In a change of pace for this blog, I've devoted this whole post to useful links for writers. Please let me know if there's anything you think should be added! You might want to bookmark this page and come back often, because I'll keep adding cool stuff as I find it.
The Single Most Helpful Site:
Write or Die - Effective seat glue and production incentive!
Reading - Free Fiction Downloads
List of free sci-fi download sites - 21 different listings
Science Fiction Bookshelf - Project Gutenberg classics
Feedbooks - A universal e-reading platform compatible with all mobile devices where you can download thousands of free e-books, publish and share your own content
Suvudu Free Book Library - Complete sci-fi and fantasy novels
Writing Craft Tips
Tip of the Week at WhereTheMapEnds.com - by Jeff Gerke - highly recommended!
The Finishers Writing Tips - by Frank Creed and friends
Creative Calisthenics - A Workout for the Writer's Imagination, by Terri Main
POV Boot Camp - by Andrea Graham
AdvancedFictionWriting.com - home of the Snowflake Method
Amy Deardon's Story Structure
"Confident writers believe in persistence. Delusional writers believe in talent." - The Newbie's Guide to Publishing
Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)
The 32 Most Commonly Misused Words and Phrases
It's All Just A Draft - Free online writing guide by sci-fi author Tobias Buckell
Alicia Rasley' Writers' Corner - Large archive of articles on writing
Plotstorming - Cheryl Wyatt's Quick Plotting Guide
Twenty Classic Romantic Conflicts by Lyn Cote
Revision Checklist by agent Nathan Bransford
Resources
Top 10 List of Top 10 Lists for Writers - Lists of useful blogs, checklists, tips and more
The 10 Best Books for Writers
Text to Speech: Hear what you are writing
33 Articles on How To Write A Book
Query Fail: How Not To Land An Agent
DIY
Facts about Print On Demand - vs. Publish on demand
The difference between self-publishing and print on demand - Writers Digest
Facts about Promo Book Blurbs - Publishers Weekly
30 Free Programs for Web Page and Graphic Design
The World's Biggest Post About Photoshop - Textures, tutorials, patterns, brushes and other resources (e.g. for web design or book cover design)
Social Networking
The QuickStudy Guide to Social Networking
Social Networking Sites for Authors
Shoutlife.com Authors
Bookbuzzr - embed an interactive book preview on any site
10 Ways to build your blog community with Twitter
Top 10 Things New People to Twitter Should Know
How to Make a Custom Twitter Background
How to make your video go viral (Warning, some PG language)
Marketing
Karina Fabian's Virtual Blog Tour Primer
Terri Main's Marketing for Writers
15 DIY Tools to Promote your Book
Why slow selling is a good start for a book
Hard-Core Tactics for Authors Developing Audience - A list of lists for marketing tips
PROMO DAY - A yearly all-day event for writers to promote their latest book releases and discuss topics related to writing.
Why Offer Free E-Books? Sci-fi author Cory Doctorow speaks out for Creative Commons as a marketing strategy.
How to get free advertising on Google
How to Get Your Name in the News
Instructions for Influencers by Deb Raney - Send your supporters here to find what they can do.
Writing an Effective Book Review by Terri Main
Easy Book Reviewing by Grace Bridges
Making Book Trailers
www.animoto.com - Makes an animated slideshow out of your pics and music
www.xtranormal.com - Pick cartoon characters and text-to-speech will generate a scene.
E-Zines and other places to submit short stories
Ray Gun Revival - Space opera and golden age science fiction
Mindflights - A Magazine of the Speculative - Sci-fi and fantasy
Wayfarer's Journal - Science Fiction with a difference
Laser and Sword - Fantasy, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Adventure/Action Hero serial fiction.
Residential Aliens - Speculative Fiction from the Seven Stars
Digital Dragon magazine - Sci-fi and fantasy
Ethereal Tales - UK-based fantasy zine
Fun & Funky
Seventh Sanctum Story Generator - Quick, fun and zany writing prompts
911 Writers Block - Help in dire situations
Brain Rules - How to make your brain run better
Gender Genie - Find out if your POV character sounds male or female
Fantasy Character Generator - A thorough process for creating unique characters
Autocrit Editing Wizard - A bot that highlights some common writing errors
Internet Anagram Server - Input your name, your book title or character name!
The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English
Business Advice
5 Sure-fire Ways To Know If Your Business Will Work Or Not
Website Shopping Cart Setup Etiquette
Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts
4/15/2009
3/19/2008
Catholic Writers Conference Online Registration Open!
Thought folks might be interested!
Writers, editors, agents, and other publishing professionals from around the world are gearing up for the first annual Catholic Writers’ Conference Online, which will be held May 2-9, 2008, and is sponsored by the Catholic Writer’s Guild and Canticle magazine. The online conference is free of charge and open to writers of all levels for those who register by April 25.
Tim Drake, veteran journalist who will be presenting at the conference, says he thinks the conference is worthwhile for all faith-based writers. “I think writers of every stripe, from beginners to seasoned veterans, can always stand to learn something new. This conference provides an opportunity to learn a few tricks of the trade, without having to spend an arm and a leg to get there.”
Author and editor Carolyn Howard-Johnson, who with conference chair Karina Fabian will be conducting seminars designed to help authors put their “Best Book Forward,” concurs. “It's never too early to learn more about what we love…. When we put ourselves out there, the universe seems to bring us exactly what we need. When we close down on opportunity for whatever reason, we miss getting what we should.”
New seminar and chat topics are being added constantly, including seminars on character and dialogue development, virtual book tours, how to get grants and other money with your writing, trends in fiction, world building, and connecting with a secular audience. Presenters and chat hosts include Vinita Wright (Loyola Press), Maya Bohnhoff, Tim Powers, Mark Shea (Catholic Answers), Hope Clark (Funds for Writers), Sr. Madonna Radcliff (Pauline Books & Media), Bert Ghezzi (Word Among Us), and Brian Saint-Paul (Crisis/Inside Catholic).
“We’re very happy with the caliber of publishing professionals who have volunteered to participate in this first conference,” says event co-chair Heidi Hess Saxton, editor of Canticle magazine. “There is a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction as well as book and magazine publishing represented here. Something for everyone … and you can’t beat the price!” Although the conference is offered free of charge, donations are accepted; proceeds will go toward future conferences.
Hope Clark, author of “Funds for Writers” is also optimistic about the event’s success. “I see writers … unable to run from conference to conference, seated before a computer soaking up information, taking notes, excited about finding answers to questions they didn't even know they had. I see writers walking away from this conference excited again about being writers.”
Early registration is recommended, as some courses will have limited openings that will be filled on a first-come, first serve basis. To register or for more information, go to http://www.conference.catholicwritersguild.org.
9/06/2007
Tell the Story!
When I first started writing in college, I sent a story to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. I got back a personal rejection letter. Not realizing how rare those were, I've since lost it, but I do remember one line, a piece of advice she said she received as a novice writer that she now passed on to me:
Stop showing me how good you can write and tell me a story!
As writers of Christian fiction, we need to keep in mind the corollary to that:
Stop showing folks how good a Christian you (or your characters) are and tell a story!
Tonight on FabChat, I interviewed publisher Lida Quillen of Twilight Times Books. Twilight Times is a growing publishing company, which moved from eBooks to print in 2004 and has about 50 titles to claim, many of which are award winners and some of which are in national bookstore shelves. Several of her titles, like Infinite Space, Infinite God, are Catholic and Christian in nature. I asked her if religious content influences her in any way.
"I'm looking for a great story," she insisted. Not a great message. Lot a life changer. A great story.
Certainly, there are niches for message works--but if you want to write spec fic, you find a way to make the story demonstrate the message, not fit a story into your message. Genre fiction has with it certain expectations: fantasy had better have an adventure and elements of the fantastic--whether magic or fairy creatures or stepping into a make-believe world. Sci-Fi had better have some internally consistent and legitimized science. (Has anyone read some of the early "Christian SF" novels which read like Pilgrim's Progress with a spaceship or dismiss science as inherently evil when it's all that's keeping them from the vacuum of space? No wonder it's a hard sell now.) Horror better, as Daniel Weaver puts it, scare the Jesus into you.
And no matter what, you'd better have a character who feels conflict, doubts, grows and eventually meets his challenges in a "realistic" and meaningful way. To suddenly have all their troubles solved--or have their ability miraculously empowered, simply because they "accept Jesus as their personal savior" is as much a cheat as having the Good Witch Glenda send Dorothy home at the start of the book. Faith gives us strength for the struggle; it doesn't remove it. Not in real life. Not in a well-crafted story.
As one writer put it, the only difference between secular fiction and Christian fiction should be that when evil is done, the protagonist doesn't rejoice--and neither should the reader.
The really incredible thing, however, is that if you do write a really incredible story, the message will come through more powerfully than if you concentrate on message first and story second. We've seen that with Infinite Space, Infinite God. When Rob (my husband) and I solicited stories for ISIG, we wanted stories that entertained first, made you think, second; and showed the Catholic faith in its complexities but with a positive light, third. As a result, not only was it picked up by a secular publisher like Twilight Times, but it won the 2007 EPPIE award for best electronically published sci-fi. Not religious or Christian. Just sci-fi. But even better are the reviews it's getting. Even readers who are not Catholic say they are enthralled by the book. I've been told it should be required reading for teens because of the issues covered in many of the stories. One reviewer called it a terrifying and invigorating read. Some have been led to reconsider what they thought they knew about Catholicism; others are considering anew the moral issues of progresses like genetic engineering.
We're seeing a gentle upsurge in "Christian" spec fic--or should I say spec fic with Christian values? If we are to build this gentle upsurge into a tidal wave that sweeps our readership, we need to keep in mind what spec fic readers want. They can get "message" on Sundays or from their Bible or from any number of non-fiction testimonials. When they come to spec fic, they are looking for story.
So stop showing them what a great Christian you (or your characters are) and tell them the story! Do it right, and they'll get the message.
Stop showing me how good you can write and tell me a story!
As writers of Christian fiction, we need to keep in mind the corollary to that:
Stop showing folks how good a Christian you (or your characters) are and tell a story!
Tonight on FabChat, I interviewed publisher Lida Quillen of Twilight Times Books. Twilight Times is a growing publishing company, which moved from eBooks to print in 2004 and has about 50 titles to claim, many of which are award winners and some of which are in national bookstore shelves. Several of her titles, like Infinite Space, Infinite God, are Catholic and Christian in nature. I asked her if religious content influences her in any way.
"I'm looking for a great story," she insisted. Not a great message. Lot a life changer. A great story.
Certainly, there are niches for message works--but if you want to write spec fic, you find a way to make the story demonstrate the message, not fit a story into your message. Genre fiction has with it certain expectations: fantasy had better have an adventure and elements of the fantastic--whether magic or fairy creatures or stepping into a make-believe world. Sci-Fi had better have some internally consistent and legitimized science. (Has anyone read some of the early "Christian SF" novels which read like Pilgrim's Progress with a spaceship or dismiss science as inherently evil when it's all that's keeping them from the vacuum of space? No wonder it's a hard sell now.) Horror better, as Daniel Weaver puts it, scare the Jesus into you.
And no matter what, you'd better have a character who feels conflict, doubts, grows and eventually meets his challenges in a "realistic" and meaningful way. To suddenly have all their troubles solved--or have their ability miraculously empowered, simply because they "accept Jesus as their personal savior" is as much a cheat as having the Good Witch Glenda send Dorothy home at the start of the book. Faith gives us strength for the struggle; it doesn't remove it. Not in real life. Not in a well-crafted story.
As one writer put it, the only difference between secular fiction and Christian fiction should be that when evil is done, the protagonist doesn't rejoice--and neither should the reader.
The really incredible thing, however, is that if you do write a really incredible story, the message will come through more powerfully than if you concentrate on message first and story second. We've seen that with Infinite Space, Infinite God. When Rob (my husband) and I solicited stories for ISIG, we wanted stories that entertained first, made you think, second; and showed the Catholic faith in its complexities but with a positive light, third. As a result, not only was it picked up by a secular publisher like Twilight Times, but it won the 2007 EPPIE award for best electronically published sci-fi. Not religious or Christian. Just sci-fi. But even better are the reviews it's getting. Even readers who are not Catholic say they are enthralled by the book. I've been told it should be required reading for teens because of the issues covered in many of the stories. One reviewer called it a terrifying and invigorating read. Some have been led to reconsider what they thought they knew about Catholicism; others are considering anew the moral issues of progresses like genetic engineering.
We're seeing a gentle upsurge in "Christian" spec fic--or should I say spec fic with Christian values? If we are to build this gentle upsurge into a tidal wave that sweeps our readership, we need to keep in mind what spec fic readers want. They can get "message" on Sundays or from their Bible or from any number of non-fiction testimonials. When they come to spec fic, they are looking for story.
So stop showing them what a great Christian you (or your characters are) and tell them the story! Do it right, and they'll get the message.
2/14/2007
The Christian Writers Market Guide
This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is doing something a bit different: it is touring a book of non-fiction!
Sally Stuart's Christian Writers Market Guide is an annual publication that has become an invaluable resource for writers. Now in its 21st year, this edition has listings for everything a Christian writer could possibly need: 
- literary agents
- publishers
- online and print magazines
- newspapers
- markets for greeting cards, photograph, and poetry
- conferences and writers groups
- foreign markets
- distributors
- contests
- websites
This year's Christian Writers Market Guide comes with a searchable CD so you can locate the 1,200 markets for books, articles, stories, poetry, and greeting cards, which includes information on 40 new publishers, 83 new periodicals, and 34 new literary agents!
Who is Sally Stuart?
Sally Stuart has authored more than thirty books, is a popular speaker and authority on the business of writing, and noteably, Christian markets. She has been a longtime marketing columnist for and has sold over one thousand articles and columns. Her long-term involvement with this market guide as well as her marketing columns for the Christian Communicator, Oregon Christian Writers, and The Advanced Christian Writer and has sold over 1000 articles and columns!
Sally lives in northwest Oregon, is the mother of three and grandmother of eight!
Visit her website: http://www.stuartmarket.com/
Amazon link to The Christian Writers Market Guide www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400071259
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