Online Conferences

Over on LiveJournal, a group of writers are hosting Bittercon — an online writing convention for those of us who couldn't afford to go to ComiCon and other genre conventions held over the summer around the country. Discussions are going on now.

Drop by and join the conversation if you're interested.

Another virtual writing convention is the Muse Online Writer's Conference for writers of all disciplines and genres. The Muse conference will take place in real time, October 13–19, with workshops and panel discussions exactly like a traditional writing conference, simply taking place entirely online.

Both are free and open to everyone. Let me know if you find anything exciting!

;(

Has modern life killed the semicolon?

Blooks?

Editorial Anonymous tackles an issue I've often wondered about: whether or not a book published online will have trouble being published elsewhere.

This is good news for persons like me who like to write to an audience!

Where We Also Blog

The editorial department at my job has started a new blog. Editorial Ephemera is a place for us to collect tips, tricks, tools, and tidbits as well as whatever else catches our passing fancy.

Some of it will pertain only to us, but feel free to stop by for some copyediting/proofreading tips and interesting tidbits about the travel and publishing industry as you see fit.

OK, I have a new favorite toy, and it's called Wordle!

I pasted in the text of the first few chapters of my novel and got this masterpiece:



Very cool.

Poem-a-Day

Poetic Asides on The Writer website is offering prompts for a poem a day during National Poetry Month.

Give it a try! I think I will.

Firsts
there is no greater fear
than that first step
out into the oblivion of chance
possibility, opportunity

there is no greater act of courage
than that first step
out of the known
uncertain, excited

there is no greater joy
than that first step
out of the mundane
into beauty
into love
into your arms

On Creating Compelling Characters

This. Is awesome.

You need to let the reader know the character is like inside. Of course you can’t see inside a person without a whole lot of mess and screaming, and that really doesn’t tell you much anyway, but you can give the reader a hint or two by having the “inner character” manifest itself on the outer. Is your character confident? Give him a confident jaw. Haughty? That’s a perfect thing for cheekbones to show. Passionate? Give her passionate eyes. Eyes are handy, they can say or do all sorts of things that give away what the character is feeling as they race around the room looking for an escape or rest longingly on the heroine’s bosom. Conflicted about his mother? Give him a wussy-sounding name like Percival or Edward. Angry? Nothing shows anger like oversized ears.

I, of course, have NEVER been accused of such blatant bad writing! Never!

APRIL FOOLS!

Inspiration

The Writer magazine this month lists 8 websites for inspiration for fiction writers, and I thought they were great! Here they are:

Postsecret for plot ideas.

Imagining Ourselves for characterization.

Overheard in New York for dialogue.

Crutial Minutiae (try saying that six times fast) for details to spice up your story.

The Believer for when you feel stuck.

The Baby Name Wizard for, well, names.

Complications Ensue for information about screenwriting (his blogroll alone is worth the link).

Publishers Marketplace for information about the market.

Word After Word

I added a new link to the list at right, to Heather Sellers' blog, Word After Word.

I read a lot of writing blogs, but I'm really excited about this one. If it contains even a few gems of wisdom like the ones in her books (which I have a feeling it will) it will be a priceless tool to add to my arsenal.