Friday Links Return: Jump Start Your Vacation Brain

Friday Links Return feels like an appropriate title for my first blog post in a while. These links should help get your writer’s brain working, whether you’re stuck in summer vacation mode or the winter doldrums. Stir things up, jostle some new ideas around, or tackle that project you set aside months ago.

Likewise, I plan to use this post as a segue back to some regular blogging. Both work and life remain busy, but writing always serves as an excellent distraction from larger concerns. Time for me to remember that and get back on schedule. Friday Links Return is by no means a one-shot deal.

Despite the radio silence, I continued to collect interesting tidbits as if I were blogging the past few months. Today you benefit from my hoarding. I discarded things I considered time sensitive, but plenty of the slightly older links remain. I bring you writing advice and publishing culture. Also, I apologize now for what I’m about to do to your TBR piles. So many book recs. I hope you feel inspired on so many levels. Wishing you a wonderful weekend, and happy writing!

Friday Links Return:

10 Fairy Tale Retellings that Are Deeper, Darker, and Sexier than the Originals. – I love a good fairy tale for grownups just as much as the versions from my childhood. Some great ones on this list.

Read It Forward’s Favorite Reads of July 2018. – A wonderful list of great titles released this month.

Most Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2018 Book Preview. – One of my absolute favorite lists of upcoming releases, this biannual collection from The Millions always leaves me excited about so many new titles on the schedule.

That RWA LTA Speech (News from Suz). – Romance author Suzanne Brockmann received the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s national RWA conference in Denver, and her speech caused quite a stir. It’s an excellent, inspiring read.

How Finland Rebranded Itself as a Literary Country. – Interesting for the literary angle, but also as a lesson in changing up your image.

Our Fiction Addiction: Why Humans Need Stories. – A look into the whys behind our obsession with books, movies, TV series, etc.

On Becoming an American Writer. – Alexander Chee takes an honest and often-difficult look at the realities of being a writer in the U.S., and offers up some advice.

Geniuses Need Not Apply: On Creative Writing Courses. – A brief look at some different approaches to learning how to write, and their potential worth.

How to Write Great Dialogue. – Some quick and dirty tips from editor Kat Brzozowski.

The Novel within the Novel. – A look at some books that have secondary stories nested inside of them. I love this device when it’s done well. Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders is another great example. Intriguing reads, whether or not you intend to give the structure a try in your own project.

Friday Links: Holiday Cheer for Writers

As this is the last Friday before Christmas, I thought I’d try and whip up a bit of holiday cheer. I’m afraid I can’t offer a festive cocktail or share my Christmas baking, but these links have a nice holiday bend. They still include some writing advice, and a few reading recs, but I tried to keep the spirit of the season in mind.

This weekend promises to be busy, but I hope you all manage to carve a little personal time. Whether you want to read your favorite Christmas story, get some writing in, or just find a quiet moment, it’s important to take a break in the middle of the chaos. Wishing you a wonderful weekend, whatever you celebrate. Enjoy!

holiday-cheer-christmas-ornaments

This Week’s Links:

What the LitHub Staff Is Reading, Watching, and Listening to This Holiday Season. – A fun round up to inspire your own holiday entertainment.

Ghosts on the Nog. – Five forgotten Christmas ghost stories. Charles Dickens isn’t the only author who liked a ghostly tale for Christmas. Note: the link for one story in the original post is broken, but you can find it here: A Strange Christmas Game.

How to Write: 10 Tips from David Ogilvy. – Some advice from the original Man Man of advertising. Not all of it applies if you’re writing a novel, but the basics are sound. Plus it’s entertaining, regardless.

Why I Hate Christmas (But Love Songs about Hating Christmas). – A slightly different take on the holiday.

Overflowing with Magical Shoes: The Elves and the Shoemaker. – A look at one of the few stories by the Brothers Grimm to mention a holiday.

9 Books about Faith that Even Atheists Can Believe In. – Some reading for the less religiously minded.

 

Friday Links: “Literary Borrowing” and Other Writing Inspiration

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.