The Link Feast, vol. 57

Welcome to the Link Feast. I hope today’s smorgasbord is to your liking. Next Link Feast will be served on Sunday 14th of April.

If you have a topic or issue you’d like me to cover next time, please share it in the comments. Your wish is my command.

Now, onto the links.

 

If You Have Time For Only Thing

 

No, Really, Why Do You Write? By Heather Webb

No, Really, Why Do You Write?

 

On Writing

 

Where Do You Get Your Ideas? By Neil Gaiman

http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/Where_do_you_get_your_ideas%3F

 

All Books Have Genders by Neil Gaiman (he tells the story of how the idea of the book American Gods came clearer to him)

http://www.neilgaiman.com/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/All_Books_Have_Genders

 

Whence Cometh Ideas? 10 Fun Idea-Generating Activities and Story Starters by Erika Hoffman

Whence Cometh Ideas? 10 Fun Idea-Generating Activities and Story Starters

 

10 Ways to Conquer the Inner Critic by Mike Lucas

http://storyrunner.houseoflucas.com/2019/01/10-ways-to-conquer-inner-critic.html

 

One Free Trick: How to Use the Writing Skills You Have to Learn the Ones You Don’t by Arkady Martine

https://www.tor.com/2019/03/25/one-free-trick-how-to-use-the-writing-skills-you-have-to-learn-the-ones-you-dont/

 

How to Get Inspiration When Writing Erotica by Rachel Kramer Bussel

https://frolic.media/how-to-get-inspiration-when-writing-erotica/

 

Love the Grind by Ilona Andrews

http://www.ilona-andrews.com/love-the-grind/

 

Whose Character Is It Anyway? By John J. Kelley

Whose Character Is It Anyway?

 

How to Create a Compelling Character by Shirley Jump

How to Create A Compelling Character

 

Creating Characters Who Clash by Angela Ackerman

https://jamigold.com/2019/03/creating-characters-who-clash-guest-angela-ackerman/

 

Nasty, Menacing, Murderous Protagonists We Love… And Why by Donald Maass

Nasty, Menacing, Murderous: Protagonists We Love…and Why

 

Six Common Villain Mistakes and How to Avoid Them by Oren Ashkenazi

Six Common Villain Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them

 

Representation in Fiction: How to Write Characters Whose Experiences Are Outside of Your Own by Diana M. Pho

Representation in Fiction: How to Write Characters Whose Experiences Are Outside of Your Own

 

Planning Super Light Stories by Chris Winkle

Planning Super Light Stories

 

How J.K. Rowling Outlines Her Books (The Paperblanks Blog)

Writing Wednesday: How J.K. Rowling Outlines Her Books

 

Writing to the Beat: Translating Story Beats to Any Genre by Jami Gold

https://writershelpingwriters.net/2017/09/writing-to-the-beat-translating-story-beats-to-any-genre/

 

Storyteller’s Rulebook: Have At Least 6 Difficult Decisions by Matt Bird

http://www.secretsofstory.com/2015/03/storytellers-rulebook-have-at-least-six.html

 

Genre Structures: Charting the Big Dilemmas by Matt Bird

http://www.secretsofstory.com/2015/03/genre-structures-addendum-charting-big.html

 

Rulebook Casefile: Big Decisions and the Midpoint Disaster by Matt Bird

http://www.secretsofstory.com/2015/04/rulebook-casefile-big-decisions-and.html

 

4 Pacing Tricks to Keep Reader’s Attention by K.M Weiland (Captain Marvel examples. Squee!)

4 Pacing Tricks to Keep Readers’ Attention

 

Deepening Our Story: Theme It Like You Mean It by Jami Gold

https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/03/deepening-our-story-theme-it-like-you-mean-it/

 

Learning to Write to Theme with Last Jedi by Bryan Young

Learning to Write to Theme with The Last Jedi

 

Best Scenes From the Wheel of Time, Part 10: Nynaeve and Lan in the Borderlands by Elanda Tonil / Suze from Tarvalon.net

https://blog.tarvalon.net/?p=31

(The post features a few scenes from high fantasy epic series the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. The characters in the scenes are a married couple and they have a difficult decision to make. Then we see the aftermath. Spoiler warning if you haven’t read the series yet but intend to. If that’s not an issue, I highly recommend checking the scenes out for learning purposes.

In case you are totally confused by the strange names and who these people are, Tarmon Gai’don means the Last Battle against the Shadow, an event foretold in a prophecy. Lan is an uncrowned king like Aragorn, except that his whole country was annexed by the Blight (a tainted area) and the monsters living there when he was a baby. He has dedicated his whole life to fighting them. Borderlands like Shienar are the countries at the edge of the Blight and defend their people from the monsters. Nynaeve, his wife, is a sorceress and an Aes Sedai, a Servant of All, who are respected but who most people are wary of. Lan is her Warder, a warrior dedicated to protecting her. He is a man with two causes and that is causing the dilemma.)

 

Story Revisions: Keeping Track of Changes by Jami Gold

Story Revisions: Keeping Track of Changes

 

When Your Query Reveals a Story-Level Problem by Susan DeFreitas

https://www.janefriedman.com/novel-query-problems/

 

How to Get an Extra Novel Written In a Year by Janice Hardy

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/03/how-to-get-extra-novel-written-in-year.html

 

Exploring Three Ways to Structure Your Book Series by Kristen Kieffer

https://www.well-storied.com/blog/structure-book-series

 

Four Ways to Plot a Trilogy by Kristen Kieffer

https://www.well-storied.com/blog/4-ways-to-plot-a-trilogy

 

How to Write a Trilogy: Q&A Session by Kristen Kieffer

https://www.well-storied.com/blog/how-to-write-a-trilogy-qa-session

 

7 Tips for Collaborating on a Novel by Dan Brotzel, Martin Jenkins, & Alex Woolf

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2019/03/7-tips-for-collaborating-on-novel.html

 

App Happy: 11 Free (or Mostly Free) Mobile Apps for Writers by Jess Zafarris

App Happy: 11 Free (or Mostly Free) Mobile Apps for Writers

 

Book Marketing, Blogging and Social Media

 

Schmoozing For Introverts: How to Network Like a Pro by Lisa Cooper Ellison

https://www.janefriedman.com/schmoozing-for-introverts/

 

What’s More Important: Author Websites or Social Media? By Jane Friedman (she says author website)

What’s More Important: Author Websites or Social Media?

 

The Ultimate Guide to Social Media For Writers 2019 by Dave Chesson

https://kindlepreneur.com/social-media-for-writers/

(Now take a deep breath. Yes, many different social media are mentioned but that doesn’t mean you need to be on all of them. Choose one that sounds right for you – maybe one you’re already using. Great, stick to that one. But if your audience is on another platform than the one you’re using, consider at least checking that place out. For example if you write YA, younger people are not on Facebook much but many frequent Instagram instead)

Aaand then I go against my advice. Goodreads is a place where you should set up your author page even if you wouldn’t use it at all after that. Because a social media specifically created for readers? It would be silly to not have a minimum presence there. Hence the next link.

 

The Ultimate Guide to Goodreads For Authors by Dave Chesson

https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-use-goodreads-for-authors/

 

Book Marketing: 5 Ways to Stand Out As an Author on Social Media by Eevi Jones

Book Marketing: 5 Ways To Stand Out As An Author On Social Media

 

13 Copywriting Tips to Help You Write a Better Novel by Robert Lee Brewer (frankly, these work better for a blog post. But perhaps something to consider in the editing phase of your novel)

https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/13-copywriting-tips-help-write-better-novel

 

Penny Sansevieri’s Top Book Marketing Complaints by Penny Sansevieri

Penny Sansevieri’s Top Book Marketing Complaints

 

Changes to Amazon Advertising: What Authors Need to Know by Dave Chesson

Changes to Amazon Advertising: What Authors Need to Know

 

Deep Stuff

 

How Inuit Parents Teach Kids to Control Their Anger by Michaeleen Doucleff (stories are powerful)

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/03/13/685533353/a-playful-way-to-teach-kids-to-control-their-anger

 

Can Inuit Moms Help Me Tame My 3-Year Old’s Anger by Michaeleen Doucleff (some repeat of the previous article but also personal stories. A really interesting read)

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/03/21/702209976/can-inuit-moms-help-me-tame-my-3-year-olds-anger

 

Life, Well Lived, Will Weep (poem) by Holly Lisle

Life, Well Lived, Will Weep

 

Marvel bids farewell to the original Avengers by introducing new, vaguely similar ones by Todd VanDerWerff

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/3/18/18266003/marvel-avengers-captain-marvel-phase-4

 

Fun Stuff

 

13 Series to Read If You Love J.D. Robb’s ‘In Death’ Series by T.A. McIagan

https://www.bookbub.com/blog/books-if-you-love-j-d-robb

(And if you don’t know what series I am talking about, go and buy the first book Naked Death. It’s futuristic police procedural with kick ass murder cop Eve Dallas who has a haunted past and who falls for Roarke, a suspect, a billionaire and mostly reformed street thief. You’re in for 40+ books of this awesomeness. J.D. Robb is an alias of Nora Roberts.)

 

13 Romances to Read If You Love Roarke From the ‘In Death’ Series by Chanel Cleeton

https://www.bookbub.com/blog/romances-to-read-if-you-love-roarke-from-in-death-series

 

Spring 2019 Books We Cannot Wait to Read by Stubby the Rocket

https://www.tor.com/2019/03/20/spring-2019-books-we-cannot-wait-to-read/