Category: Resources

Revel in “Literally, A Web Log” — “an English language grammar blog tracking abuse of the word “literally.'” In today’s post, the authors propose “gilberthorpe” as a verb meaning “to commit multiple instances of ‘literally’ abuse.”

The Storytellers: Why Are Most Artists Liberal?

Hundreds of conservative non-fiction books are being published today, some of which become best-sellers. So if there was a lot of really great conservative fiction, some percentage of it would have found its way to publication.
And yet it hasn’t.
It’s almost as if you have to be a liberal to be a good artist. But that can’t be true, can it?
Well, it can. And it is. Here’s why.

I find particularly interesting the point made in which the author opines that a story needs to have (IMO: at least) two ‘human’ (which I read as ‘sympathetic’) sides in order to be a “Good” story. A one-sided story is a flawed one, and so forth. Interesting point — don’t know if it’s a useful/universal one.
Makes me (again) look askance at Hidden Things and wonder if I’m missing something there — but that might be me projecting one of my own rules — realistically, no sane person thinks of themselves as The Villain.. Then again, I think about some stories (the actually good Star Wars stories, for example) that focus on the hero’s quest and the inequivocably Rilly Rilly Bad Guy… and those stories don’t have two sympathetic sides, and I think Hmmm.
Hmm.

Seriously: I Should Be Writing — Podcast for wannabe writers by a wannabe writer. She’s serious about doing the work, seems to understand the industry, and reads Ms. Snark. Good stuff.

On writing nonlinear plots that work, namely “Out of Gas”. Peter Rogers digs into “Out of Gas” and explores how a truly excellent non-linear story can work.
Also, the script copy that he links to for reference? It’s on Fireflywiki.org, so… heh. Go me. :)

How to Write a Synopsis

A synopsis should be a breakdown of the central plot and storyline, and introduce the central characters. Simple, right? Wrong. The problem with building a novel synopsis is that, as the author, it’s hard to take a far enough step back to determine what is central and vital and what is interesting but not quite necessary.

Tis, if nothing else, a starting point.
*wanders off, muttering.

D is amazing, sometimes:

I suddenly wondered what exactly happens to your brain when you do that [repeat a word over and over until it’s meaningless]. Do you unhook synapses or something? Do you make it so all references to that word only relate back to itself, instead of to what the word means? I wonder whether you could force yourself to erase a memory that way

That’s positively one of the neatest ideas I’ve encountered in ages.

Facts and figures on the Publishing Industry
“58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.”

Real Live Preacher chimes in on writing advice.
This isn’t the ‘no adverbs’ kind of advice, either; this is advice for dealing with the bad writing days.

Here is another tip for you: You need to win a battle before you write. So win one – even an easy one – and get all that stuff out of your mind.

It’s… really really true. It’s entirely right. It’s chillingly familiar. It’s good stuff.

Today, it’s the best.