things that might be getting you down. The story is yours to tell, yours to sell, and that includes what you’re telling yourself. A series of rejection letters can be terribly disheartening, but you can also consider them a countdown to an eventual sale.

Without further ado, here are this week’s Friday Links. Enjoy, and happy writing!

How Writing Let Me Take Control of My Own Story – One writer’s disconnect between her writing and her life.

This Is Going to Be about Heroes – Author Maggie Stiefvater on heroism and finding the right way to tell a story.

When Reading Isn’t Enough: Book-Adjacent Hobbies – For book fanatics who love all the bookish things.

The Book-Lovers Guide to Publishing, Part 1: Publishing Ephemera – The first in a series of publishing-related blog posts from Penguin Books.

So You’ve Decided to Write: The Best Way to Deal with Rejection – Some tips on how to move past ‘No’.

My Own Kind of Beautiful: How Geography Affects the Writing Process – One writer’s take on how travel affects his work and what it means to be ready to write about a place.

$5,000 Grants for Writers and Artists with Children: Applications Open until 31 August – 20 grants are available this year for writers and artists with children, to be used for child care, new equipment, or any other number of things.

Friday Links: Writing from Different Perspectives

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday! There’s another hot, sunny weekend on the horizon, and I fully intend to spend the majority of it indoors with my nose in a book. Why? Because this weekend is the 24 in 48 Readathon, one of my favorite events of the year, and it is my excuse to get a lot of reading done and not feel guilty about putting off the laundry or ignoring my other weekend chores. The readathon kicks off midnight ET on Saturday morning and runs through the end of Sunday, and there’s still time to sign up in you want to join in the fun.

Before I get to reading, however, I need to get some more work done, so I will be leaving you here with this week’s Friday Links so I can go be productive. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, filled with reading and writing and all good things. Enjoy!

Known Alias: How Stephen King Was Outed as Richard Bachman – An interesting look at how the famous author’s pseudonym became public.

Are We So Unwilling to Take Sylvia Plath at Her Word – In light of recent revelations regarding Plath’s relationship with husband Ted Hughes, important questions as to whether the information was really new, and what that says about how women are treated.

Sherman Alexie’s Heartbreaking Reason for Pausing His Book Tour – A bit of a ghost story.

Rebecca Solnit on a Childhood of Reading and Wandering – A love letter to libraries and the areas around them.

Difference Is an Asset: Writing in a Second Language – How a challenge can shift a writer’s perspective.

6 Reasons Aspiring Writers Should Act More Like Musicians – A touch harsh, perhaps, but still offers some basic, down-to-earth advice regarding putting one’s nose to the grindstone and getting the work done.

 

Friday Links: Assorted Inspiration for Readers and Writers

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday! I’m not certain where this week has gone. Last week was short, so I expected this week to drag, and yet it flew by and I still have a handful of things to tackle from my to-do list before I can call it the weekend. So no fancy themes or writing philosophies this week, just a fun set of links that I hope you find entertaining and inspiring to kick off the weekend. Enjoy, and happy writing!

170 YA Books Hitting Shelves This Summer – A huge list of upcoming new releases, with something for everyone.

10 Great Spy Thrillers that Could Be New York Times’ Headlines – For anyone feeling like the recent U.S./Russia news is reminiscent of the Cold War.

How to Be a Writer on Social Media: Advice from Roxane Gay, Alexander Chee, Celeste Ng, and Adam M. Grant – Tips on how to negotiate the social media mine field and get the most from various platforms.

Why Read a Utopian Novel in 2017? – Because there’s a lot to be said for imagining the world solving some of its more pressing problems, even if others crop up.

$20,000 for a 100-Word Story: The Museum of Words Flash Fiction Contest – Details and rules for this lucrative prize.

11 Very Short Stories You Must Read Immediately – Good reading for busy schedules.

Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize laureate imprisoned in China, dies at 61 – An obituary for the noted writer and dissident.

Friday Links: “Literary Borrowing” and Other Writing Inspiration

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week and you have some terrific plans for the weekend ahead. As always, I encourage you to carve out some time to focus on your writing goals, whether that means working on your current writing project, taking a workshop, doing some creative exercises, or reading for inspiration. With any luck, you’ll manage more than one of these. Don’t let the temptations of summer lure you too far off track.

When it comes to inspiration, a new experience, some time in a museum, or just a rambling walk can do wonders to spark ideas, but historically speaking, writers are well known for taking inspiration from the works that came before them. That’s why it’s so important to read, to know the foundations of your genre and others so you’re aware of what’s new ground versus well-trod territory. There aren’t that many stories to be told, but the way you tell them, the twists that only you can put on familiar themes, are what set your works apart from the ones that inspire you.

So this week’s links include lots of book recs, as well as some thoughts on how writers “recycle” the ideas that inspire them. Enjoy, and happy writing!

Writing in the Shadow of a Masterpiece: On Homage – Margot Livesy on “literary borrowing.”

In Praise of Daphne duMaurier – A look at the English author whose works have inspired a devoted, steady following.

50 Crucial Feminist YA Novels – A terrific round up of titles you might want to add to your TBR list.

8 Book Subscription Boxes Featuring Diverse Authors – A selection of subscriptions at different price points that focus on diversity.

Here Are all the Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Arriving in July – Some of the most anticipated titles in the genre releasing this month. (A couple have already made it to my TBR list.)

The Sunday Times Short Story Award 2018 – Details for this year’s round of the lucrative prize, open to writers worldwide.

Fairy Tales Still Inspire Modern Female Writers – I’d argue this wasn’t limited to women writers, but they do seem to use this type of source material more frequently than men do. Still, an interesting piece with some good book recs included.

8 Books that Feature Bisexual Women (and Don’t Focus on their Sex Lives) – Some more great reads to consider for that TBR list.