Virtual Visiting

This is a skinny post... because I’ve been dropping into WriteOnCon which finished this afternoon our time. This year WriteOnCon had live Twitter pitch events with agents and a very active forum for attendees with great discussions.

Some of the topics under discussion...that whole age range thing in Mid Grade and Young Adult... Where is the cut off?

Writing now... the perils of getting it right in the 21st Century... The agents were calling for more contemporary MG and YA.

The classic show don’t tell advice... actually you need some tell.

And agents pet hate... starting in the middle of the scene without giving us time to be emotionally invested. Nathan Bransford gives an example and asks how do you name your characters.

Voice... Voice... Voice... It makes your writing standout... and should be in your queries.

So what else has caught my eye this week.

A heartfelt plea for authors to stop dissing each other.

Turning your website into an online store

Joanna Penn’s interview with Bootstrapper guru Tucker on marketing books.

Jane Friedman has a great post on social media advice.

Janice Hardy has a timely diagnostic post on weak middles.

Moran Chaim wonders whether outlining is a good way to start.

Battling self doubt as a writer (the writer’s curse)

8 things to think about before you publish and

5 things you should not do.

To Finish.

What is the one thing your main character can’t live without? This is an interesting post which also resonates with writers. Social contact with people who understand your weird fascination with invented characters... even if it is only through the computer screen and you are visiting virtually... sometimes that is all you need to get your brain zinging. 

maureen

Spinning the Truth

What has been happening this week in the publishing blogosphere...

The open letter signed by over 900 American authors to Amazon about the ongoing dispute with Hachette has now got an international flavour with a German version springing up. Amazon is in dispute with German publishers about eBook prices... and over 1300 German language authors have signed an open letter. Porter Anderson takes a look at the two sides of this ongoing story. Which truth should we subscribe to?

Meanwhile... The Passive Guy is commenting on a Wall St Journal opinion piece about backing Amazon as they change the way publishing will be done...

Porter comments on a two-day workshop where publishing professionals gathered together to come up with a viable alternative to Amazon... interesting reading.

Mike Shatskin takes this further by looking specifically who could combine and give the Zon a fright.

Maggie Stiefvater delivered a keynote address at SCBWI that wowed people... She has published an excerpt... about writing being thievery... Excellent reading.

WriteOnCon is nearly set for takeoff... They have posted their list of agents dropping in. It promises to be a huge weekend. Take some time to check out what is on offer in this free online children’s writers’ conference.

In the Craft Section,

Organising your writing project using spreadsheets.

Using moral conflict to deepen your main character.

Can character arcs be subplots

Blurbs that bore and how to change them.

Titles and how to make them sing

Mining your dreams for story gold

Jody Hedlund on putting your best work out there.

Janice Hardy on myths about writing novelettes

Taking your character deeper with... anger

In the Marketing Section,

Joanna Penn continues to break new translation ground. She details how she has approached the German edition... and gets her translator to talk about the process. Fascinating reading.

Joel Friedlander has a guest post on planning your blog posts around your book.

Elisabeth S Craig has updated her database collection of editors, designers and illustrators for free lance projects.

Kris Rusch has added a new post to her discoverability series, which will shortly be turned into a book.

Author photos – what kind for what genre...

Self Publishing - three links

Shelli Johannes (YA writer) on things to think about before you jump in...

Jan Ruth (romance) on how to make the most of it.

Trevor Richardson on his journey which involved getting his rights back and starting a literary magazine.

To Finish,

The lovely Melinda Szymanik has packed a lot into her six month writing residency... if you can’t get away to another city maybe you could try organising a writing retreat when you can’t afford to go on one.  This could be handy if you want to combine it with the excellent WriteOnCon free children’s online writing conference... Or maybe you could dream about the most excellent writing studio... where you can contemplate writing your own truth.

maureen (late again…sorry. I am getting better….)

Pic from Flickr/Creative Commons/ RCabanilla