Writer Unboxed - The "Connect Kitty" Approves
AAC can't help but deliver the best bloggish content that will inspire writers to new leaps of imagination. This one is mostly new releases, bestsellers, literary fiction historical fiction, mysteries, popular non-fiction, memoirs and biographies.
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The Odyssey Writing Workshop One of the top workshops in the world for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror Held at Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH, June 7-July 16, 2021 Only 15 students. The most intense learning experience you’ll ever have. Application deadline: April 1 Six weeks of directed study with Jeanne Cavelos, former senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, bestselling author, and winner of the World Fantasy Award Guest Lecturers: David Farland * Gregory Ashe * Meagan Spooner Djéli Clark * Melissa Scott * Sheree Renée Thomas Virtual Guests: David Brin * Scott H. Andrews In only six weeks, the Odyssey Writing Workshop taught me mor…
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* sense of humor required Warning: Hacks for Hacks tips may have harmful side effects on your writing career, and should not be used by minors, adults, writers, poets, scribes, scriveners, journalists, or anybody. Happy Quarantiniversary! Time flies, does it not? Now we’re one year into the pandemic, and many of you reading this have already been vaccinated. It’s time to celebrate not just the prospect of life returning to normal, but also your forthcoming literary success. When all this nonsense started, writers everywhere said, “This sucks, but at least I’ll have more time to write.” A whole year has gone by, and based on how much extra writing time you had, you mus…
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Flickr:brianjobson We’re so pleased to announce Liza Nash Taylor as a regular WU contributor! You may remember Liza from her guest post, On Being a Debut Novelist at Sixty. From her bio: Liza was a 2018 Hawthornden International Fellow and received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts the same year. Her work has appeared in Gargoyle Magazine; Deep South, and others. Her debut novel, ETIQUETTE FOR RUNAWAYS (Blackstone Publishing, 2020) is listed in Parade Magazine’s 30 Best Beach Reads of 2020 and Frolic’s 20 Best Books of Summer 2020. Her second novel, IN ALL GOOD FAITH, will be published in August. We love this first official post from Liza, which takes the long vi…
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The artist’s tools: From Deb Lacativa’s studio, where all the magic happens. My first Author Up Close post for 2021 features someone many of you might already be familiar with. Deb Lacativa is not only an active member of the Writer Unboxed community, she was also the 2016 WU Conference Scholarship recipient and returned to deliver the 2018 keynote speech. Deb also reminded me that she was, in her own words, “the first sacrificial lamb to the ‘All the Kings Slaughter … I mean, All the Kings Editors’ feature on Writer Unboxed.” The story Deb submitted for that series is now complete and will be published in a few weeks. I not only wanted to interview Deb because she’s a g…
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No matter who publishes your book, your obligation to promote it is inescapable. Every author would rather be writing than promoting so it’s important to make your time flogging your book count. Also, if you’re like me, you try hard not to lose money writing, and that means outsourcing as little as possible. Because social media platforms are the predominant cost-free methods available to us, creating eye-catching graphics is a skill we’d all be wise to optimize. Luckily, I truly enjoy making graphics, and when I have time or am procrastinating writing, I volunteer my services to friends. Over the years, I have learned a thing or two about promoting books using images, a…
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If there’s one topic I love talking about with fellow writers, it’s women’s empowerment in fiction. For this reason, I was thrilled in late January to see that Publishers Weekly had run a fabulous piece on exactly this subject, titled “Is Women’s Empowerment Coming to Publishing?” The article was from the perspective of big players in the industry like marketing and sales managers, executive editors, and editorial directors, and it outlined what publishers are seeking in the women’s empowerment space. It also covered the impact of recent political changes on women’s fiction and popular sub-genres related to women’s empowerment. While I enjoyed the article, I felt that so…
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So the last time I posted a video on Writer Unboxed, I talked up bathing in the unknown. And it got me thinking, even if the unknown is a powerful place, what’s next? For me, after some bathing, I like to figure out what I’ve got on my hands. (Yeah, I know, the bathing metaphor just fell apart…) And the most effective way I know to make it more known… is by seeing how it affects other people. These people need to be trusted people, especially at this early phase, because the material is raw and messy and I’m probably feeling vulnerable. Even so, seeing (or more like: feeling) another person’s response is critical for me to take the story to the next phase. Look, I know p…
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Please join us as we celebrate the March 2nd release of The Lost Apothecary, written by our very own Sarah Penner. Sarah, thank you so much for joining us today and taking the time to answer a few questions about the process behind your lovely novel. Sarah Penner is the debut author of THE LOST APOTHECARY, forthcoming March 2, 2021 with Park Row Books/HarperCollins in the US, UK, Canada, and more than fifteen territories worldwide. Sarah lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with her husband and their miniature dachshund, Zoe. When not writing, she enjoys running, cooking, and hot yoga. Find Sarah on social media or learn more at SarahPenner.com. “…a wickedly wonderful time-…
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There are many bad reasons to focus on short fiction and one really good one…and both present their own problems. Stick with me as I show you how to adapt your writing to short fiction OR expand your short stories into novels. Bad Reasons to Write Short Stories Short stories are great for your career, they say. Start with short fiction, they say, to Build your publication credits Help new audiences find you Let editors know you’re serious Raise your profile by winning contests Keep your novel fans happy in between books The problem is not everyone loves short stories. I’m talking about readers and writers, here. Writing short, while undeniably a useful skill, just is…
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Novels and short fiction start with the same ingredients, but each creates a different experience—-for the reader and for you. You know writing short stories could transform your craft and build your audience. If something’s holding you back from making progress in your short fiction, I have a challenge for you. I’m Julie Duffy, the host of StoryADay. I’m inviting you to spend three days with me (virtually, of course) as I share with you the best lessons from 10 years of running the StoryADay May challenge…but without asking you to make a month-long commitment! Instead, I’m inviting you to a 3-Day Challenge. Have trouble getting to ‘the end’? All of your short storie…
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At the height of my obsession with the creative process as it relates to writing, I couldn’t find answers to all my questions so I decided to do my own research. Now, keep in mind, I know nothing about how to create actual data. I’m no researcher. This didn’t stop me. I put out a call to writers and surveyed one hundred of them, and the responses were fascinating to me. The survey asked them to self-identify between a range of high- to low- producers. The first question began like this: On average over the last five years, how many pages have you written per year? (Generated, not polished and published) When comparing answers from the two high-producer categories (a boo…
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I stepped outside this morning and heard birdsong, smelled melting snow on the air, and noticed the sun felt slightly warmer. Spring is coming, and it couldn’t come at a better time. I hit a pandemic wall last week (I suspect many of you are experiencing similar feelings). The losses nationwide have been incredibly difficult, crippling for some, and to compound all of that, the restlessness has set in. I’m done being indoors and I’m done being isolated. I’m done NOT seeing my friends and family, not seeing my writer friends. I want hugs and kisses and laughter. I crave inspiration that is difficult to find when your days look like Ground Hog Day. But that lovely moment …
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Please welcome new contributor Kasey LeBlanc to the Writer Unboxed team! From his bio: Kasey LeBlanc (he/him) is a graduate of Harvard College and of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator program, where he was an Alice Hoffman Fellow. He has been published by WBUR’s Cognoscenti and was a finalist in 2018 for the Boston Public Library’s Writer-in-Residence Position. He is currently revising his Novel Incubator manuscript, a young adult novel about a closeted trans teenage boy, Catholic school, and a magical dream circus. We’re so glad to have you with us, Kasey! — If you’ve taken a writing class before, you’re probably familiar with the stereotypical “nightmare” student. He, …
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Scrivener excels at helping you visualize your story’s structure, and at keeping your manuscript and supporting materials organized. But, sometimes you still need to search for something. Whether it’s a scene you misplaced while trying to move it, the details of a conversation between two characters, or the main character’s boss’s eye color, Scrivener makes it easy to find what you need. Here are three easy ways to search within your project. Searching the Entire Project In Scrivener 3, there’s a new Search button on the toolbar that aggregates several search-related functions, including Project Search (formerly a text box in the toolbar), Document Search, Synopsis Sear…
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Welcome to another writing contest roundup. How are your 2021 goals and resolutions? I recently crossed over 500 rejections and started the year strong with four publications—a young arson story in Down & Out: The Magazine, a pair of contrasting flash fiction pieces in MacQueen’s Quinterly, and a quiet flash about balconies in the debut issue of Nevermore Journal. Every season is a chance to try something new. This contest submissions season covers deadlines from March 1, 2021 through May 31, 2021. Spring is a great time to submit to literary journals that read during the academic year or opportunities that take place during the summer. Thanks to Literistic, Poets &a…
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Please give a warm welcome to our dear Sonja Yoerg today as she discusses her forthcoming novel The Family Ship, releasing February 23rd. Thank you for joining us today, Sonja, and congrats! Sonja Yoerg grew up in Stowe, Vermont, where she financed her college education by waitressing at the Trapp Family Lodge. She earned a Ph.D. in biopsychology from the University of California, Berkeley and wrote a nonfiction book about animal intelligence, Clever as a Fox (Bloomsbury USA, 2001). She has also authored six novels, including the Washington Post and International bestseller, True Places. Sonja lives with her husband in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. “Families, li…
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Please welcome WU’s newest contributor, Kelsey Allagood, whose powerhouse guest post–What Gandhi Taught Me About Telling Stories that Mean Something–you may recall! Kelsey’s background as a political analyst specializing in the genesis of war and oppression informs her writing, which is part of the reason today’s post is so interesting: What does a writer who focuses on war and oppression in some parts of her life do when she can’t seem to bring conflict to the page? Welcome, Kelsey! We’re so glad to have you join the team. I have a confession: I have been a writer for more than two decades, but it was not until the last year that I understood conflict. “But Kelsey,” yo…
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Image – iStockphoto: Al Kane ‘The Darkness Calms Down in Space’ A podcast is not many journalists’ favorite medium. Why? You can’t search it. If you know that a person has said something in a podcast but you have no time code to tell you when in the tape that comment popped up, you’re left scrubbing back and forth, trying to find the quote you need. So it is that I’m looking forward to the release today at noon of the transcript of a new podcast conversation with Ezra Klein at The New York Times. He’s talking with the author George Saunders who, at 62, is out with a new book, A Swim in the Pond in the Rain from Penguin Random House. The book is based in Saunders’ 20 yea…
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Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and agents often make their read/not-read decision on the first page. In a customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type), there are 16 or 17 lines on the first page. Here’s the question: Would you pay good money to read the rest of the chapter? With 50 chapters in a book that costs $15, each chapter would be “worth” 30 cents. So, before you read the excerpt, take 30 cents from your pocket or purse. When you’re done, decide what to do with those three dimes or the quarter and a nickel. It’s not much, but think of paying 30 …
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Like firstborn children, debut novels get a lot of attention. I’m a firstborn myself, as well as the first grandchild in a cohort of twelve, and I’ve always liked the role. But what about second novels? I’d heard about the “sophomore slump”—the letdown and diminished interest, from friends as well as the media, in a second book. I’d also heard that a second book is easier because the process isn’t quite so unknown; experience can bring clarity, confidence, and manageable emotions. Both descriptions of the sophomore novel made sense to me. Since I was about to launch my own second novel, I was curious to know what others had to say—writers who had “gone before” and could…
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One of the more baffling problems I see with my clients is that they’re not keeping their writing real. Their stories might be full of tension and clever plot twists, their characters people I might like to know, but their writing is not rooted in life. This problem most often shows up in descriptions. Their characters’ hair is “silky,” or wool socks “scratchy.” Hearts “pound,” muscles “ripple,” eyelids “flutter.” Sunsets “glow” or rain “pours.” They are simply writing the sorts of things that other writers have written, time and time again. It’s just as damaging when they go generic. Rooms are “large” or “opulent,” gardens are full of “flowers” surrounded by “trees,” …
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Well, I just finished another revision pass on my WIP. This one was for the final edition of a trilogy, and revising the ending has really gotten me thinking. Not just about the story. It’s also made me take a look at myself—at who I am as a storyteller, and how this process has changed me. As well as how my story and I reflect the times and fit into the world around me. Before I go on, I’m going to offer a mild potential spoiler warning to anyone who plans on someday reading my upcoming trilogy…. Hey, stop laughing. Honest, it’s coming. Oh, I see—you’re laughing because you think it’s cute that Roycroft is worried about some dubious future audience. I suppose I deserve …
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Are you looking for a quality conference that helps writers on all levels move closer to their publishing goals? Do your objectives include instruction from respected professionals within the industry, an opportunity to pitch to agents and editors, and discussions with successful writers who have experience and knowledge? How about options to participate either in-person or virtually? Look no further! The Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference—May 30 through June 3 is for you! Directors Edie Melson and DiAnn Mills work year-round to ensure this conference soars beyond writer’s expectations. Often referred to as the premier conference of the south, the BRMCWC …
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Please welcome new Writer Unboxed contributor Desmond Hall to Writer Unboxed today! Desmond pitched a drops-of-wisdom-via-videos idea to us that we just loved, and we think you will, too. You’ll see him here once a month from now on, and each of his posts will offer three of Desmond’s “drops.” Desmond’s debut YA novel, YOUR CORNER DARK, released just a few weeks ago. He has a rich history as a teacher, a counselor, an award-winning playwright and filmmaker/director, Superbowl-commercial writer, and creative director for Spike’s Lee’s ad agency — and that’s just a sampling. Learn more about Desmond on his bio page HERE, and enjoy his drops of wisdom! Welcome, Desmond! Thi…
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Given that Valentine’s Day is this Sunday, I thought I would post something I use in my Litreactor classes concerning how to stage the conflict in a love story. I find the usual gladiatorial implications of the word “conflict” all too often lead writers astray, making them think of the loved one as the opponent or antagonist in the conventional sense, which creates more confusion than clarity. So, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, allow me to offer you this little gift… Love stories have a unique structure because, though the protagonist and the loved one are in conflict, it is not adversarial. One character is not seeking to defeat the other in the sense we find in c…
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