OK, you guys know I love audiobooks and also love not spending too much money, so for me Audible sales like this are basically like taking a stroll through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and eating the jelly apples off the taffy trees. Here are some of the treasures I found in this sale… science fiction, fantasy & horror[…]
Hey, fantasy & paranormal readers, I have some Advance Reader Copies of a brilliant novel I had the pleasure of editing recently: Shadow Side by Ellen Joyce, to be released end of October by Evolved Publishing. It’s a beautifully written paranormal suspense/thriller with explicit sex, violence, and language… and sometimes all three mixed together, so it’s totally R18 & NSFW and all the[…]
On the Brainpickings website today, I stumbled into a few collections of Joan Didion’s thoughts, loved everything she had to say, and immediately bought two Didion books. 🙂 ♥ Here’s a favorite quote from her talk on “Why I Write“… All I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of[…]
If you love science fiction, thoughtful commentary on writing, and complainers (I have no idea why I have such a soft spot for complainers, but I do!), then please may I direct you to Luke Burrage’s Science Fiction Book Review Podcast. OK, maybe it’s a little unfair to call him a complainer, since he gives many books very warm reviews. It’s[…]
I’m reading Million Dollar Productivity by Kevin J. Anderson, which I picked up in a recent StoryBundle. I haven’t made it very far yet, but I loved his response to the common and somewhat hilarious idea that becoming a professional writer (unlike any other profession requiring years of hard work) is just a matter of having the time,[…]
Beautiful treat for writers! An artist named James Harris has illustrated the main storytelling elements (story structure, plots, plot devices, character types, and production terms) in an elegant Periodic Table of Storytelling. Each element is linked to the relevant TV Tropes page, which just so happens to be one of the most fascinating rabbit holes of storytelling on the web. DOUBLE FUN. There’s[…]
“Capturing the zing of conversation requires attentive listening and painstaking revision. It comes from connection, from the narrator subtly reaching out to the reader and saying, ‘We’re in this together.’” Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wicked Good Prose, by Constance Hale, is one of those rare grammar guides you can take pleasure in reading[…]
“Authors really depend on editors for one thing: the truth.” Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do, by Gerald Gross, is a collection of essays by editors, illuminating all the different things that go on in that strange editorial realm between writers’ and readers’ imaginations. The book is broken into two[…]
Love this answer by Robet McKee in an interview on Storylink.com. Debra Eckerling asked him, How important is the process of rewriting? Robert McKee: “It’s absolutely critical. I quote Hemingway in my book who said, “The first draft of anything is shit.” What’s difficult for writers to come to terms with is to recognize that 90%[…]