Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• The Best Writings on Writing
  Looking for a critique group? Trying to start one? Don’t know what they are? Want the pros and cons? Here’s a great collection of links that’ll help you do it all.
• Don’t Kill the Oxford Comma!
  RIP, Oxford Comma. You’ll be sorely missed.
• SF Signal: Don’t Be a Literary Snob, Try Sci Fi
  Dispelling rumors that science fiction isn’t just for prepubescent teenage boys.
• First Person vs. Third Person
  Yet another great post from former agent Nathan Bransford, who offers his advice on which one might work for your book.
• Contrariwise
  A collection of really awesome literary tattoos. I’ve definitely lived vicariously through this site for a while.

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July Debut Novels

THE BOOK OF THE CONCEALED by Sang Kromah (July 4th)
LOST VOICES by Sarah Porter (July 4th)
CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING by Tommy Greenwald (July 5th)
BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. by Medeia Sharif (July 8th)
BAD TASTE IN BOYS by Carrie Harris (July 12th)
WILDFIRE by Karsten Knight (July 26th)

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What We’re Reading

Sammy: ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins

Sarah: OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon

Vee: SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY by Gary Shtynegart & LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW by David Levithan

Savannah: SLATHBOG’S GOLD by M. L. Forman & SAINT CITY SINNERS by Lilith Saintcrow

Julie: DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth

Susan: MISTWOOD by Leah Cypress

Jenn: A STORM OF SWORDS by George R. R. Martin

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Happy Saturday, everyone! We hope you’re all enjoying your summer! And curious minds want to know what books are on your summer reading list.

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• Chuck’s Essays – 6

– PURE. BRILLIANCE. This is showing, not telling, at its best. Author Chuck Palahniuk (who is awesome, btw) challenges all writers to stop using “thought” verbs; instead, writers should find other ways of getting across what a character thinks by showing them what that character is seeing. Seriously, read this; it just makes you itch to get back to writing!

• The Naipaul Test: Can You Tell an Author’s Sex?

– This is a test you’ll actually WANT to take! Let us know in the comments whether you guessed right or not (male writer? female?) – some of us LTWF girls were pretty bang-on, and some of us not so much.

• Out of Print Clothing

– Let’s face it – we all wear clothes (or at least, I hope you all do!) – so what better shirt to wear for writers and book lovers than a bookish t-shirt? This is the place to get the shirts that let you wear your love of literature! (Some of us LTWF girls have bought shirts from here!)

• Going Public

– Literary agent Kristin talks about the e-book sales being under-reported by publishers, and self-publishing.

• How to Tell if You’re a Writer

– This will make you laugh (or at least smile!) – so read this! Besides, who DOESN’T like these types of posts?

• Productivity & the Internet: Update on my Revamped Work Day Progess

– I love inkygirl (aka Debbie Ridpath Ohi) – and I love her cartoon strips (this one in particular made me laugh). Here she talks about her resolution to not go online for a set period of time everyday – and why the mornings just don’t work for her.

• Crits for Water

-Want to get your novel critiqued AND help a good cause? Writer Kat Brauer offers a critique of 250 words for every $1 you donate to her charity: water fundraiser! Plus, she has a HUGE line-up of agents and authors offering critiques! Be sure to stop buy–it’s running until June 30th!

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Quotes:

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“I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which ‘Escape’ is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”

— J.R.R. Tolkien

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Happy Saturday everyone! Let us know what you thought of the articles this week (or if you have any you want to share). Or just let us know what’s up!

😀

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• Alan Rickman’s Goodbye Letter to Harry Potter

– If you love HP, this might just make you tear up.

• How I Started Writing

– The ever-so-awesome actress and screen writer Felicia Day (whom I <3) wrote an awesome article on why and how she started writing.

• How To Avoid the Trap of Creating Unlikeable Characters

– Author Jody Hedlund talks about how to create characters that your readers can actually like.

• Announcing Barcode Scanner in the Goodreads Android App!

– If you have an android phone, get ready to go scanner-happy! You can now scan in your library of books and their barcodes and add them to your Goodreads shelves!

• Rachel’s Reading Timbits

– Looking for book reviews from a publishing insider? Rachel is a selector for Children’s and YA books, a national book wholesaler in Canada. If you like book reviews, I suggest checking her blog out!

• Most Beautiful College Libraries

– Love seeing pictures of books in sexy places? Well, SO DO WE! 😀

• Crits for Water

-Want to get your novel critiqued AND help a good cause? Writer Kat Brauer offers a critique of 250 words for every $1 you donate to her charity: water fundraiser! Plus, she has a HUGE line-up of agents and authors offering critiques! Be sure to stop buy–it’s running until June 30th!

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Quotes:

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“So I would encourage you all to read, read, read. Just keep reading. And writing is another skill. It’s practice. It’s practice. The more you write, the better you get. Drafts–our kids are learning the first draft means nothing. You’re going to do seven, 10 drafts. That’s writing, it’s not failure, it’s not the teacher not liking you because it’s all marked up in red. When you get to be a good writer, you mark your own stuff in red, and you rewrite, and you rewrite, and you rewrite. That’s what writing is.”

— Michelle Obama

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Hey all – Happy Saturday! Let us know what’s up in the comments! 😀

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• Why Women Love Fantasy Literature

– You might’ve heard about the uproar following New York Times’ Gina Bellefante’s review of GAME OF THRONES, the HBO adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. She claims Fantasy belongs to men – but this article looks at why fantasy appeals to so many women.

• Born Like An Artist

– BEST. COMIC STRIP. EVER. If you’re feeling the tiniest bit of doubt, this comic will definitely put you back on track!

• Mermaids Surface as the Next Big Thing

– Curious about what the next big trend will be in YA? Well, looks like mermaids are going to be the next big trend to make a splash.

• Stereotyping People by Their Favourite Author

– The title pretty much says it all.

• If Classic Fables Actually Told The Truth

– Some pretty amusing comics! Definitely check them out.

• Date a Girl who Reads (thanks to Alex for the link!)

– Boys, here are some reasons you should date a girl who reads. (Girls, this is bound to make you smile!)

• Howl’s Moving Castle Papercraft

– Howl’s Moving Castle = awesomeness. Howl’s Moving Castle PAPERCRAFT?! TOO awesome!

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(Many thanks to Alex once again for this link as well! :D)

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Quotes:

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Wooo! It’s the weekend! Share with us any thoughts, links, or book recommendations! Happy Saturday!

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• New Study Finds Gender Bias in Children’s Books

– An interesting article on the gender bias in Children’s books

• Literature Map

– Want to find authors who are similar to some of your fave writers? Well, Literature Map has you covered! This awesome site lets you search an author, and will show you similar authors – and differentiates very similar authors to somewhat similar ones. Note: This may cause you to spend more money on books. You have been warned 🙂

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Quotes:

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

– Orson Scott Card

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Happy Saturday everyone! Let us know what’s up in the comments!

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• Success Is Like A Snowflake, Too

-An incredibly inspirational post about what REAL writing success means.  A must read!

• Two Extremes Writers Take & How to Avoid Them

-A thought provoking post about writing attitudes.  Do you fall into these extreme categories?

• On Pacing

-Kiersten White (author of Paranormalcy) offers great suggestions for amping up your story’s pacing.

• The Ever-Popular I Suck Playlist

-An amazing post by Libba Bray (author of A Great and Terrible Beauty) about self-confidence while writing–essentially, we all have our low moments…and they always kinda suck.

• May Query Day

-Sooz’s Query Day for the month of May will go live on Monday at 5 PM EST.  If you’re within the first 10 submissions, you’ll get a free query critique!

• Battling the Pre-Release Angst

-You don’t have to have a book coming out to appreciate the message behind this post: don’t be afraid!

• So You Wanna Write a Book?

-Read this post first!  She does a great job of laying out those first critical steps.

• Crits for Water

-Want to get your novel critiqued AND help a good cause? Writer Kat Brauer offers a critique of 250 words for every $1 you donate to her charity: water fundraiser! Plus, she has a HUGE line-up of agents and authors offering critiques! Be sure to stop buy–it’s running for the next 2 months!

• Kat Zhang Interview on Noveltee(n)

-Our very own Kat Zhang interviewed on the teen-writers website Noveltee(n)–thanks to Taryn for the link!

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Quotes:

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“”To those who will see, the world waits.”

—

Libba Bray

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Happy Saturday everyone! Let us know what’s up in the comments!

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• Young Adult Books and Who Reads Them

– After the enthusiasm over CROWN DUEL in the comments section on Wednesday’s post, perhaps some of you will be interested to read Sherwood Smith’s take on YA novels.

• YA Deals by the Numbers

-Author Kate Hart offers more pretty graphs that break apart YA deals by genre, by debut and quantity, and (in this post) by single vs. multi-book deals. Fascinating information–especially if you write YA!

• I Like My Fantasy, Thank You

-Our very own Sarah J. Maas shares her reaction to the offensive New York Times review of HBO’s Game of Thrones.  It’s definitely worth a read–though watch out, tempers are flaring everywhere (ours too!).

• Cover Lust

-Our very own Vanessa Di Gregorio has added more stunning covers to her Cover Lust blog.  These covers just make you wanna drool…

• Book Trailer Talks: Amateur vs. Big Budget Trailers

-How do you feel about book trailers? Prefer the amateur ones or the professional ones?

• Crits for Water

-Want to get your novel critiqued AND help a good cause? Writer Kat Brauer offers a critique of 250 words for every $1 you donate to her charity: water fundraiser! Plus, she has a HUGE line-up of agents and authors offering critiques–including our very own LTWF’s Sarah J. Maas, Kat Zhang, Vahini Naidoo, and Susan Dennard! Be sure to stop buy–it’s running for the next 3 months!

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Billy's Writing Space. She likes to have as few distractions as possible because, ya know, theyre distracting.

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Quotes:

“Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.“

– Mark Twain

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“I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.”

-Pearl S. Buck

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Happy Saturday everyone! Let us know what’s up in the comments!

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• KAT ZHANG SOLD HER NOVEL!

– In case you didn’t see the big announcement: our very own Kat sold HYBRID (and 2 sequels!!) to HarperCollins! Now go squee with her on her blog!

• Famous Authors and Their Typewriters

– Photographs of famous writers of the 20th century paired up with their tools of the trade.  From Sylvia Plath to Tennessee Williams to William Faulkner.

• Bookshelf Muse

– If you haven’t discovered this amazing resource yet, then go. NOW! This website will hook you up with words associated with emotions, settings, or symbolism. There’s the Emotion Thesaurus, and the collection of words range from amusement to to wounded/hurt. Or what about the Setting Thesaurus–find words linked to abandoned mine all the way down to zoo!

• Write Lots of Books or Build An Author Platform

– Two opposing camps in author marketing: promote yourself like crazy or write lots of books until they sell themselves.  Which one is more successful–it all boils down to which on you’re more comfortable doing.

• How Madeleine L’Engles Books Became Comics

– Do you love Madeleine L’Engle’s classic fantasy and science fiction novels as much as we do? And do you like graphic novels? Then you’ll be excited to hear A WRINKLE IN TIME is coming out in comic form for the book’s 50th anniversary!

• Periodic Table of Storytelling

– In a word: AMAZING. Be sure to look at this periodic table of storytelling tropes!

• Crits for Water

-Want to get your novel critiqued AND help a good cause? Writer Kat Brauer offers a critique of 250 words for every $1 you donate to her charity: water fundraiser! Plus, she has a HUGE line-up of agents and authors offering critiques–including our very own LTWF’s Sarah J. Maas, Kat Zhang, Vahini Naidoo, and Susan Dennard! Be sure to stop buy–it’s running for the next 3 months!

• And now for something completely different: Cuteness Overload

– Need to fill your cuteness quota for the day? Want a good “Aawwwww! How cute!”? This will be SURE to do it.

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Sooz's office. She likes plants and sunshine and clocks that tick loudly.

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Quotes:

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“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

– Douglas Adams

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“Sometimes you wake up.  Sometimes the fall kills you.  And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.”

– Neil Gaiman

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Happy Saturday everyone! Let us know what’s up in the comments!

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• Something Strange and Deadly

– BIG NEWS! Sooz’s debut, THE SPIRIT HUNTERS, now has a new name!

• April Query Day

– It’s that time again! Sooz is hosting QUERY DAY again over on her blog this coming Monday! For those who missed it last time, the way it works is that Sooz will put up a post asking for people to send in their queries – and after receiving 5 queries for April, she will close submissions and over the following weeks critique those 5 queries! So mark Monday on your calendars!

• “Tru Luv” Teen Romance: Pulling YA Down One Genre At A Time?

– You might not have known this, but a number of us at LTWF have been getting a bit frustrated with YA lately, and as this post so eloquently explains, it’s because of “tru luv”. This is a MUST READ for any YA readers/writers!

• Cover Lust

– I happen to be a huge suck for gorgeous book covers, so I created a Cover Lust tumblr blog devoted to wonderful book covers! (- Vanessa)

• Crits for Water

-Want to get your novel critiqued AND help a good cause? Writer Kat Brauer offers a critique of 250 words for every $1 you donate to her charity: water fundraiser! Plus, she has a HUGE line-up of agents and authors offering critiques! Be sure to stop buy–it’s running for the next 3 months!

• In Memoriam

– Last Saturday, Children’s fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones passed away. In honour of her (and since so many of us LTWF girls were fans), we’ve made HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE our Book of the Month for April.

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Quotes:

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“If you take myth and folklore, and these things that speak in symbols, they can be interpreted in so many ways that although the actual image is clear enough, the interpretation is infinitely blurred, a sort of enormous rainbow of every possible colour you could imagine.”

— 

Diana Wynne Jones

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Happy Saturday everyone! Let us know what’s up in the comments!

 

– I happen to be a huge suck for gorgeous book covers, so I created a Cover Lust tumblr blog devoted to wonderful book covers! (- Va

nessa)

• Cri

Saturday Grab Bag: Mashup

Mashup:

Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!

• The One On Lists

– Alexandra Bracken, YA author of BRIGHTLY WOVEN and the upcoming 2013 novel BLACK IS THE COLOR sheds some light on how publisher lists work – including how and why books are scheduled for different seasons. Very informative!

• The One About List Launch

– A continuation of Alex Bracken’s previous post – this time on what list launches are. Another great article!

• ‘Hunger Games’: Suzanne Collins talks Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss

– We’re pretty sure you’ve all heard by now that Jennifer Lawrence has been cast as Katniss for THE HUNGER GAMES movies (which all of us are THRILLED about!). But did you see the statement from Suzanne Collins over the casting of Lawrence? Cause it’s pretty awesome!

• The Death of the Slush Pile

– An article looking at the death of the publisher’s slush pile – and how vital the role of a literary agent is now.

• “One Man Disney Movie” Nick Pitera Disney Medley Music Video

– If there is one thing you should know about us LTWF girls, it’s that we love Disney – so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we absolutely loved this video!

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Quotes:

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“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.”

— 

E. L. Doctorow

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What We’re Reading:

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Vanessa: WOEFIELD POULTRY COLLECTIVE by Susan Juby

Kat: HUNGER by Jackie Morse Kessler

Mandy: RULES by Cynthia Lord

Sarah: SUMMERS AT CASTLE AUBURN by Sharon Shinn

Vee: BLOWOUT by Susan Vaught

Savannah: A MOUNTAIN OF CRUMBS: A Memoir by Elena Gorokhova

Sammy: JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte

Susan: STARCROSSED by Josephine Angelini

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Reading any good books?  Share them (and any thoughts or cool links) in the comments! Happy weekend!