Inspiring writing advice from the greatest women authors
telegraph.co.uk – Monday March 28, 2016
Virginia Woolf (centre) died on this day in 1941. The pioneering modernist writer addressed the position of women after the war throughout her fiction, but with her collection of essays, A Room of One's Own, she contributed advice and thinking that still sounds fresh and relevant for women writing today.
Call for Submissions
firstwriter.com – Monday March 28, 2016
The Write Idea “A Day in the Life of …(You)” Poem Title Prompt
“… Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner; Morning, Afternoon, and Night.
Two lines for each word above, and a couplet of advice.
Tell us in a sonnet, how you live your life ...”
Write a Sonnet, It doesn’t have to rhyme, or not.
Write two lines for each word-time of the prompt.
The last two lines are your words of advice.
Tell us in a Sonnet, 14 lines, how you lead your life.
Entitle the poem “A Day in the Life of …(You)”.
Winners will be published in LONE STARS.
Writing Sci-Fi? First Understand How Elephants Aren't Dragonflies (Op-Ed)
space.com – Saturday March 26, 2016
Animals come in all different sizes, but the laws of physics mean that you can't just arbitrarily scale up a dragonfly to the size of an elephant and expect the body plan to result in a functioning creature.
For one thing, mass increases much faster than other qualities like strength or surface area as you scale up a body, and so the legs and wings of an elephant-size dragonfly would have to be proportionately much larger to support the extra weight — and it's doubtful muscle power could be sufficient to propel such a creature into flight.
Moreover, insects are generally small because they rely on diffusion to distribute oxygen to interior cells instead of the active oxygen-pumping systems found in animals like mammals. This imposes an upper limit on just how big an insect can get. It's true that there were gigantic dragonflies — still not the size of elephants, however — during the Carboniferous period (as well as housecat-size cockroaches and other horrors), but the oxygen level in the atmosphere at the time was much higher, and that likely played a role in making such bodies viable.
Let's pause for a moment and give thanks for the fact that we don't have to live in a world of pet-size cockroaches and meter-long scorpions.
All of this presents an analogy for fiction. It's tempting to think of novels (the elephants) as scaled-up short stories, or short stories (the dragonflies) as miniaturized novels. But having written both 100-word drabbles as well as 200,000-word epic fantasies, I can assure you that's not the case.
The Impossible Task of Writing Historical Fiction
publishersweekly.com – Friday March 25, 2016
Kelly Kerney's outstanding novel Hard Red Spring spans the entire 20th century in Guatemala's history through four vivid voices. Kerney, who spent a decade writing the book, talks about the difficult task of fictionalizing the past.
JK Rowling tweets rejection letters from publishers
stv.tv – Friday March 25, 2016
JK Rowling has shared two rejection letters she received in response to her first post-Harry Potter novel.
Taking to Twitter, the famous author revealed her novel The Cuckoo's Calling was turned down more than once whilst writing under the pen name Robert Galbraith.
New Publisher Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday March 24, 2016
Publishes: Fiction;
Areas include: Fantasy; Gothic; Horror; Mystery; Short Stories; Thrillers;
Markets: Adult; Youth;
Preferred styles: Commercial; Experimental; Mainstream
Publisher based in Oxfordshire. Actively looking for authors of short stories to be included in another compendium. We are also looking for fantasy novels.
50 Writing Tips From My 15 Years As An Author
forbes.com – Wednesday March 23, 2016
One of the questions I’m asked on a daily basis is some form of, “I want to become an author. Can you help?” There are certainly better people to ask than me. But after writing hundreds of articles and nine books in 15 years—both traditionally published and self-published, both non-fiction and fiction, both epic failures and national bestsellers—I do have some thoughts on the matter.
Short story contest – deadline delayed
firstwriter.com – Wednesday March 23, 2016
The deadline for firstwriter.com's Twelfth International Short Story Contest has been delayed by one month to May 1, 2016, to allow for last minute entries.
Why Fiction Authors Benefit from Indie Publishing
digitalbookworld.com – Tuesday March 22, 2016
Independent publishing has changed the way authors look at the industry, with many questioning whether it’s worthwhile to play the waiting game and pray for the payoff from a traditional publisher, or instead take their fate into their own hands. There are clearly benefits and pitfalls to either choice. What authors need to seriously consider when they make this decision, though, is whether or not they are willing to put in the time and effort to make it work.
Writing Should Be Fun
huffingtonpost.com – Tuesday March 22, 2016
Yes, writing should be fun, and for most writers - even those writers who complain about writer’s block, and who claim they like having written more than writing, and who say writing is like sitting at a desk until blood comes out of your forehead - writing is fun. They just don’t recognize the fun when it’s happening. That’s because writers are overwhelmingly adults, and fun is what adults get to have when they’re done doing their important adult work.
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