Writers and Editors
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Writing fiction• Links to groups, sites, advice, and resources for fiction writers • Books for fiction writers and editors Fiction Writers Groups, Sites, Advice, and Resources Atwood's Rules for Writing Fiction “You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there's no free lunch. Writing is work. It's also gambling. You don't get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you're on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don't whine." ~ Rule 7 of Margaret Atwood's Ten Rules For Writing Fiction (part of the wonderful Guardian collection of essays by many novelists. Dear Writer: Reasons to Love and Fear Your Copyeditor (Sally Fisher Saller, the Subversive Copy Editor, in Prime Number)
Free downloadable e-books on writing, from Michael Allen:
On the Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile by Michael Allen: http://www.kingsfieldpublications.co.uk/rats.PDF The Truth about Writing ("an essential handbook for novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters" by Michael Allen, free on Scribd):http://www.scribd.com/doc/17414179/The-Truth-about-Writing How to Write a Short Story That Works (by Michael Allen, via Scribd) http://www.scribd.com/doc/18092726/How-to-Write-a-Short-Story-that-Works Discovered through John Kremer's Book Marketing Tip of the Week: http://www.bookmarket.com/ Harlequin's foray into vanity publishing of romance novels. Paid subscribers to Publishers Lunch Deluxe got a useful summary of Harlequin's "Harlequin Horizons" self-publishing enterprise, an effort to make money from the romance writers it doesn't publish by selling them vanity publishing services. Sharp rebukes from writers and writers' organizations included an announcement from Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), which, concerned that the new 'self-publishing' venture's "sole purpose appears to be the enrichment of the corporate coffers at the expense of aspiring writers," declared that "NO titles from ANY Harlequin imprint will be counted as qualifying for membership in SFWA." Bestselling novelist Nora Roberts, in one of 799 responses to a story on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog, wrote: "Vanity press is called vanity for a reason. You’re paying for your ego. That’s fine, dealer’s choice. But it’s a different matter when a big brand publisher uses its name and its resources to sell this as dream fulfillment, advertises it as such while trying to claim it’s not really their brand being used to make money on mss they’ve rejected as not worthy of that brand in the first place."
How to Break the Rules. Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency posts Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Rules of Writing and Elmore Leonard's rules, and gives examples of writers who have successfully broken some of the rules. Her blog, Book Cannibal, is about fiction.
How to Write a Great Novel (Alexandra Alter, WSJ, on the writing habits of great novelists, 11-6-09)
Joyce Carol Oates (FORA.tv video of her speaking at Book Passage) about her novel The Gravedigger's Daughter, much of which is based on her grandmother, Blanche Morningstar. She speaks of setting as being almost like a character.(51 minutes)
Malice Domestic (May convention saluting the traditional, especially "cozy," mystery, where fans buy books from enthusiastic, often new, writers) and The Usual Suspects (the Malice Domestic newsletter); Malice Domestic awards.
A reader's advice to writers: A word to the novelist on how to write better books by Laura Miller (Salon.com, 2-23-10). For example: "There's a reason why Nick Carraway is the narrator of "The Great Gatsby" while Gatsby himself is the protagonist. Desire is the engine that drives both life and narrative." And: "When you hear someone complain that 'nothing happens' in a work of fiction, it's often because the central character doesn't drive the action."
Reusable cover art. Sarah Johnson's site showing how certain art gets used and reused for covers on historical novels (and Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of Love, hardcover edition). Art directors: your secret is out!
Romance Writers alert! In slow economy, romance writers steam to success. "More than 78 million Americans read at least one romance novel in 2008, according to the Romance Writers of America, up by almost 100 percent since 1998. Meanwhile, total U.S. publisher revenue was essentially flat, up just 1 percent in 2008. Nine out of 10 readers are women."~ Richard Mullins, Tampa Tribune, 8-16-09
The Stiletto Gang (blog in which mystery writers Evelyn David, Marilyn Meredith, Maggie Barbieri, Rachel Brady, Misa Ramirez, Susan McBride and guests bring mystery, humor, and high heels to the world)
Ten Rules for Writing Fiction. Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, the Guardian asked several authors for their personal dos and don'ts. Read what Elmore Leonard, Diana Athill, Margaret Atwood, Roddy Doyle, Helen Dunmore, Geoff Dyer, Anne Enright, Richard Ford, Jonathan Franzen, Esther Freud, Neil Gaiman, David Hare, PD James, and AL Kennedy (part 1)and Hilary Mantel, Michael Moorcock, Michael Morpurgo, Andrew Motion, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Proulx, Philip Pullman, Ian Rankin, Will Self, Helen Simpson, Zadie Smith, Colm Tóibín, Rose Tremain, Sarah Waters, Jeanette Winterson (part 2) have to say.
Top 100 Creative Writing Blogs. BestCollegesOnline.com
• Afterwords: Novelists on Their Novels by Thomas McCormack • The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera • Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster • Burning Down the House: Essays on Fiction by Charles Baxter • Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Orson Scott Card • The Fiction Editor, The Novel, and the Novelist by Thomas McCormack • The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman • From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler (ed. Janet Burroway) • Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton • How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey (especially the chapter on dialogue) • Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft by Janet Burroway • Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form by Madison Smartt Bell • Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Atwood • No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells by Alice Orr (more useful than its gimmicky title suggests) • The Novel and Short Story Writers Market by Lauren Mosko • 101 Best Beginnings Every Written: A Romp Through Literary Openings For Writers And Readers and 101 Best Scenes Ever Written by Barnaby Conrad • On Becoming a Novelist by John Gardner • On Writing by Stephen King • The Passionate, Accurate Story by Carol Bly • Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell • Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction (2nd edition) by Patricia Highsmith • Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative by Peter Brooks • Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print (2nd ed.) by Renni Browne and Dave King • Six Walks in the Fictional Woods, essays by Umberto Eco, author of The Name of the Rose • So, Is It Done? Navigating the Revision Process, hosted by Janet Burroway (DVD) • Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew by Ursula K. Le Guin • Stein on Writing by Sol Stein • Techniques for the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain • This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Moseley (for novice writers) • Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (7th ed.) by Janet Burroway • Writing the Breakout Novel and Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass (how to create "a powerful sense of time and place, larger-than-life characters, a high degree of tension, good subplots, and universal themes," elements needed to take a novel to the bestseller list). See also the novelist-turned-agent's The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great • Writing Romance Fiction for Love and Money by Helene Schellenberg Barnhart "I've never thought about myself in terms of a career. ... I don't have a career, I have a typewriter."
~ Don DeLillo "My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel - it is, above all, to make you see. That - and no more, and it is everything." ~ Joseph Conrad, preface to The Nigger of the Narcissus |
Websites, organizations, and other resourcesA GREAT READ
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Includes original text by Sarah Wernick WRITERS AND CREATORS
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