{friday favs} NaNo prep, plotting for pantsers, and more

Image-1

Welcome to the (semi-)weekly version of Friday Favorites, a round-up of web goodies that have grabbed my attention recently. This blog is all about sharing the wealth, so enjoy!

11 Everyday Phrases You Might Be Saying Incorrectly :: Christina Sterbenz for Business Insider :: It never hurts to brush up on terminology, especially with all of the internet’s inconsistencies. One I might add: “alright is never all right.” In fact, “alright” isn’t an actual word! (Thanks, Carol!)

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing :: Maria Popova from Brain Pickings :: The legendary writer’s tips for writing. Perhaps the most valuable thing about this article is the round-up of famous writing advice and best books on writing.

Will My Agent Help Me Market My Book? :: Amanda Luedeke of Chip MacGregor Literary :: Best quote in the article: “No one will market your book as passionately or aggressively as you. The less you need to rely on others for marketing and promotions, the better off you’ll be.” As a former book publicist, this is a huge soapbox of mine. You cannot rely on your publisher, marketing/PR professionals, and certainly not your agent to market your book while you sit back and watch. It’s in your best interest to take ownership and start learning now. Amanda has great tips!

Google’s New Hummingbird Algorithm Update: Good News or Bad? :: Edie Melson of The Write Conversation :: I’m still learning about the technicalities of the Hummingbird update, but Edie has a great overview for people with a basic knowledge of the ever-evolving SEO machine.

25 Ways to Plot, Plan and Prep Your Story :: Chuck Wendig of Terrible Minds :: Warning: this is a very colorful, direct, and somewhat profanity-laden article, but has great stuff on fiction plotting methods. So very helpful for a pantser who may or may not need a little help getting back into a 50,000-word WIP that was neglected for a conference. Hypothetically.

A Pantser Turned Plotter Learns to Love Revising :: Missy Tippens for Seekerville :: If you saw the word “Pantser” above and have no idea what it means, look in the dictionary and find my picture. Just kidding. It’s someone who sits down with little-to-basic information about the story in his or her head and just starts writing. Minimal to planning and prepping. Missy shares her experience on biting the bullet and planning for her revisions. This may or may not be helpful to the nameless individual above with his/her current predicament. Maybe.

NaNo Prep :: Kaye Dacus :: Kaye Dacus For The Win! She has come up big! “NaNo” is short for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which kicks off in November. Hundreds of thousands of authors are preparing to sacrifice life and limb to put 50,000 words to the page next month. Kaye has been publishing articles that will help both pantsers and plotters devise a plan.

Planning for NaNoWriMo :: Rachel Kent of Books & Such Literary :: Strategies to keep in mind during NaNoWriMo prep from a literary agent’s perspective. These might help authors avoid heavy rewrites in the future, particularly where it comes to word count and pacing a story.

Last, but not least:

18 Weird Things That Authors Do :: Lydia Kang for BuzzFeed :: I laughed so hard at this list! I’m sure authors can relate to many of these. I tried to go through them and pick my favorites, but I couldn’t 🙂

What about you? Have you read anything helpful or interesting this week?

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.