Links Tent

Resources:

• A big thank you to Suzanne Boles for tweeting this great resource: Freelance Writing Writer’s Guidelines.
• Last week, I told you to follow Elizabeth S. Craig, right? If you listened, you already know about the Writer’s Knowledge Base, the search engine for writers. She tweets links to the best content on writing and then adds them to this database.

Novel Writing:

• How much is too much character description? How much is too little? Janice Hardy at The Other Side of the Story answers this question in her post Tall, Dark & Handsome: How Much Do You Need to Describe Your Characters? 
• Here’s a post I found thanks to Write It Sideways. Roz Morris offers 3 Fixes to Make Your First Novel Fly, beginning with Hook Your Reader by the Head AND the Heart. Check this out along with the other two fixes on her blog, Nail Your Novel.

The Writing Biz:

• Jennifer Represents, a blog written by Jennifer Laughren, a literary agent who specializes in children’s and YA fiction, discusses when authors should discuss how long they’ve been trying to hook an agent, and who’s already rejected them. When to Keep Your Trap Shut? Almost Always.
• BubbleCow, another great resource for aspiring authors, lets you know that There Are Only Three Possible Reasons Why You Have Not Yet Been Published.

Links Tent, Twitter Style

Not so long ago, I finally found my way onto Twitter, and discovered many of the people who write the blogs I follow, along with a whole bunch of other great information. I’ve been tweeting and retweeting some of the best info I’ve come across. Here’s the best of the best:

Great Resource:
The Bookshelf Muse blog: writing tools and musings about reading, writing and other randomness. There are two great thesauruses (thesaurusi?) in the right-hand column: an emotion thesaurus that lists over 60 emotions and and corresponding actions, and a setting thesaurus that will help you anchor your scenes using all of your senses.

Editing and Story Writing Information:

• If you’re not following Elizabeth S. Craig on Twitter, you should be. She posts great links to great content every day. I found many of these links through her tweets. 
• 6 Common Dialogue Mistakes to Avoid, written by Lynette Labelle at Chatterbox Chitchat.
• The Problem—and Reality—of Adding –LY, from The Muffin, brought to you by WOW—Women on Writing.com 
• Lessons From the Slushpile: Good vs Great from the Inkhaven blog.
• Janice Hardy, author of the MG fantasy, The Shifter, has a great post on her The Other Side of the Story blog about Edits vs. Revisions: One on One Death Match.
• The Blood-Red Pencil blog has lots of “sharp and pointed observations about writing,” including this post about Combining Characters.
• Ingrid Sundberg, self-professed writing conference junkie, shares what she learns on her blog Ingrid’s Notes. Here’s a great example 10 Tests to Prove Your Manuscript is Ready for Submission.
• This post, Are Filter Words Weakening Your Fiction? is a great reason to add the Write It Sideways blog to your blog roll.

The Three Rs: Rewriting, Revision and Rejection

Rejection is a (big) part of any writer’s life. We’ve all read about how often great and successful writers were rejected before their novels were accepted—and knowing this can take the sting out of the rejections we receive. We can also take steps to try to limit the number of rejections we receive, by revising and rewriting our manuscripts until they are polished before submitting them. Fortunately, there are lots of agents, writers and editors out there who want to help us do just that, and here is some of the best advice I found in the blogosphere.

Weronika Janczuk, a new agent D4EO literary posts about what she thinks about when she critiques a manuscript in her post My Editorial Letters. It’s like a cheat sheet for writers—a list of all the things you need to consider when you are revising your novel.

Another agent, shares how she evaluates full manuscripts on Kidlit.com. Don’t be thrown by the kid lit angle—this is an excellent post and helpful regardless of the genre in which you write.

Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do) from Holt Uncensored: Number one on this list is the use of repetition, such as repeating a crutch word. I’ve written about my crutch word, “just” a few times, and given you a couple ideas for finding yours (the find and edit feature of Word and using word clouds). The repetition referred to in this post goes a lot deeper than crutch words though...and that’s just the first item on the list.

Some practical suggestions on revisions:

• Scenes: Five Simple Questions for Revision from FictionNotes: These questions help you dig deeper into each scene to add depth, emotion and conflict to your novel. 
• The Writing is in the Rewriting. Deep down, we all know that, but when our critique partner suggests cutting a scene we really love, we don’t always want to listen. Stacey Ballis, in a guest post on Writer Unboxed, shares how she gets through the sometimes difficult process.
• Kathy Temean at Writing and Illustrating shares some practical suggestions for making the revision process easier and for making your sentences come to life in her post Novel Revisions.

Want to know why you’re being rejected?

• Agent Kristin , over at Pub Rants, passes along the disheartening news that she doesn’t read beyond the first two pages of 90% of the submissions she receives. She writes about four Killer Openings to avoid—killers because they kill your chances of having an agent read beyond them.
• Sarah, an associate literary agent with Curtis Brown, Ltd. shares the types of writers who “makes her reject you” in Lessons from Peggy Olson over at Glass Cases.
• And, saving perhaps the best for last, The Blood-Red Pencil blog offers the Top 25 Reasons Your Submissions are Rejected—after as little as one paragraph. The tips are from the Surrey, BC Writers Conference where agents and editors read aloud the first few pages of submissions to see how far they would read before they rejected the work.

Revise, Rewrite and (hopefully) avoid rejection.

Links Tent: Writing Software, Edits, Query Letters, Submissions

Thanks to Bubble Cow for sharing this news: Penguin UK is accepting non-agented submissions until October 2010. Find out How to Submit Your Book To Penguin. While you're there, add Bubble Cow to your Google Reader. Lots of great info about how to get published.

I stumbled across yWriter5, free writing novel writing software from Spacejock. I've just started playing with it but it's intriguing. You can easily keep track of how many (and which) scenes your characters are in, the word count for each viewpoint character and so much more. If you're already using this software, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Want a professional editor for your novel? You can win a FREE edit from CA Marshall of your manuscript up to 100K. Check out Julie Lindsay's blog, Musings From the Slush Pile for details.

If you're querying, there is lots of great advice out there. What do you do when the advice you read is contradictory? Start by reading Nathan Bransford's great post on How to Deal with Contradictory Query Advice. After that, check out these query critiques: Query Shark and Literary Rambles: Erin's Queryhttp://caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/2010/09/public-critique-erins-query.html.

Who Do You Write Like?

You've probably come across this site already, but if you haven't, give it a shot. Paste a sample of your writing into the box and find out who you write like. I'm not sure how much--if any--analysis actually goes into it, or what that analysis might be based on, but it's a fun little distraction.

I pasted bits from the opening three chapters of my novel, each written from a different character's viewpoint. These are my results:

Ch. 1: Douglas Adams
Ch. 2: Raymond Chandler
Ch. 3: Margaret Atwood

Not even in my dreams, but thanks so much I Write Like.

Links Tents: Goals and Resolutions

I'm taking back what I said about not making resolutions this year after reading a few great blog posts about them. Here are some "must make" resolutions:

• Blogalicious offers this list of 13 New Year's Writing Resolutions every writer should make.
• Freelance Folder chimes in with their own list of 10 New Year's Resolutions Every Freelancer Should Have. 
• Heather Wright suggests a resolution all of us should make, whether we are writers or not, with A Resolution for All Occasions. 

If you have set, or are trying to set, more concrete goals, here are a few blog posts that will help you with that:

• Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent, suggests Setting Goals and Finding Joy, and includes a few more links to help you in your goal. (Apologies to both you and Ms. Gardner for the pun--I really can't help myself.)
• Quips & Tips for Successful Writers helps you set your Blogging Goals--7 Types of Goals to Set for Your Blog. (I have an addition to that list for bloggers like me--posting regularly.)
• We all know how quickly well-intentioned goals and resolutions can fall by the wayside, so QueryTracker.net offers suggestions for Setting, Keeping, and Achieving Your Writing Goals This Year.
• Men With Pens has a series of posts about project management, which involves SMART goals and SMART freelancing. The last installment, Keep the Freelance Clock Ticking, includes links to the other parts of the series.
  

Links Tent: Market Directories

Are you looking for a home for you writing? Here are some great online resources to help:

WritersMarket.com, the online home of Writers' Market,  is a subscription based site that offers searchable listings for both fiction and non-fiction, a "MyMarkets" function that allows you to bookmark the markets you're most interested in, and an online writing community.

Peter's Place of Freelance Journalism has a huge database of Canadian markets, photography markets, American magazines, book publishers and more.

Duotrope's Digest has a database of fiction markets, searchable by genre, pay rate, length, etc.

The Writer Gazette has a Call for Submissions page that brings you over 600 paying markets for your work.

Places for Writers offers a listing of markets and contests.

Need more? About Freelance Writing offers these 5 Blogs with Writing Markets, Not Gigs. Check them out!

Links Tent: Editing

My apologies for being missing in action over the last couple weeks. I'd tell you that it was due to the fact that the other rings in my life took up my time and left with me none for posting blogs, but I hate excuses and refuse to make them. Instead, I'll tell you I had sick kids, a sick me, a move to complete and NaNoWriMo to catch up on (and, yes, I'm still behind but finishing it is still a possibility).

Louise DeSalvo sums up my logic about not giving you these excuses (ahem) in her guest post on Christina Baker Kline's A Writing Life blog: Why Having Kids is No Excuse. I think this should be required reading for any writer who can't find time to write.

Chuck at the Guide to Literary Agents Blog shares these 7 Reasons Agents Stop Reading Your Chapters. These include some big picture problems that you'll want to take care of.

A. Victoria Mixon has some more big picture advice for you in her post Developmental Editing. She writes a developmental editing letter for an imaginary client, Xavier, who is actually a composite of several real clients and offers suggestions about theme, backstory and characters.

Writing Forward presents 10 Helpful Editing Tips that will work whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, a novel or a business letter.

C. Patrick Schulz focuses on the pesky adverb in his post: Tips on Eliminating Unnecessarily Overused Adverbs. You know you're not supposed to use them!

Finally, Janet Reid, Literary Agent has some sure-fire, undisputable advice for How to get no more rejections, EVER!

Links Tent--NaNoWriMo Style

What every NaNoWriMo writer needs: ideas and inspiration sprinkled with some good writing tips.

Are you short on ideas to get started or keep moving? Heather Wright's Needles and Yarns blog has a collection of writing starters to get you going.

Is it inspiration you're lacking? Find the magic and power of yet on Finding Your Voice.

Need something a little more substantive? Writing Forward brings you Creative Writing Tips from Around the Blogosphere.

Links Tent: Editing Helpers

Here are some resources that will help you edit your writing:

Ask.Oxford.com has a whole "Better Writing" section on their website, including spelling and grammar tips. Do you ever use "adverse" instead of "averse"? (*See note below). Or are unsure if you should write "effect" or "affect"? Check out their commonly confused words page.

Cliché Finder will help you find just the right cliché...or search using keywords to make sure what you've written isn't a cliché. If you're a word geek looking for a time waster, you can also generate ten random clichés.

Writers Free Reference has a wealth of useful links on their site, including sections on grammar and common errors.

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers over 200 free resources including style guides, grammar and mechanics and even a Grammar Blog. There is also a section devoted to Workplace Writing and Creative Writing (see the navigation links on the right).


**Note: I know that in my post yesterday I wrote "PITQ: punctuation in the quotation marks. Always." Well, there's always an exception to the rules, and this is an example one. Question marks only go inside the quotation marks when they are part of the quote, so the closing mark in this case belongs on the outside. I was trying to simplify things. Most of the time, you'll find even question marks inside the quotation marks.

Links Tent: Speaking of Writing Groups...

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of a writing group for even a beginner writer. If you don't belong to a local group--or even if you do--check out these useful online writing communities.

Stop by the Absolute Write Water Cooler. Whether you write novels, scripts, poetry or non-fiction, Absolute Write has a forum for you. Read about other people's experiences with an agent you're considering, find a critique partner or share freelance writing markets.

Querytracker.net's community also includes lots of information about writing, agents and getting published. There's a whole section devoted to critiques: the first five pages of your novel, your query letter and your synopsis. Be sure to check out the World's Worst [fictitious] Query Letters forum for a sampling of what not to do in your query letter.

Writer's Digest and The Writer magazines have useful online writing communities as well. In addition to "the usual" types of forums, Writer's Digest includes the Writer's Block Party and Success Stories, while The Writer has a forum for Unpublished Writers and an online Book Club.

Women on Writing lists several critique groups and writing organizations as well as lots of other resources and information. Take a look around their site.

If you have a favourite online writing community I haven't mentioned, please leave a comment and I'll add it to the list.

Links Tent: Time Savers

Here are a few free tools that will save you time.

PDF Tools:

• PDF 995 allows you to easily convert your Word files to PDF files by clicking on your "print" command. A companion product, PDFEdit 995, allows you to combine PDF files or extract pages from a PDF. Both products are free, but sponsor pages will display when you use them. You can also purchase a key if you would prefer to not see the sponsor pages.
• PDF to Word converts your existing PDF files to Word or RTF files.

Time Tools:

• Online Stop-watch offers an online stopwatch and timer. You can keep track of how long you are spending on a project, or set the timer to ring when it's time to move on to something else (or collect the kids from the bus stop).
• Google Calendar allows you to create several calendars to manage all the rings in your circus, assign each of them a different colour, and then view them separately or all together. You can share part or all of a calendar with others and you can easily set up events from your messages in Gmail. 

Timelines/Days in History:

• Josh Hosler presents The #1 Song on Billboard on this Date in History.  
• WhoWhatWhen will display a timeline of events that occurred in a fictional character's or actual person's life from 1000AD to the present. 
• Any-Day-in-History lists the major births, deaths and events of any given day. On this day (October 7th) in 1950, the NY Yankees swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the 47th World Series, and in 1985, Lynette Woodward was chosen as the first woman on the Harlem Globetrotters.
• Writer's Dream Tools includes Today in History and History by Decades at no charge. Other databases, including clichés, slang and quotes are available with a one-time subscription fee.

Words, Words, Everywhere There's Words:

• Reverse Dictionary lets you plug in the definition, and it will tell you the word you need.
• Dictionary.com includes an online dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia and translator.
  

Links Tent: Must-Read Agents

The links to all of these blogs are found on the right, but I know you probably haven't clicked on even one of them. So here's a bit more information about each of these must-read blogs to hopefully entice you to visit them.

I was disappointed when Miss Snark, anonymous agent and snarky blogger extraordinaire, discontinued her blog. Luckily the archives are still up, and the posts are labeled for easy reference. Informative, with just enough added sarcasm to keep it fun, her blog is a great resource for aspiring novelists.

Janet Reid, aka Query Shark, is just about snarky enough to make me wonder if she might be related to Miss Snark. Her no-nonsense, no BS advice makes her agent blog a must read. Recent posts include questions to ask prospective agents, and her helpful list of links includes a query checklist.

Query Shark, Janet Reid's alter ego, offers biting (groan...I know, bad pun) critiques of query letters. If you are in the process of writing a query letter for your novel, or even just nearing completion of your novel, take the time to go through the posts.

If Shark or Snark are not your thing, literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog is just as informative but with a lot more "nice" thrown in. His list of Essentials are a great starting point, and especially his impressive Writing Advice Database and the FAQs.

Also make sure to stop over at Pub Rants, the blog of literary agent Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency. Make sure you check out the terrific links on the right (you'll have to scroll down a bit) including Agent Kristin's Queries: An Inside Scoop (of queries that worked) and Agent Kristin's Query Pitch Workshop on the Blog.

Last, but not least, is the BookEnds, LLC blog. The Must-Read Posts listed on the right of the blog are, well, must-reads. Check them out.

What about you? What's your favourite agent blog?