Avoid These Bad Habits in Your Writing
lifehacker.com – Tuesday February 19, 2019
The top copy editor at Random House has a book out about what you should and shouldn’t do in your writing, and people are already arguing about it. All writing advice is relative, because language is not physics, it’s something people made up. That doesn’t mean writing advice is useless, so if you like to write and are trying to get better at it, you should read this excerpt from Benjamin Dreyer’s book Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.
Bestselling authors “spread their wings and challenge themselves,” an interview with authors Sara Connell & A.G. Howard
thriveglobal.com – Tuesday February 12, 2019
As part of my series on the “5 Things You Need to Know to Write a Bestselling Book,” I had the pleasure of interviewing A.G. Howard.
A.G. Howard, the #1 New York Times and international bestselling author of young adult retellings and adaptations. Her titles include theSplintered series,a gothic Alice in Wonderland spin-off; RoseBlood, a Phantom of the Opera–inspired adaptation; and her latest release, Stain, a gritty fairy tale/high fantasy inspired by The Princess and the Pea.
Query the Agent(s)
By G. Miki Hayden
Instructor at Writer's Digest University online and private writing coach
firstwriter.com – Monday January 28, 2019
How Many at a Time?
Writing the novel was easy—not! But now comes the hard(er) part. Getting an agent. Well, just take this trip one step at a time—or should I say several steps at time because you need to send out queries as if you were a query-packaging machine.
If I Hate Violence So Much, Why Do I Love Writing About It?
vulture.com – Thursday January 24, 2019
If anyone asks how I came to be obsessed with wrongdoing in all its most perverse manifestations, I always blame Sunday school. I think back to those weekly lessons in murder, jealousy, lust, betrayal, and revenge that made up an integral part of my childhood. My all-time favorite pulp classic is the biblical tale of King David, who sent a romantic rival to certain death on the battlefield because he’d slept with and impregnated the guy’s wife after spotting her bathing on a rooftop. I like to imagine what the lurid paperback cover for that story might look like: God made him a king. Lust made him a killer.
I recall this upbringing when I consider how exactly I ended up writing crime novels. I am a pacifist by nature — hell, I’m Canadian, which is halfway to being a Quaker — and I favor strong gun control, criminal-justice reform, and turning the other cheek over an eye for an eye. I also spend part of my days willingly and even enthusiastically imagining the most creatively gruesome methods for killing people. I’ve written three crime novels, and they aren’t parlor-room mysteries: Two of them star a gleefully murderous hit man as the hero and one centers on a community of criminals so vile that they’ve had their most brutal memories erased.
I’m definitely interested, maybe unhealthily so, in humanity’s darkest proclivities. Yet I’m also reliably shaken by tragedies like Parkland or the horrific recent story of Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old girl abducted from her home after watching her parents get murdered. I struggle to reconcile my aversion to real-world violence with my willingness to conjure it on the page. My mother, a very supportive and loving person who taught Sunday school, had this reaction when she finished my first novel: “I just kept wondering what kind of person could think of such things.” Me, Mom — I’m that kind of person. And I wonder about that, too.
J.K. Rowling ‘can’t stand’ following rules—here’s what she says to do instead if you want to succeed
cnbc.com – Monday January 21, 2019
J.K. Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series and the Cormoran Strike mysteries, has sold over 500 million books. She was the second highest-paid author of 2018, managing to earn an astounding $54 million.
Famously, though, Rowling started out as a single mother surviving on state benefits. “I was jobless, a lone parent and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless,” she said in her 2008 Harvard commencement speech.
Rowling, now 53, didn’t turn her life around and get where she is today by abiding by conventional wisdom.
7 Habits Of Successful Writers That You Should Copy Immediately
studybreaks.com – Sunday January 20, 2019
Most writers want to become well-known and make a living by writing, but you’ve probably heard it only happens to some people. Putting in the blood and sweat through a pen (or keyboard) will only get them so far, which can be discouraging. However, the hard work can pay off if writers continue to push themselves by practicing, aka writing, daily.
Do you ever wonder how your favorite author or poet became so popular? As a writer, you might want to be like them one day, which isn’t an uncommon thought. Of course, it won’t happen overnight, and it’ll require a lot of effort, but every writer has a chance to become just like J.K. Rowling or James Patterson. As some people laugh at your optimism to become a successful writer, you’ll have feelings of hopelessness, but the doubt of others can become your biggest motivator.
With these seven tips, you’ll be a few steps closer to being like the writer you admire.
5 Tips for Submitting Creative Writing
culturedvultures.com – Saturday January 12, 2019
A lot of people make New Year’s Resolutions to write more, and some even decide that they are going to submit for publication. Each type of writing has its own rules and norms when it comes to submitting to magazines and websites, but the more you practice, the better you will get at it. Here are our top five general tips for submitting creative writing and poetry – these apply to our Short Stories department here at Cultured Vultures, but they will also set you up for sending your work to all sorts of places.
5 Tips For Young And Emerging Writers
wamu.org – Thursday January 3, 2019
Writers: how often have you been told to “write what you know”?
Generic writing advice is so often repeated it’s become a joke in the New Yorker. But do young or emerging writers feel boxed-in when they hear the same lessons over and over again that prioritize certain kinds of writing styles? Today on The Kojo Nnamdi Show, we’ll explore what it takes to write fiction, and what resources the Washington region has for new writers. One of our guests, Zachary Clark, leads 826DC, a nonprofit chapter that provides writing support to young Washingtonians.
Check out Zachary’s writing advice, and leave your own in the comments section!
The Complete Comedy Writer, by Dave Cohen
chortle.co.uk – Saturday December 29, 2018
Dave Cohen’s book about comedy writing doesn’t have any of the answers. But it does have a lot of questions – and that is probably more useful to an aspiring scribe trying to figure out what’s wrong with their script or in need of a bit of inspiration.
For anyone putting ‘become a sitcom writer’ on their list of new year resolutions, there are plenty of pointers here to focus the mind: from considering the underpinning meaning of what the show’s actually about to figuring out the personality flaws of the central character which means they won’t get what they think they want - let alone what they really want.
Happy Verbs
By G. Miki Hayden
Instructor at Writer's Digest University online and private writing coach
firstwriter.com – Thursday December 27, 2018
Well, I don’t think the verbs are actually happy. I only said that to attract your attention. But verbs do have moods. And I used the word “moods” to draw your attention, too. But it’s true that verbs have moods, though we also call them modes.
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website
