3 Great and Inspiring Books About Writing
culturedvultures.com – Tuesday April 23, 2019
How is your writing going at the moment? I’ll be honest and say that mine personally could have been better this last month or so. I started the year strongly and have reached a bit of a dip. The thing that always helps me to get out of a slump is to get inspired by someone else, be it asking a friend who is busy with their words if I can read for them, or reading a book about writing by someone who seriously knows what they are talking about. Here are three great books on the subject, all of which have helped me when I’ve been feeling a bit down in the writing dumps. They’re the ones I always go back to time and again, whenever I need that jolt.
Writers Who Fired Their Agents Aren’t Flocking To WGA-Approved Agencies
deadline.com – Tuesday April 16, 2019
Talent agencies that signed the WGA’s new Code of Conduct aren’t being flooded with calls from writers seeking new representation now that they’ve been ordered by the guild to fire their agents who refused to sign. Deadline reached out to many of the 48 agencies that signed the Code and asked if they’ve been getting calls from writers who fired their agents on this the first business day since the Code went into effect.
Yorkshire to host one of best horror writing festivals on its first visit to UK
thescarboroughnews.co.uk – Saturday April 13, 2019
One of the world's best horror writing events is coming to the UK for the first time - and it will be based in Yorkshire
StokerCon™ will be held at the Grand and Royal Hotels in Scarborough in April 2020.
For the first time, the Horror Writers' Association's annual gathering will be held outside of the US and will continue to incorporate such popular StokerCon programming as Horror University, the Final Frame Short Film Competition, the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference, and the presentation of the Bram Stoker Awards®.
WGA & ATA Fail To Reach New Deal; Mass Firing Of Agents And Lawsuits Loom
deadline.com – Saturday April 13, 2019
The WGA and the Association of Talent Agents have failed to reach an agreement on a new franchise agreement, setting the stage for unprecedented upheaval in the film and TV industry. Thousands of writers now are ordered by the guild to fire their agents, and in the coming days, expect both sides to carry out their threats to sue each other.
The guild said this afternoon that “as of midnight tonight, every agency will be required to become a signatory” to its new Code of Conduct. Writers will have to fire any agency that refuses to sign it. (Read the letter from guild leaders to members below.) All of the major agencies have said they will not sign, so the unprecedented battle between writers and their agents soon will be on.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Friday April 12, 2019
Publishes: Articles; Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry;
Areas include: Arts; Beauty and Fashion; Crafts; Design; Fantasy; Nature; Travel;
Markets: Adult
A quarterly print magazine that celebrates all things enchanted. Publishes photography, recipes, original fiction and poetry, travel pieces, artist profiles, home decor, otherworldly beauty tips, craft tutorials, and more. Send submissions by email. See website for specific email address for poetry.
Best-selling author Harriet Evans reveals her technique for penning hit novels
womanandhome.com – Thursday April 11, 2019
We ask Harriet Evans about her journey to becoming a best-selling author, find out why she proudly displays Golden Girls DVDs, and reveal tantalising details about her latest book...
Harriet Evans is no newbie to the world of writing. In fact, she’s written a whopping 12 books over the course of her career.
Writing it seems is in her blood. Her father was formally an editor at Hodder, the publishing house behind some of the most successful and prolific writers, such as Jodie Picoult and John Grisham.
The first AI-generated textbook shows what robot writers are actually good at
theverge.com – Wednesday April 10, 2019
Academic publisher Springer Nature has unveiled what it claims is the first research book generated using machine learning.
The book, titled Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Machine-Generated Summary of Current Research, isn’t exactly a snappy read. Instead, as the name suggests, it’s a summary of peer-reviewed papers published on the topic in question. It includes quotations, hyperlinks to the work cited, and automatically generated references contents. It’s also available to download and read for free if you have any trouble getting to sleep at night.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday April 10, 2019
Publishes: Fiction; Nonfiction; Poetry; Scripts;
Areas include: Autobiography; Biography; Criticism; Literature;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Experimental; Literary
Publishes primarily literary fiction, with an emphasis on fiction that belongs to the experimental tradition of Sterne, Joyce, Rabelais, Flann O’Brien, Beckett, Gertrude Stein, and Djuna Barnes. Occasionally publishes poetry or nonfiction. Send submissions by email. See website for full guidelines.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday April 9, 2019
Publishes: Poetry;
Markets: Adult;
Preferred styles: Literary
Submit 3-5 poems. Poems under 40 lines stand a better chance of acceptance. Will accept submissions by post with SASE, but prefers submissions via form on website.
Writing a first novel is like wandering out into an unclear, inhospitable landscape
irishtimes.com – Monday April 8, 2019
In September 2008, I left my job as a structural engineer to return to university to study fine art. I had also begun creative writing classes at the Irish Writers Centre under the Texan novelist, Greg Baxter, a then unpublished author and a complete unknown to me.
His classes consisted of reading and discussing the work of great writers. We’d submit writing and a week later we’d receive our text back, decimated with strikethroughs, edits, suggestions; and at the end of each exercise there was always a substantial note of criticism and encouragement. I ended up doing three 10-week classes in short form fiction and nonfiction. It exposed me to writers I’d not heard of before. My reading up till then consisted of some classics and whatever had been given good reviews in the broadsheets. I don’t remember Greg giving much by way of general advice throughout this time, other than that he insisted whatever we submitted was in no way to be planned out or plotted ahead. The openended-ness at the heart of this request at first sat uneasily with me. My habits of thought up till then had been, naturally enough, predominantly deductive.
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