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.
1,252 topics in this forum
-
- 0 replies
- 53 views
[url={url}]View the full article[/url]
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 42 views
I almost titled this post “What We Talk about When We Talk about Talking,” but it looked bad as a header. As a not-professional editor who nonetheless gets to edit my friends’ writing, one of the most common questions I get is, “Does the dialogue sound natural?” And often, because my friends are talented, the answer is most definitely “yes.” But is “natural” really the highest form of dialogue? We all want our dialogue to sound natural, as opposed to stilted, but dialogue can sound natural and still be missing that extra spark that takes it from “good dialogue” to “oh my god, Becky, I will remember this line for the rest of my days” dialogue. As I looked up some onlin…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 43 views
Do you ever find yourself switching between windows/programs to refer to research or images, or scrolling up and down within a document to view something you wrote in another section? If so, check out Scrivener’s Split Screen feature. It allows you to divide the Editor pane (where you write) into two panes, either horizontally or vertically (my personal preference). I often use it to quickly look at what I wrote in a previous scene so I can be consistent or avoid being repetitive. Basically, any time I want to see something else in the project without “losing track” of the document I was working in, I split the screen. Here are a few other ways to use it: View anoth…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 73 views
This contest submissions season covers deadlines from December 1, 2022 through February 28, 2023. Thanks to Literistic, Poets & Writers, Submittable Discover, and New Pages for many of these contests. Much like editors are looking for reasons to reject work, I want to focus on opportunities worth my time. Thus, my list of writing contests below includes reasons to submit to that particular writing contest. May you find a promising opportunity among this list and spend less time searching for where to send your exceptional work. December 2022 Breakwater Review – The Breakwater Fiction Contest – $10 fee Deadline: Dec 1, 2022 “We are seeking submissions for piece…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 47 views
If you’re considering self-publishing and wanting to maximize potential income, do yourself a favor and take a peek at Amazon’s Kindle Vella platform. If you haven’t already heard about Kindle Vella, it’s a place where you can serialize your novel over an extended period, instead of publishing one whole story all at once. Instead of chapters, you are publishing “episodes,” much like a television series. This isn’t a new concept. Serialized novels first popped up as early as the 17th century and really took off in England during the 19th century when novels were published episodically in newspapers and magazines. This allowed poorer overworked readers to enjoy stories t…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 37 views
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 …
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 57 views
Most of us know what a rain forest is. A rhizome, not so much, so I’ll start with that. Back in 1980, two French philosophers named Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari came up with a notion they called rhizomatic thinking, or rhizomatic learning. A rhizome is a root system. Unlike a tree that grows from a central trunk by branching into smaller and smaller divisions, a rhizome expands laterally, equally. There’s no primary source, no hierarchy; you can enter the rhizome at any point and go from there to any and all other points through an interconnected, nonlinear network. What does this have to do with writing? A lot. A rhizomatic perspective helps us find our way thr…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 50 views
The 1501 Aldine edition of Virgil’s Aeneid, the first use of italics in print. I try to not write much here about the mechanics of writing, such as how and when to use italics. I’m most interested in opening writers’ eyes to subtleties of the storytelling craft that they might not have noticed. There aren’t a lot of subtleties involved in how you use italics. It’s all pretty straightforward. But after last month’s Onconference talk on dialogue, I could see there was still a lot of confusion about how and when to use italics. I think I need to step up. First – and I can’t stress how important this is – there are no rules, not even with purely mechanical matters. Wh…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 43 views
Supporters of Ukraine at Warschauer Strasse station in Berlin, September 20. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Fotofantastika A Heartfelt Imbalance Since late February, when Vladimir Putin began his barbaric invasion of Ukraine, international publishing industry news has frequently featured stories about terrific programs providing books for Ukrainian refugee children. Generally, 5,000 copies or more of these titles are printed in a given European book market, often thanks to generous donations from book-business professionals and others. The books then are provided to humanitarian-aid organizations to be handed out at border crossings and other points at which Ukrainian refug…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 56 views
“Our real self is not entirely inside of us.” —Jean-Jacques Rousseau It’s a truism of our peculiar art that we are obliged, as much as possible, to make every element of a story—every chapter, every section, every scene, every paragraph, every sentence, every word—serve multiple purposes, while at the same time making that effort as invisible as possible. One area where this is especially true is description of setting. Although our first effort at describing our story world may likely resemble straightforward reportage, in our revisions we would be wise to ask: In whose mind’s eye exactly is this scene unfolding? What does her account of the scene tell us about her? D…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 50 views
photo adapted / Horia Varlan First, let me be clear: the songwriter referred to in the above headline is not me. I have written all of one song in my life, in apology to my mother for being someone different than the person she’d hoped I’d be. (Singing it for her diffused the tension in our relationship, so I quit while I was ahead and stopped short of trying to sell it in Nashville.) No, the singer-songwriter whose mad skills inspired today’s post is Dar Williams, whose folk career rose to popular acclaim in the 1990s while opening for Joan Baez on an international tour. With that jump-start, she sustained her career in the same manner as do many authors: by appeari…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 45 views
In my workshops for aspiring writers, I am often asked how best to categorize a manuscript when submitting it to an agent or publisher. As I’m mainly a writer of fantasy, this question usually comes from fledgling writers of speculative fiction. Where does their work fit into the various sub-genres of fantasy, or is it actually science fiction? If there’s a love story, maybe it’s romantic fantasy, fantasy-romance, paranormal romance? Fantasy comes in many varieties. We have epic/high fantasy (think Tolkien), fairytale fantasy, low fantasy, urban fantasy. Then there are sword and sorcery, grimdark, and magic realism. And don’t forget cosy fantasy, a sub-genre I hadn’t hear…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 47 views
This morning, while walking my dog, I was reminded of a snippet about writing that is simultaneously the best advice and yet also the worst. I cannot remember where I heard it or where is saw it (if you know, please put the source in the comments), but it is something that has stuck with me and often comes back to me. It goes like this (and I’m probably paraphrasing here): The best thing about being a writer is never having to say, ‘You should’ve been there.’ It’s such a great piece of advice because it is something to which every writer could want to aspire to, to tell a story in such a way that the reader can feel like they were in that moment too. Surely, that’s what…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 42 views
The timing for my Writer Unboxed deadline was perfect this month: I just got back from the Texas Book Festival, held this past weekend in Austin, Texas. Much like other book festivals I’ve been to, it was well-attended, well-run, and over too quickly — I would’ve loved to spend several more days meeting readers, hanging out with other authors, and attending panels from both sides of the microphone. But the two days I did get to spend in Austin were very enjoyable. I’d recommend the festival to any author looking to participate. Attending book festivals can be one of the most enjoyable parts of being an author, but they can also be overwhelming and not always satisfying, …
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 57 views
Receive individual attention and in-depth feedback with an Odyssey Online class! Live, Intensive, Interactive. Bestselling, award-winning instructors. Only 3 classes per year. Only 14 students per class. Application deadline 11/21. Don’t miss out! The Odyssey Writing Workshops Charitable Trust has offered world-renowned workshops for 27 years and has been an innovator in online classes since 2010. Odyssey offers some of the top programs in the world to help writers improve. Odyssey’s online courses provide live class meetings, challenging assignments, one-on-one attention, and insightful, in-depth critiques. Classes: One Brick at a Time: Crafting Compelling Scenes …
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 50 views
I’ll start this post with a disclaimer. As a fiction writer, I am drawn to writing stories that work within the realities we exist in. I’ve rarely worked with magic, fantasy, alternate world histories, or creating imaginary worlds. Primarily, I enjoy stories of humans living in contemporary urban realities. I wanted to expand the way I wrote, but it always seemed like a struggle. Over time I made peace with it and plunged further into the kind of writer I wanted to be. I wondered why I related to books that told stories about our times, struggles, pop culture, gender roles, and other political realities. My upbringing between two countries (U.S and India) possibly shape…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 66 views
In September of this year, a strange and wonderful new force was unleashed on the world: an online conference for the Writer Unboxed audience. Aptly named OnConference (or OnCon for short), the event did a tremendous job of capturing within an entirely virtual environment the unique aspects of the amazing UnConference (UnCon) events that WU has become known for, which rank among the absolute best conferences I’ve ever attended or participated in. WU Editorial Director and co-founder Therese Walsh and her awesome staff worked long and hard to plan, prepare and host this event, which had major similarities to previous UnCons, as well as some key differences. Starting with…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 48 views
The most difficult aspect of craft for participants at the workshops that I teach to master is immersive POV. (Sometimes referred to as deep POV.) It’s puzzling, since that narrative perspective is so much like how our human consciousness really is. Briefly, immersive POV is an enhancement of close third-person POV, that durable perspective on the page which strictly reports only what a POV character would see and hear. Immersive POV takes that idea a step further. It reports on the page not only what the camera’s eye and microphone’s ear would get, but a character’s whole experience of what is happening. The simplest way to understand the difference is that immersi…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 49 views
Former regular WU contributor and New York Times bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch has a new book out today! THE REWIND, her ninth novel, was acquired in a five-way auction and has been otherwise receiving some significant buzz–it’s on Amazon’s Best Books of the Month list for November, and was named a Barnes & Noble Bookseller Favorite selection, and a Library Reads pick for November for starters. And just yesterday, a deal with Netflix was announced for a film based on THE REWIND (#confetti)! But book releases haven’t always been so rosy for Allison, and so we invited her to share with us the long-view of her career–where she’s been, the peaks and valleys, and …
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 44 views
Spooky season is here — and what could be more horrifying or haunting to a writer than the projects that have met tragic ends? Whether big or small, we all have a graveyard of failed work. The novels we got 10K words into, and then just lost steam on. The essay that never quite came together. The manuscript that garnered a decent number of requests from agents, yet couldn’t land an offer. The seeds of ideas that simply never managed to grow into anything more. Some of these deaths hurt more than others. My personal cemetery includes all of them and more. Because I am a slow writer, the most common cause of death for my writing projects is running out of momentum, int…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 52 views
We are pleased to introduce you to author Harriet Cannon today! We were recently introduced to Harriet by the women’s fiction writing association, WFWA. From her bio: Harriet Cannon is a writer with Southern roots and Wanderlust. Thirty years as a multicultural psychotherapist, a consultant to the Boeing Company, International Schools and the US State Department in Chile influenced her writing. Harriet is co-author of Mixed Blessings: A Guide to Multicultural and Multiethnic Relationships. Exiled South is her debut novel. Harriet and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest and have two grown children. Harriet’s author story has a unique texture to it, and she worked f…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 59 views
“Everyone has to start somewhere.” It’s a familiar truism. And like most truisms, it states a fact so self-evident that there’s no need to really think about it. There’s no start without a starting point, right? Too often, however, it’s used to dismiss or excuse a lack of skill or training or experience or some other important qualification for doing something that requires expertise. Because “starting” doesn’t necessarily mean starting from zero. If you start your own law practice, you’ve presumably gone to law school and passed the bar. If you start your own contracting firm, you’ve hopefully apprenticed and/or worked with other builders. If you start your own real e…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 55 views
So much is expected of authors these days: not only the writing and editing of our work, but also promotion, speaking, social media, newsletters…the list goes on. One efficiency tool used by many authors to help with promotion and social media is Canva, an online graphic design tool that can be used either on a computer or via an app on your phone. The benefits of Canva are endless: designs are professional-looking, easy to create, downloadable, and entirely customizable. You can mix and match designs (copy & paste is your friend here!) to achieve precisely the design you’re wanting. Canva also has an incredible “Help Center” full of design tutorials and content sugg…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 77 views
It’s spooky season, my friends, and in my household that means three things: apple cider, pumpkin bread, and horror movies. But even if your taste in seasonal flicks is more Halloweentown than Train to Busan, there’s still a lot that we writers—of all genres—can learn from a good horror story. Despite being a professed horror fan, I’d never seen The Blair Witch Project until this month. I went in with moderate expectations: it’s rated 3.4 out of 5 stars on Google, and 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb, which are solidly mediocre popular ratings. Most horror films don’t affect me beyond the film itself, meaning I can walk out of the theater (or more often these days, away from my cou…
Last reply by EditorAdmin, -
- 0 replies
- 52 views
While writing, are you worried about phrases like authenticity, loose ends? If SO, ASK YOURSELF: WHERE SHOULD EACH OF MY CHARACTERS END UP? Writing a novel is about communication. Outside of creating fascinating characters, a gripping plot, or filling pages with beautiful, engaging language, a novel should be clear in its purpose, its presentation and especially its ending. In a recent review of Jennifer Haigh’s A Matter of Choice, author and critic Richard Russo not only wrote insightful comments about this excellent work of fiction, he also provided some creative insight for the rest of us. Russo wrote: “At this point in a rave review, critics will sometimes intro…
Last reply by EditorAdmin,