How to Successfully Kill a Character: The Checklist. Great Advice To Writers, From Writers. LIT_Blog_DTOP_BelowTitle_336x280 posted By The Literacy Site Great Advice To Writers, From Writers The Literacy Site The writing process is something only other writers understand.
» Top 3 Reasons Why Fiction Manuscripts Get Rejected. My number is 28, what’s yours?
You know, the number of times a Literary Agent or Publishing House sent you the “Thank you, but no” letter. As writers we research the best possible way to write a query letter; how to manipulate our 350 page manuscript into a one page synopsis. We review all possible avenues for our baby to grow into an adult. 8 Free Writing Contests With Cash Prizes ($500–$10,000) 2016 is fast approaching.
What better way to enter it than with some writing contests? We’ve gathered 7 writing competitions to keep your eye on in the coming months. BookFuel. How To Write A Non-Fiction Book: A Step By Step Guide. Do you want to write a non-fiction book?
Are you struggling with where to start or how to get it done? This article will take you through a step-by-step guide to the process. It starts with thinking about your book and structuring it before diving into the actual writing. The more work you do upfront, the easier the book will be to produce. I’m currently writing my seventh non-fiction book with more planned, and my process is quite defined these days. This article is relevant for most non-fiction, but excludes memoir or narrative non-fiction, as they are quite specific forms. SPS Video Training Series. » Top 3 Reasons Why Fiction Manuscripts Get Rejected. How to Write the Perfect Query Letter - Query Letter Example.
Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher. Query letters?
Do literary agents really read them? Agents take queries very seriously, and yes, they really do read them. It’s not some universal rumor that agents have perpetuated because they all have a secret fetish for being bombarded with mail. Sure, agents make it sound like digging through the slush pile is the last priority of their day. Some agents even relegate the ambivalent task of reading unsolicited queries to an assistant or intern. The Ugly Truth of Publishing & How BEST to Support Writers. Original Image via Flickr Creative Commons, courtesy of Anurag Agnihotri Well, I figure I have one more day to drunkenly torch my platform.
Sad thing is I don’t drink. I am apparently this stupid when sober :P . Actually I am writing this as a follow up for my rant from the day before yesterday, because knowledge is power. Writers need this. You’re Not Getting Your Writing Done Because You’re Building the Wrong Habit. Editor Tom asks how we manage to start writing projects without bedeviling ourselves.
Short version: make it a habit. Slightly longer version: make it the right habit. Full version: After 18 months of experimentation (following 18 years of dabbling) I’ve made writing my habit. It’s part of my daily routine. Stellar Graveyard Reveals Clues About Milky Way's Ancient Birth. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has peered far back in time, detecting clues about how the Milky Way galaxy came together, shortly after the universe's birth.
Astronomers trained Hubble on the Milky Way's dense central bulge and spotted a population of superdense stellar corpses called white dwarfs that are remnants of stars that formed about 12 billion years ago. These stars are archeological evidence of the first few billion years of the galaxy's history, researchers said. "It is important to observe the Milky Way's bulge, because it is the only bulge we can study in detail," study lead author Annalisa Calamida, of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, said in a statement.
"You can see bulges in distant galaxies, but you cannot resolve the very faint stars, such as the white dwarfs. " [Stunning Photos of Our Milky Way Galaxy (Gallery)] Like other spiral galaxies, the Milky Way harbors a dense central bulge surrounded by wispy spiral arms. Publishing a Book? 10 Questions a Publisher Will Ask You. Everyone is capable of writing a book and has something unique to say, but many people don’t write or publish books.
Why is that? The truth is, many books never get published simply because most people aren’t sure how to publish a book. I want to share with you the 10 most important questions a publisher will ask you about your book. Tooth DNA confirms ancient cousins lived alongside Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. DNA analysis of a 110,000-year-old fossilised tooth found in a Siberian cave has provided further evidence for the existence of the Denisovans - a recently identified extinct species of human - and suggests that they likely co-existed and perhaps even interbred with Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.
The analysis also revealed that the Denisovans were around at least 60,000 years earlier than we thought, were almost as genetically diverse as modern Europeans, and suggests that they might have been breeding with another mysterious relative of modern humans that scientists have yet to identify. "The world at that time must have been far more complex than previously thought," study author Susanna Sawyer from the the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany told Michael Greshko at National Geographic. "Who knows what other hominids lived and what effects they had on us? " Carl Zimmer explains at The New York Times: How Dinosaurs Came to Rule the Earth. More than 200 million years ago, as North Africa was ripping away from North America, opening up the Atlantic Ocean, hot lava poured out from Earth's surface. The lava, enough to more than cover the United States, created inhospitable conditions for most life ... except the dinosaurs.
And new geologic discoveries suggest this climate catastrophe was the ticket for the dinosaur's rise to rule. At that time, about half of all species on Earth died out in what is called the end-Triassic extinction. Scientists have suggested massive volcanic eruptions could be to blame, spewing out lava and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that would have totally changed the climate. Character flaws: The seven chief features of ego. Untitled, by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1984) Every one of us has a fundamental flaw, an immaturity of character, a dark side or negative tendency. This character flaw, also known as a ‘Chief Feature’, tends to take control whenever we feel stressed, anxious or uncertain. To the extent that you can identify and handle yours, you are doing well in your personal growth. What is a Chief Feature? Generally speaking, all personality traits (or overleaves) are neutral. How to write a one-page synopsis.
I've never met a writer who enjoyed writing a synopsis. I created this simple formula to help you write a one-page synopsis. Please refer to my post on The Five Plotting Moments That Matter that are referenced in the template. 50+ Writing Resources and Top 10 Self-Publishing Tips. 17 Tips on How To Write a Blurb That Sells. The book blurb is your sales pitch. Once your title and cover have drawn the reader in, the blurb is what is going to make the difference between a missed opportunity and a sale. You have one shot at introducing your story to your reader - make it count. Look at samples - Go to Amazon and click on the bestsellers in your genre.
Read their blurbs and select some of the ones that got you really interested in the book. Analyze what structure they have used and also note the words that made the greatest impact. Many self-published authors try to squeeze too much into their blurbs. Keep it short: Most blurbs are only between 100 and 150 words long, excluding the bit about the author. 5 Rarely Discussed Self-Publishing Mistakes: What NOT To Do.
Free Video Series: How to Become a Successful Published Author. Rays pitcher Drew Smyly needs 8 weeks of rehab for shoulder injury. Create A Plot Outline In 8 Easy Steps. By Glen C. How to Write a Synopsis of Your Novel. By Glen C. Strathy* Writers: 5 Tips on How to Shake the Haters (who Hate Hate Hate) If you write in public, especially if you blog, you will eventually attract haters. 9 Fundamental Fears That Motivate Your Characters - Character Secrets. Five Incredibly Simple Ways to Help Writers Show and Not Tell. Show me, show me.
Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language. Translate emotions into written body language We are always told to use body language in our writing. Sometimes, it's easier said than written. 9 Fundamental Fears That Motivate Your Characters - Character Secrets. Scrivener Secrets: Full Screen Mode — Learn Scrivener Fast. Rough Writers. 9 Fundamental Fears That Motivate Your Characters - Character Secrets. Limyaael's Rants: Abused Characters. Live-Webinar-Chat-2.25.14. [Feb 25 2015, 8:43 PM] ScrivenerCoach: Welcome everyone! I'm super excited to share some Scrivener goodies with ya'll today :-) [Feb 25 2015, 8:52 PM] CWN_Nancy: Welcome, everyone!
[Feb 25 2015, 8:54 PM] Maya Ginger Pozzolo: hi :) [Feb 25 2015, 8:54 PM] CWN_Nancy: Hi, Maya Ginger! [Feb 25 2015, 8:54 PM] Roseanne Salyer: Roseanne, from Denver. It's snowing like crazy. Ideonomy.mit.edu/essays/traits.html.