editing

Friday Links: Valentine’s Day Edition

Nephele Tempest

valentines-day-clip-art-7Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! I’m mostly of the opinion that it’s a Hallmark holiday, but at the same time I’m all for a little love and romance, so whatever makes your heart go pitter pat. Wishing you all a wonderful day, whether its spent with a significant other, family, friends, or in quiet enjoyment of your favorite activity.

And with that I bring you this week’s links. They’re pretty writer-centric today, but I hope that you all enjoy them regardless. Enjoy, and happy writing!

Style Sheet: A Conversation with My Copyeditor – Edan Lepucki tries to demystify the copyediting process. Great not just for the explanation of the copyediting shorthand, but for the interview that follows.

13 Writing Tips from Chuck Palahniuk – Originally posted around Christmas time, but I thought I’d adopt them for the hearts-and-flowers holiday instead. They work all year ’round.

How and Why to Use Whom in a Sentence – Fun little cartoon reference.

Why Writers Are the Worst Procrastinators – An interesting look at writerly habits.

TV and Film Boost Sales of Library of America Classics – A peek at how these volumes have gotten a hand from recent programming.

Valentines: Love Letters to the Best Poetry of 2013 – An appropriate set of mini essays.

 

 

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Another very quick week. I always feel like time seems to accelerate when we’re this close to the holidays. It’s like a mad rush to the end of the year. Which means there’s lots to be done, so I’ll keep this short.

I’ve got a great assortment of links for you this week. There should be something of interest to just about everyone. I hope you all have wonderful weekend plans ahead, including a bit of reading and writing time. Enjoy!

YA Historical Fiction: Windows to the Past for Readers of the Future – Really interesting look at YA historical fiction in the current market.

Jeannette Cheney Talks about Killing Your Darlings – Over at Lucienne Diver’s blog; an up close look at what happens when you commit to improving your writing, even if that means taking out the bits you loved.

Only the Literary Elite Can Afford Not to Tweet – A look at how Twitter has become a major marketing force for writers.

Should Literature Be Useful? – The New Yorker looks at the impact of recent studies claiming reading literature improves your brain, and asks if “improvement” is the only reason to do something.

Download Some of the Best of Tor.com 2013 – The publisher’s site offers a free downloadable anthology of some of the best short fiction they’ve posted this year.

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Apologies for the radio silence. It’s just been that sort of a hectic week. But I do have some links to share with you to kick off the weekend. I hope you all have something fun planned, whether that’s a relaxing couple of days by the pool, some fun family time, field trips, gardening, or a few hours with a good book. Enjoy!

11 Rules of Good Writing that Iain M. Banks Left as His Legacy – A nice roundup in honor of the author who passed away last weekend. Good advice here.

25 Things to Know about Sexism and Misogyny in Writing and Publishing – Excellent piece by Chuck Wendig.

Classic Books Annotated by Famous Authors – Fun look at some writers’ scribbles.

How Can We Feed Our Creativity – Intriguing thoughts on filling the creative well.

Sarah Dessen and Regina Hayes on the Editing Process – A conversation between a writer and her editor.

My Favorite Words

Nephele Tempest

Every writer has them, those words that seem to get used over and over and over again. Sometimes they’re big, shiny words that stick out like a sore thumb, but more typically they’re everyday sorts of words — your workhorse vocabulary — that sneak their way into your prose and make it sound lackluster through repetition.

You don’t need to be writing a novel to face this problem. Any piece of writing can fall victim to favorite-words syndrome, and any type of writer, from bloggers to journalists to short-story authors. The key is to be aware of the problem and, when you’re going through to revise, be sure to check carefully for overuse of those words in particular.

Young adult author Justine Larbalestier blogged recently about her own frequently used words, and she actually made a list of her personal culprits for reference. Looking through her list, I can see a few of my own offenders. I’m constantly going back through my writing and culling out “just” and “suddenly” and a few others. Plus I’ve my own list, of course.

Next time you’re revising, pay attention to your own frequently used words, especially those you could delete entirely. “That” is one you can cut half the time, for instance. If you find yourself shaking your head over your repetition, try making a list of words that show up particularly often and hang it over your desk as a reminder to keep an eye out for them on future projects. It’s amazing how much removing a few words can liven up your writing.

March Madness for Writers: Circuit #2

Nephele Tempest

Welcome to the second full week of March, and with it the second week of Circuit Training for Writers. Did you try out one of the week-long exercises last week? How did you do? I hope you’re coming out of the week feeling inspired and excited to give something new a go.

Remember that these circuits are an optional part of the March Madness Challenge for Writers. If your schedule is too hectic, just keep to the first part of the challenge and try to get some writing time in every day. That habit is the most vital one for you to develop and maintain. Train your muse to show up as scheduled so that when you sit at your desk you’re ready to work. But if you like the idea of stepping things up a notch, feel free to give the Circuit Training a try as well.

Refer back to the list of Circuit Training exercises to choose something for this week if you have not done so already. Any of the exercises are fair game, and each will help you work on a different aspect of your craft. Or maybe you want to pursue something you started last week, and so feel like taking this week off from Circuit Training. That works, too. Adapt the challenge to suit your needs and interests, and keep on writing.

Wishing you a productive, inspired week!

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you’ve all had a terrific week and that your weekend plans are shaping up or even roaring ahead.

If you’ve been participating in March Madness for Writers, you’re a week into the month already! Congratulations on making it this far. For those of you who might have cheated a bit along the way — maybe missed a day or two of writing? — have no fear. Now is the perfect time to recommit. While the goal is to meet the challenge head on, the reality is that life can sometimes get in your way. The important thing is to learn to differentiate between those tasks that you must take care of and those that rise up simply to distract you from your writing. You know the type I mean…

But today is Friday, and Friday means links. I’ve got a good assortment this week, and I hope a few will inspire you all to new writing (and reading) heights. Have a great weekend, and happy writing!

What I Look for in a Rough Draft – Some notes from an editor at Random House. Keep in mind that “rough draft” here means the manuscript that has not yet been worked on by the editor. In many cases, it’s the writer’s final draft…before submission. Agents look for these things, too.

The Thick of It – Author and reviewer Lev Grossman talks about being in the middle of working on a novel.

Fiction Podcast: Edwidge Danticat Reads Jamaica Kincaid – Part of The New Yorker series of authors reading other authors. Lovely look at two of Kincaid’s short stories, with wonderful insight from Danticat.

50 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Works Every Socialist Should Read – Great list from China Mieville, all personal politics aside.

10 Ways Proven to Draw Readers to Your Novel’s Website – Some excellent suggestions.

Challenge Check In

Nephele Tempest

We’re not quite a week into the month and a few days into the week. If you’re participating in the March Madness Challenge for Writers, you should have accumulated some new pages by now, as well as a list of potential writing prompts, and those of you tackling one of the Circuit Training for Writers exercises should have some additional work to show for it — new story openings, dynamic vocabulary words, or even a couple of short stories. Congratulations on your progress!

Remember to pace yourself. Unlike with NaNoWriMo, the goal here isn’t to finish an entire book draft (even a short one) in a month. If you feel like taking on that sort of word count, of course, you’re welcome to, but for the challenge itself, the idea is to stretch yourself in a sustainable way. Develop habits that you can maintain throughout your writing career. It might be fun to push and see how much you can manage in a month, but then come April 1st, you’ll be ready to crash. I’d much rather you aim for slow and steady. Make yourself sit down and get some writing done even on those days when you’re tired or busy or not feeling inspired. Train your mind to produce on demand. Get yourself well and truly hooked on that feeling of accomplishment.

Not every day’s words will be gold. They don’t have to be. Just get something down so you’re no longer staring at a blank page. Give yourself a framework, a project to work with, and know that you will edit and polish at a later date. Tell your internal editor to take the month off, and just go, go, go.

Happy writing!

 

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Lots of links today, ranging from writing tips to new book releases. I hope you all find something here to entertain you.

But links aside, I want you all to go do something this weekend that you’ve been putting off. Some fun outing or adventure that you think about but are always too busy for. I lost a dear friend recently. He was just 41, and left behind a wife and 17-month-old little boy. Life is so very short, and we have no idea what’s in store for us. I realize people say this all the time, but I’m adding my voice to the chorus. Make time for yourself this weekend. Seize your life.

Broca’s Area Style Guide: The ’10 Mistakes’ List – A great check list of things to work on while polishing your writing.

Fiction Affliction: October’s Releases in Fantasy and in Urban Fantasy – A nice round up of new books in the fantasy/urban fantasy genres, courtesy of Tor.

Drawing Verse – A lovely profile of poet Bianca Stone, who is also an artist producing “poetry comics.”

How to Write a Better About Page for Your Website – Geared toward entrepreneurial sites, but applicable to anyone with an about page who markets themselves and/or their work.

On Cultivating Instinct as an Ink-slinging, Story-spinning Pen-monkey Type – Tips from Chuck Wendig. Just read.