RESEARCH
Kath and I recently updated WU with some new Box Cutters. What are Box Cutters? Sites we think can help you unbox your best writer self by promoting unique thinking in any of the many aspects of writing and marketing your work, or by illuminating common writerly traps. Here are some of our new finds:
Agent Query purports to be “the internet’s largest and most current database of literary agents.” Because Everyone Who’s Anyone in Adult Trade Publishing exists and was recently updated, however, I kind of doubt that’s true. Still, Agent Query is worth a visit. I love the “search by genre” function where you’ll find 24 genre possibilities, including such rare entries as offbeat/quirky and western.
Want to know how your favorite authors got published? Check out Backstory, “where authors share the secrets, the truths, or just the illogical moments that sparked their fiction.” Are you an author with a backstory you’d like to share? Tell M.J. Rose and Jessica Keener about it, and they’ll put it on their site.
Black on White “is a web site designed to help writers overcome hurdles (including fear) that are preventing them from producing pages on a regular basis.” Sign up for their mailing list to get a “daily nudge;” then commit to a contract with yourself and share it with the list for some peer support–and a little healthy pressure.
Stay with me for a few more introductions…
Read MoreHow can a person feel like going back to sleep after having seven dreamy hours of slumbericious rest? Sigh. It’s been a long weekend…
After a stressful span of days, Absolute Write is back up and running. Go on and give ’em some love. Where did Absolute Write go? Why is there a refuge camp for them? Don’t know what the heck I’m talking about? Catch up here and here.
The Science Fiction Poetry Association is holding their first-ever poetry contest. No fees, and you don’t have to be a member to enter. Click here to learn more.
Also of interest to Sci Fi writers,
Little, Brown is bringing its successful UK science fiction and fantasy imprint, Orbit, to the US and Australia. Publishing director Tim Holman will continue to oversee all three branches of the imprint. The US imprint will launch in 2007 and is expected to grow to 40 titles a year within three years.
This info thanks to Cindi Myers’ newsletter, a great resource for market news that you can sign up for at her site here.
I spent some time searching ZDNet this weekend for writerly downloads we might all benefit from. Interested?
Read MoreIt’s Memorial Day, so I know most people won’t be around today. Tomorrow, however, you may be dragging from too much time spent at the ribs-and-Sam-Adams table, and you’ll be looking for something–anything–to help motivate you back into work. Which is why I’ve decided to post a few downloadable programs to make your writing life easier.
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to highlight a webpage, honing in on exactly the info you need whenever you reaccess the page? Do just that with enLighter software, and add comments directly to your highlights as well. Researching the ‘net has never been easier. Free? You betcha!
Want more?
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Ah, Mondays. They can be as draining as a pocketful of kryptonite to our super-creative powers. But easy as a flinging on a cape, you can transform this most evil weekday into a productive workday.
What follows here is not for the squeamish
…or so promises James Patrick Kelly in his most clickable article Murder your Darlings. Kelly offers some masterful solutions to trimming your fiction works without letting too much blood.
Hate that you have to take an expensive class to learn something truly valuable about your craft? Well, you don’t. Laurie H Hutzler teaches screenwriting at the UCLA Film School, and she offers up many of her prize gems free-of-charge at her site, The Emotional Toolbox. With great info on character maps, story types and more, this isn’t just for screenwriters. Besides, you know how much we love to cull lessons from screenplays, right? You can also sign up for her free newsletter by filling out her online form; click here to learn more.
Still suffering from Mondayitis? I have just the cure…
Read MoreMy mother-in-law hosted a sugar fest for Mother’s Day, and I’ve just barely emerged from my coma. Because the focus is still shaky, today you’re getting a smattering of unrelated (but hopefully still useful) offerings. Check out a good article on Ten Mistakes Writers don’t See at Holt Uncensored.
The Word Detective waves his magnifying glass atop some unusual words, unveiling meaning and origin; an interesting place to visit!
Wordcounter ranks the most frequently used words in any given body of text. Use this to see what words you overuse, then replace them with standout alternatives.
Read about the Snowflake Method for Writing a Novel at Randy Ingermanson’s site.
Read MoreResearch has long been a love of mine, and that’s a good thing. It’s an integral part of my work as a freelance health writer, and I’ve come to appreciate that it’s an essential part of my fiction writing as well. Once upon a time, I wrote a regular research column called Click Here! for a writer’s newsletter; I’ve decided to resurrect the concept for Writer Unboxed. The idea is to provide you with a regular smattering of interesting sites that will hopefully help with your writing. I’ll start with some cool reference links and move into other territory in later posts. (And, hey, if there’s something in particular you’re trying to find, feel free to post a query here and I’ll do my best to hunt it down for you. Grrruff!)
So without further ado, here is my first batch of offerings for Click Here!
Wanna know how something is spelled but having a hard time looking it up because–uh–you don’t know how it’s spelled? Check out The Biggest Viewable Dictionary on the ‘net and maybe you’ll find it listed in this gynormous offering.
Can’t look it up because you can’t recall so much as the first letter of the word you’re hunting for? Check out One Look’s Reverse Dictionary. Describe the concept, and the reverse dictionary can hone in on the right word.
Read MoreSunday’s entry in The Writer’s Almanac described the life of Parisian novelist Émile Zola. Born in 1840, Zola became one of the first fiction writers to incorporate realism into his work through extensive research—visiting sites he wrote about, conducting interviews, etc… Sometimes referred to as immersion research, this type of personal experience can add a lot of depth to an author’s work as s/he can draw from firsthand perceptions. Authors still do this kind of work today; we learned during the second part of our interview with Audrey Niffenegger that she’s currently moonlighting as a tour guide in a London cemetery to research her wip, Her Fearful Symmetry.
Some industry pros believe immersion research can be dangerous, however. Agent Evan Marshall, for example, advises his clients not to let research become a too-big factor in storytelling. In The Marshall Plan Workbook, he acknowledges the importance of background research—anything pertinent to understanding the subject of your novel or time period in which the novel is set, but he cautions authors to set limits otherwise s/he may never get to the work of writing.
If the novelist resists the temptation to be sidetracked, which can lead to dangerous immersion, then the background research process has a definite end, and the plotting phase can begin.
His suggestion for limiting background research is to decide from the beginning what you need to know; answer those questions without allowing yourself to be sidetracked, and then sit down and write.
Marshall also advises avoiding a stall for the gathering of details—called spot research—at all costs.
When I’m plotting or writing a novel, I force myself never to stop to do spot research. I do all that when my first draft is completed and printed out. Since I don’t let myself stop to research, I have no excuse to stop writing.
James Michener advocated this approach as well, however he was also a fan of author immersion and often had a lot of research to draw on before writing.
Personally, I think it must be easier to “go with the flow” when you have an awareness of all possible currents ahead of time, don’t you? So what’s the answer? Does an answer even exist? Here’s the Writer Unboxed take on research, for what it’s worth:
Read MoreThis from USA Today’s blog, “Pop Candy”:
Amazon.com has lauched a feature where authors can connect with fans through blog updates, book recommendations, reviews and more. So far more than 1,000 authors have joined Amazon Connect, including Rick Moody, Elizabeth Kostova and Wonkette’s Ana Marie Cox. Moody, by the way, highly recommends Brian Wilson’s SMiLE and Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49.
Read MoreSometimes there just aren’t enough words. Like when you practically pierce your knee against a table’s edge and would like nothing better than to spew a dump-and-a-half’s worth of verbal filth while the pain crescendos, but your toddler–who’s learning about 800 new words a day–is staring up at you, just waiting for you to spill The Mother of All Curse words–the one that will make your own mother spank you–so you must bite a hole through your tongue. Yep, a new word might come in handy then.
If you’ve never visited pseudodictionary.com, you should treat yourself. Jay, one of my HIWs (heroes-in-waiting) pretty much considers this site his bible. He doesn’t feel comfortable being linguistically normal, which is fine with me, because he is fun-fun-fun to write. Here are a few of his faves:
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