Adapting Story Structure for Any Project Why You Should Break the Writing Rules
Linked to by the previous post, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Fat Books Are Dead. Long Live Skinny.
How to Know It's Time to Shelve Your Novel
I'd like to see some of these: Blog Tour Ideas: The Scavenger Hunt by Fel Wetzig
Dragonfairy Press is accepting submissions for novels through the end of December.
Perfecting the Query Letter. Part 1 and Part 2
Found this gem via this post on Leisel's Musings on Fantasia blog. From Author To Entrepreneur: How to turn your knowledge into multimedia products
You should adopt the habit of checking out Martin Willoughby's weekly Friday Fun posts.
Character Movement and Fight Scenes
A Janet Reid post with a 24-karat gold nugget of truth to it.
I know, each week I reveal more and more nerdiness, but I just can't help myself. Spoiler alert! Star Trek Into Darkness Facts
If you're querying agents, you'd better read (the awesome!) Peggy Eddleman's post.
NaNoWriMo
A whopper congratulations to all the NaNoWriMo participants! To those who reached (or exceeded) their 50,000 word goal. And to those who reached (or exceeded) their own self-determined goals. As writers, we all know that word count is crucial, but it's not the only measure of success.
A question
I'm hoping one of my Blogger buddies can answer me this: How do I locate the blogs of those who have joined my blog, but whose blogs don't appear when I click their photo in the GFC widget? I've noticed that if the person comments, that hyperlink displays their profile and blog(s). But without a comment, I'm often unable--Google notwithstanding--to reciprocate the follow.
Great post--saw a couple I need to follow-up on. Peggy's post was very insightful; I should bookmark it.
ReplyDeleteIn my blogger home, I can see who's following me and check out their profiles, but if they don't have their blog listed on their profile (or under their profile pic as "my website") I don't know how to find their blog either. I, too, like to return the following favor.
I've found that there are times the blogs aren't hidden, but they still don't show via GFC for some reason. It's weird.
DeleteAnd thanks for the Sunday Surfing retweets!
Sorry a PS thought: skinny vs. fat books. I read the post you mentioned. Ironically, I just read a blog bio this morning by Cartie-Anne Brownian about her love of long, meandering epics.( http://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/about-me/). Her current WIP is 51,000 words and she's anticipating 400,000 more. I wondered if she wrote for pure joy as an end, or if she has found a niche audience. As a reader, I'm not confined to instant gratification reads, but the pressure for excellent writing and skilled story telling certainly increases with lengthy tomes.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I received some opinions on this topic. Being a lover of epic fantasy, I expect nothing less than 120,000 words. Anything less and I don't consider it epic. High, maybe, but not epic. But this opinion of mine is only for the epic fantasy genre.
DeleteI have mixed feelings toward the Fat Books Are Dead. Long Live Skinny. argument. I'm generally a brief writer, but my main project is epic (or perhaps part heroic, after some reflection) fantasy, so I'll need at least 100k per book to not look stupid.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a tough call. Authors in the vein of Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind never (to my knowledge) dropped below 200,000 words in their epic fantasy tales. The difference, of course, is they already had a readership base. Readers are far more hesitant to commit the extra time on new or unknown writers.
DeleteHow do you find those followers? Sometimes you can't. Sometimes they don't have a blog, just a Google account. If I have time, I do a Google search for their name and see if I can locate a blog.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame. I'm sure some of those who join expect a follow-back. It's something I'm more than willing to do. It's just not something I'm able to do if I can't find the blog. Google helps, but not always.
DeleteFat books are dead? The Half blood Prince sold 250,000 per hour. Now Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone was rather thin in comparison. It worked to engage readers who eventually didn't mind to buy a Bible size book. As with everything in this business, I am a strong believer it all depends on execution. If your book is good, people won't notice the size, if your book sucks, it can be 50 pages long, it won't succeed. In conclusion, if I want to write a 200k long book, I better make sure it's a darn good book and it wouldn't hurt me to have a very clever plan to present it to the reader, to engage him to buy the bigger volumes. Mostly if I am the worldly unknown Father Dragon.
ReplyDeleteThis raises a very valid argument. A writer should never pad their books with "filler" and "fluff" just to reach some magical word count threshold. (Just as words that are needed should never be cut.) Whether the book is 60,000 or 250,000 words, every word used should serve a purpose.
DeleteSo impressed with people who can participate in these challenges! Kudos to everyone who participated!
ReplyDeleteI hate it when I can't follow someone back. I love to see what is out there and though I can't possibly read them all daily, visit them as much as possible. Some people just don't know that they have to take extra steps to set it up.
As am I. Each participant has my admiration. And yes, I've read where some people's blogs aren't visible in their profile and the blogger doesn't even realize it.
DeleteRe your question, if a person doesn't link to their blog, then you can't follow back. I have a number of followers like that and it is such a shame because their comments are great and I would love to check out their blogs.
ReplyDeleteIt is frustrating. I just hope that they realize the lack of a follow-back isn't always intentional.
DeleteGaaaah... Jeff, now the next hour of my life is planned, LOL... must check out all these links...
ReplyDeleteAnd I know what you mean by the follow thing... I don't have the answer either! :/
Hope that hour was worth the time, Morgan. I enjoyed those articles and posts. My hope is that I'm able to provide a link to something that everyone finds helpful or enjoyable.
DeleteI've had the same problem finding certain followers too. Some profiles are completely shut down. As for the far vs skinny debate, I'm not sure. Personally, I would love to read a fat epic fantasy type book, but finding the time at this stage in my life makes it very difficult, so I fall back on shorter books.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that there are times when I'm glad certain books aren't epic in size. Not every "high fantasy" tale is (or should be) epic in scope. But it would be so wonderful it we had all the time required to read all the stories we wanted.
DeleteI think we're a little spoilt by kindles and the internet. Paperbacks rock! and thanks for the mention Jeff. Awesome 2012 NaNoWriMo target for Kirsta McLaughlin with over 50,000 words in 12 days!
ReplyDelete50,000 words in 12 days is phenomenal! And you're quite welcome regarding the mention.
DeleteI love books in all forms, paperback, hardback and eBook. Oddly enough though, I'm finding that reading on tablets is easier for me than reading from paper. I guess it's an age thing. Reading from paper requires my bifocals, eBooks not so much.
Sometimes there's really not much you can do to find somebody's blog if they don't have a link to it on their Google profile. I've googled a lot of people's names to find their blog that way, but I've been known to give up when I can't find them that way.
ReplyDeleteI've got a little notice before people leave comments on my blog, asking them to leave a link to their blog if they don't have one on their blogger profile.
I did NaNo this year, and wrote 110k in 29 days. I am happy to have had a little break over the weekend.
After 110k in 29 days, you've earned a little break over the weekend! Major congrats to you on that.
DeleteThat's not a bad idea you've got there about asking for links from those who comment if they don't have their link exposed.
I found the Fat Books/Skinny Books article fascinating. I don't entirely agree with it, though. To me, it feels like long books are the ones gaining dominance anymore, not short ones. Then again, I'm most versed in the YA genre, so I'm a little biased. I grew up seeing YA shelves filled primarily with skinny books, but ever since things like Twilight were published, the fatter books have been taking over. It's difficult for me to find a book closer to 200 pages instead of 400+ anymore. I wish there'd be more of a balance between the two sizes, honestly. Neither short nor long books are better, since every story requires its own specific length to be told well. Both should be able to exist together without debate!
ReplyDeleteAs for the GFC widget, it bothers me when I can't find blog links through it, too. I love to follow back those who follow me, but it's downright impossible sometimes. (One of the downsides to Blogger, unfortunately...)
Yes, part of me feels cheated if I pay "full price" for a book that's too short--especially fantasy. I suppose that may be because cut my teeth on Tolkien and Jordan, but anything labeled epic fantasy having less than 500 pages makes me doubt the label. I don't seem to have that issue with other genres though.
DeleteIf I ever figure out a solution to the GFC blog issue, I'll definitely post it.