writing biz
Literary Rambles: An Interview with Writer-Blogger Casey Mccormick
I was touched by this short interview with Casey Mccormick, the author of Literary Rambles, a blog about writing YA fiction.
The interview went up a month ago at Beth Revis’s blog Writing It Out. In it, Casey talks about her blog and the features she provides through it, including a weekly “Agent Spotlight,” which features [...]
7 Things I Wish I Knew before Writing My First Book
This appears to be turning into a blog-meme of sorts. No one has (to my knowledge) tagged anyone else, but the topic does seem to be inspiring a chain of posts.
Joanna Penn blogged back in April on 7 things she wish she knew before writing her first book. Then yesterday, Alexis Grant wrote about 4 [...]
How to Finish and Publish a Book
Finishing the book…
A friend of a friend asked me the following questions:
I am writing a book. I have finished the first half and just need some editing and advice as to how to orient the story so I can complete the second part.
I would say, whatever else you do, finish writing the story. You can [...]
How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book?
This post was originally posted at my personal blog.
A friend of mine emailed and asked:
If you don’t mind me asking, how much did it cost you to publish your book (or your dad’s)? You seem to be doing all of the important things that subsidy presses do and probably at considerable savings.
I’m still refining my [...]
The Value of a Skillful Writer
A paragraph struck me while I was reading an open letter by Joss Whedon about the writers’ guild strike:
Writers can be replaced, as we are constantly reminded. But so can companies. Power is on the move, and though in this town it’s been hoarded by very few, there are other companies with newer ideas about [...]
Fourteen-Day Screenplay Starts Saturday
Two Weeks, One Screenplay, Are You Up To The Challenge?
It’s “the NaNoWriMo for screenwriters,” the 14-day screenplay, and it’s almost upon us, June 3 – 17, at 14DayScreenPlay.com. The challenge is to write a feature-length screenplay in just 14 days. Starting at midnight Saturday morning (June 3), ending before midnight Sunday morning (June 17)&mdashYes, that’s [...]
The Fourteen-Day Screenplay
As an aspiring screenwriter, have you ever felt left out by the aspiring novelists and their NaNoWriMo? What kind of a silly name is NaNoWriMo anyhow? No one can even pronounce it right! It’s much easier to pronounce “14-day screenplay,” and it rhymes! (Well, I guess “NaNoWriMo” would rhyme, too, if we could actually say [...]
Short Stories for Success
Holly Lisle said something pretty profound on the latest episode of her podcast. She was talking about prologues, whether or not to include them, but the advice applies to writing in general:
How to Measure a Good Story
If a few people don’t hate you, you’re doing something wrong. Or at least that’s how writers ought to feel, instead of feeling that if someone hates their work, he hates them. We know that’s not reality, that a negative review of our work says nothing about us. Yet we pour ourselves into the stories [...]
The Uselessness of Genres
In the latest episode of his podcast, Tee Morris tells a story about how he got into an argument over which genre one of Tom Clancy’s books “is.” The main feature of the podcast is a half-hour rant on James Frey. I’ve already commented on Frey. Tee, however, goes on as though Frey is the [...]