Mumbling Truth

michaeldantedimartino: My recommendation of 5 books that can...

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:01:21 -0400

My recommendation of 5 books that can help you create a compelling story

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Fuck Yeah Character Development!: For the Writers out there: Common Injuries And How To Treat Them

Sat, 04 May 2013 04:01:13 -0400

Fuck Yeah Character Development!: For the Writers out there: Common Injuries And How To Treat Them:

In my experience, RPers and Writers alike enjoy one thing: Making characters suffer. This little guide is supposed to help you with keeping injuries and the First Aid - in case you want to patch your character back together - realistic.
I am no medical professional, but I…

motivation for moving beyond your writing habits: Developing your Characters and Making Them Interesting

Fri, 03 May 2013 08:02:06 -0400

motivation for moving beyond your writing habits: Developing your Characters and Making Them Interesting:

referenceforwriters:

Recently I got a message about a person struggling on how to develop their characters, as they normally wrote about already created characters—also about how to make them interesting and make the people reading your story actually want to continue reading it.

I’d say…

I made myself a reminder for when I freak out about my writing:

Fri, 03 May 2013 04:01:13 -0400

iquitelikeditactually:

YOU CONTROL THE WORLD.

YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF THE CHARACTERS.

YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

YOU NEED NO PERMISSION.

I REPEAT:

YOU NEED NO PERMISSION.

YOU ARE CAPABLE.

YOU ARE REALLY FUCKING INTELLIGENT.

YOU ARE GOING TO FINISH THIS THING.

YOU’VE COME THIS FAR.

YOU GOT THIS, MAN.

YOU GOT THIS.

Post Apocalyptic Stress Disorder: You must write your first draft with your heart.

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:01:40 -0400

Post Apocalyptic Stress Disorder: You must write your first draft with your heart.:

postapocalypticstressdisorder:

“No thinking - that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is… to write, not to think!”

- Mike Rich (Finding Forrester)

I don’t particularly like my heart doing anything, save for pumping blood. But this is my go to…

Writing Wednesday: Getting Over Rejection

Thu, 02 May 2013 16:03:19 -0400

Writing Wednesday: Getting Over Rejection:

deanfortythree:

For the late crowd: Getting over rejection

Rejection sucks. The next person who loves hearing ‘no thanks, you’re not good enough’ will be the first. If you’re a writer, you get rejected far more than you get accepted. It’s never fun, but it’…

"10 Good Writing Habits 1. When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time..."

Wed, 01 May 2013 04:01:12 -0400

“

10 Good Writing Habits

1. When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
2. When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
3. Don’t romanticise your “vocation.” You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no “writer’s lifestyle.” All that matters is what you leave on the page.
4. Avoid your weaknesses. But do this without telling yourself that the things you can’t do aren’t worth doing. Don’t mask self-doubt with contempt.
5. Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.
6. Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is.
7. Work on a computer that is disconnected from the Internet.
8. Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
9. Don’t confuse honours with achievement.
10. Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand—but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.

”

- Zadie Smith (via goldenear)

Eye Color Guide

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:01:53 -0400

howdoesmewrite:

Eyes are almost always the first thing we notice about a new person. They often have an enormous role in both description and characterization. Here is a quick list of common eye colors and the associated stereotypes.

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randomfanficwritingtips: If you’re having writer’s block, skip the part that’s causing the block...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:03:03 -0400

randomfanficwritingtips:

If you’re having writer’s block, skip the part that’s causing the block and continue writing further down the line in story. You’ll need the part later on anyway and this way you don’t have to waste time on the part that’s blocking you for now.

Navigation has been updated.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:02:56 -0400

I updated some of our navigation, to make it easier to find posts you’re looking for. Let me know if we’re missing anything.

Writing for the Market...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:03:01 -0400

thewritershelpers:

warmtea-blankpages:

is a very tricky thing. In order to sell your work, you have to make sure the market has a place for it. In order to find this out, you can do things like..

Read the Writer’s Market: This will tell you which agents and publishers are representing or looking to represent your genre of writing.

Educate yourself on the Latest Sales: Research the agent or publisher you wish to represent you and see what they have been selling lately. Read bestseller lists on Amazon, the New York Times, etc.

Look on Bookshelves: To notice if you see a trend. We all saw the rows and rows of paranormal romance filling shelves after Twilight blew up, and the same thing happens whenever there is a trend in the marketplace.

The thing to beware of is falling into the trend as it begins to die.

Eventually publishers and agents get sick of seeing the same kind of book come across their desks time and time again with no noticeable differences from books they have already sold. They don’t want to sell a repeat!

For this reason, it is very important not to force yourself to write a book similar to Twilight, for example, just because Twilight was a hit. When it first came out, paranormal romance was not the trend yet. Write the book you want to write, make sure that it fits somewhat into the marketplace by keeping with certain genre must-haves, but be the one to start the trend instead of follow it.

This is why writing for the marketplace is such a slippery slope! On the one hand, you can’t be too different, while on the other you can’t be too similar to books already out there. My suggestion is just to write your story, write the story you love, and worry about selling it later when it is finished. Writing for the marketplace could very well ruin a great story.

Happy Writings.

Although I personally wouldn’t recommend writing for the market I agree with the closing statement in this. Write what you want to write, not what you think other people want.

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:03:28 -0400

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

- W. Somerset Maugham (via writingfireandice)

DON'T FOOL YOURSELF INTO BELIEVING YOU AREN'T IMPROVING

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:01:18 -0400

writingfireandice:

My best advice to any aspiring writer, besides the obvious that you need to write every day, is this: keep everything you ever write. Keep the good and the bad the ugly the beautiful the disastrous. Keep any novels, poems, short stories, novellas, that you write. When you’re done with a piece file it away and don’t look back through unless you absolutely have to. Then, in those times when you feel you’ve ground to a halt, on those days when you can’t put two words next to one another that don’t make you want to puke, you have somewhere to turn to.

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She stood at the bow of the ship, feeling the sea spray over her face and the wind whip her hair back.

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:03:02 -0400

writeworld:

Writer’s Block

In one sentence is the spark of a story. Ignite.

Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a memory about this sentence. Write something about this sentence.

Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!

15 unusual words that make writers swoon

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 04:01:02 -0400

thatroleplayjunkie:

Always opt for simple language over the complex—unless you’re dealing with one of these arcane words. Think you could work one into your copy?

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Photo

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:30:40 -0400

Finding the Right Feedback for You

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:01:46 -0400

ninette-swann:

Editors, crit partners, beta readers…they all amount to the same thing: Someone who is going to rake over your manuscript, chop it up, mark it in red and throw it back to you with an email saying “Great job! Here are the billionity things I would fix!”

Are you ready for it? Can you handle it?

Things to consider when contacting a beta reader, and easy ways to find the right one for you.

Easy to Miss Writing Mistakes

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:03:11 -0400

krisnoel-lionhead:

I’m currently working on editing a book that will be released sometime next year and I’ve gotten a few corrections from the editor I’m working with. She told me the corrections she suggested are common for authors, so I figured I’d share them with you. I’m sure if you have these things fixed before you even reach the editing stage, it will help you get your novel ready for submission. These are some things I didn’t even realize I was doing and now I’m trying to become more aware of them when I write something new.

Since I was writing in first person narrative, I didn’t realize that sometimes I would describe what other people were thinking or feeling and I often used the world “we” out of its proper context. Remember that while writing in first person, you have to be careful of how you describe things. You can only write about what the main character sees, feels, hears, or thinks personally. Information only comes from the narrator or through conversations the narrator has.

I sometimes orphan my quotes and then I realize that people might not be able to figure out who’s talking. If it’s a conversation between two people, you don’t need as many dialogue tags, but if it’s three or more, you need to be clear about who is speaking. It might be clear to you, but you need to make sure it will be for your readers.

I think everyone overwrites a bit, most of the time without realizing it. Sometimes you feel like it’s necessary to stretch out a sentence to make sure someone really gets it, but most of the time brief sentences or explanations work best. For example—you don’t have to say someone whispered quietly. Whispering tells your reader that your character is speaking quietly.

Watch your verb tenses to make sure you’re always using the same ones within a sentence or paragraph. If you’re writing in present tense, stay in that tense. I slip up every once in a while, so make sure you double check when editing.

Getting into the habit of checking for these things while you’re writing will be extremely useful. It can be a pain to go back and change stuff later, but I guess that’s why editing is such an exhausting process.

-Kris Noel

My book

My goodreads

wiseowlperspective: Stephen King / On Writing

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:02:46 -0400

wiseowlperspective:

Stephen King / On Writing

"My best writing advice? Write something that people might not “enjoy” but will never forget… Our..."

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:02:15 -0400

“My best writing advice? Write something that people might not “enjoy” but will never forget… Our tastes change with time, and something that persists has a chance of getting appreciated more in the future.”

- Chuck Palahniuk (via myasuoka)