The 25 Best Websites for Literature Lovers
It’s an interesting relationship that book lovers have with the Internet: most would rather read a physical book than something on an iPad or Kindle, and even though an Amazon purchase is just two or three clicks away, dedicated readers would rather take a trip to their local indie bookstore. Yet the literary world occupies a decent-sized space on the web. Readers, writers, publishers, editors, and everybody in between are tweeting, Tumbling, blogging, and probably even Vine-ing about their favorite books.
Ten Obvious Truths About Fiction
The following essay was previewed in the class that Stephen Graham Jones taught for LitReactor, Your Life Story Is Five Pages Long. 1. The reader should never have to work to figure out the basics of your story.
Set up Your Story in the First Paragraphs
by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker I receive several first chapters (and synopses) every week as submissions for possible editing, and I always read the first page. Some are clear and compelling and make me want to read more. But too often, two main problems emerge: Either the author spends too much time revving his engine with description or backstory before we even care (boring); or we’re plunged right into the story but have no idea where we are or what’s going on (confusing).
How to Start a Novel
Time to confess: I’m a closet novelist. For the last six years, I’ve been sitting on a great plot, but I find the idea of writing a novel daunting. A few days ago, my best friend said to me, “You should write your novel this year. You know, the one where the young woman is in a bus in Rio de Janeiro, and she suddenly hears…” “You remember the story? But I told you about it six years ago!”
60 Historical Photos Worth 1000 Words
The American newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane said that “a picture is worth a thousand words” in 1911. Over 100 years later, this still rings true. Each photograph tells a story, a special event or moment, and helps us witness the past. From historical landmarks and well-known people to the basic daily routines of the past, these 60 pictures have lessons for us, and portray the past in a way that we can empathize with and understand it more intimately.
30 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Bad
While I like to think I know a little about business writing, I often fall into a few word traps. For example, "who" and "whom." I rarely use "whom" when I should.
Religion and the Founding of the American Republic
This exhibition demonstrates that many of the colonies that in 1776 became the United States of America were settled by men and women of deep religious convictions who in the seventeenth century crossed the Atlantic Ocean to practice their faith freely. That the religious intensity of the original settlers would diminish to some extent over time was perhaps to be expected, but new waves of eighteenth century immigrants brought their own religious fervor across the Atlantic and the nation's first major religious revival in the middle of the eighteenth century injected new vigor into American religion. The result was that a religious people rose in rebellion against Great Britain in 1776, and that most American statesmen, when they began to form new governments at the state and national levels, shared the convictions of most of their constituents that religion was, to quote Alexis de Tocqueville's observation, indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions.
Spelling Bee
What are the different ways to play the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee? There are two different ways to play. In the Tournament Spelling Bee, you'll be challenged by a series of words, with the spelling difficulty adapted to your skill level. The more words you get right, the higher your score will go, on a scale from 200 to 800.
Creative Writing Prompts
The year is 1491 and you are a famous world explorer. You set out to sail around the globe, but your crew is apprehensive about sailing around the Bermuda triangle. You dismiss their superstitions and demand to hold course. Sure enough, as you approach the Triangle you get caught in a horrible storm.
