Via Boing Boing, author Seth Godin reminds us that no one gets talker’s block, because no one cares whether or not they talk perfectly. We talk imperfectly; we should write imperfectly as well to get past any kind of writer’s block.
Reading list for new science fiction readers – Boing Boing.
As the first comment notes, it’s missing <i>Dune</i>—what else is it missing?
Two fun YA events for readers local to the Boulder County area:
And the Lafayette Public Library will be celebrating the launch of Scumble with Scumble crafts and activities, refreshments, book signings and a reading by Ingrid Law. The party will be held on August 27th from 7–9pm and a free ticket (available at the library now) will be required.
Literary Agent Nathan Bransford has a great post on the storytelling of the show LOST and the high price of the WTF?!? moment:
The price of a WTF moment is that the storyteller owes you an explanation. They’ve borrowed, narratively, from the future.
Interesting ideas about storytelling, even if you’re not a fan of the show.
My former writing instructor and author of Pen On Fire, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosts a radio show called “Writers on Writing.” Here’s who she’s got coming up:
So awesome:
Do You Suffer From One of These Writing Maladies?
But the fascinating part is that all of these, used sparingly by a good writer, can be done to good effect. It’s just when they’re overdone that they become a plague.
Relatively early on in my book, the main character gets injured. In an early draft, it was a dislocated shoulder, and then one of my critique group partners pointed out that a dislocated shoulder is a pretty debilitating and long-lasting injury. She kept pointing out that I couldn’t have my main character bouncing around, running up and down stairs and casually bumping shoulders with her love interest, without also writing in how much it made her shoulder hurt.
Buzz kill.
Needless to say, now she just bruises her shoulder.
Clearly, I need something like the blog, How To Kill Your Imaginary Friends. In it, the blogger points out the actual medicine behind common story tropes. Like, did you know that it’s actually possible to die of a broken heart? Me either.
Good to know.
I’ve made an important decision: I’m going to do everything in my power to get as close to finishing my book as possible by May, so that I can take part in a conference being put on by the Rocky Mountain SCBWI.
Which means I need to get cracking!
I’ve been working through the posts over at Alexandra Sokoloff’s blog, The Dark Salon, in which she talks about applying tools of the screenwriter’s trade to writing a novel, and it’s totally reinvigorated me to slog through my second act and get where I’m going.
But one of the most important things she talks about is working through your own list of books (or movies) like the one you’re writing, and studying the structure. I always look at assignments like that and think, what a good idea! I should do that! And then never do.
Well, no more. I’m going to work through at least a couple of the books/movies on my list and I thought I’d post them here, for good measure.
Of course, the first thing on my list was Harry Potter, but Sokoloff’s already done a great breakdown of the first film on her blog. So, I’ll use that as a template and a starting point. I think I might use the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
After that, I might do the first Pendragon book, The Merchant of Death
After that, who knows! I’ve got a nice long list of books that I love and have influenced me, so we’ll see where we get to. If anyone is interested in coming along with me, I’d love to hear your thoughts on structure and see any books or movies you’ve workshopped as well!
My copy of the “TBR Tallboy” arrived in the mail yesterday! Huzzah! I have a short story published in a literary magazine! 
