Writing

NaNoWriMo Break: Dorothy Parker on Writing… and other things

Part of a month-long series of inspirational or informational posts during NaNoWriMo. I was originally going to just list the “I hate writing, I love having written.” quote, but then I found Mental Floss’s page of Dorothy Parker quotes and I thought many of you could use a dose of snark at this point. Don’t quote ’em all in one place.

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Writing

Recommended Reading: The Hugo Awards and the Pop Culture Zeitgeist

Amy Wallace expands and updates her look at this year’s Hugo Awards and the people involved that she first reported on in August. I found the first version very illuminating and this latest version is just that or more so: really going into some of the personalities and passions on the different sides. It’s certainly true that you should write from your own perspective. Chasing trends is generally not an ingredient in a unique voice.…

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Writing

NaNoWriMo Break: Words and Phrases to be Retired

Part of a month-long series of inspirational or informational posts during NaNoWriMo. Not unlike the previous entry regarding snowclones, these are phrases you may want to make sure some characters don’t say — or perhaps you want to get a sense of period and sprinkle them in. Ponder for a minute on how memes and phrases spread across time and space. What should your characters be saying?

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Writing

NaNoWriMo Break: Daily Habits of Writers

Part of a month-long series of inspirational or informational posts during NaNoWriMo. To kick off this month-long series, what better way than to look at some of the methods employed by some accomplished writers? Mind you, depending on what dayjob or other tasks you’re fitting into the month, these may not all be feasible, but they may get wheels turning about how you’ll structure your days over the next few weeks.

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