I’ve been reading ’round the writing/publishing/geekery blogosphere again. Here are a few new-to-me bits I found interesting enough to share. November 2011 edition.
For my American friends: I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely! To all my readers: I’m thankful to each of you who come by here and support me.
Kristine Kathryne Rusch talks about free (e)books as promotion. (I found this by way of Angie’s Desk.) “Will I offer a free book in the future? In a heartbeat. But as I said above, I will have a game plan, and I will make sure that I know what I’m aiming for with the promotion. That’s what other businesses do. They don’t just randomly offer a special. They put some thought into it.”
Fueling Plot Momentum – a guest post by Victoria Mixon over at Tartitude. “Every day, in every way, I am always telling aspiring writers, ‘Whatever you do, never interfere with the forward motion of your plot.’ Life is short, and stories are legion. We haven’t got that kind of time. But even better than simply not interfering, we need to know how to increase that forward motion.”
From Kate Nepveu on Tor.com – A Plea to SFF Writers for Variety in Pregnancy and Childbirth Depictions. “The easiest thing any writer can do is, quite simply, to remember that there is a huge variety of experience out there.”
At Worlds Without End, David Brin recommends science fiction for young adults. “Why post a YA list by David Brin? Well, he’s David Brin for crying out loud – which is reason enough for me. And it’s a really good list. But mainly it because Mr. Brin has been actively working to spread the gospel of SF/F to younger fans for many years.”
If Tolkein Were Black at Salon.com. “There may be swords and talismans of power and wizards and the occasional dragon, but there often aren’t any black- or brown-skinned people, and those who do appear are decidedly peripheral; in The Lord of the Rings, they all seem to work for the bad guys.”
The Secrets of Good Blogging–a Jim C. Hines guest post at Science Fiction & Fantasy Novelists. “Last week, I wrote a post asking whether writers should blog, and why. I wanted to write a follow-up for the hypothetical writer whose thought things over and decided to go for it. Having made that choice, what next?”
Kristen Lamb talks about Ways to Develop Your Unique Writer Voice. “Voice is one of those aspects of writing that is tough to define and quantify. Yet, it is at the heart of who we are as writers. The more we write, the more mature our writing voice becomes. Leave an immature, unformed voice to wander off on its own, and it will be wandering around getting into everything and making a mess.”
From the Worlds Without End blog, Automata 101: Frankenstein’s Monster as Golem by Rhonda Knight. I would’ve loved this approach to Shelley’s fantastic novel when I studied it as an undergrad. I think it would’ve made reading the novel an even better experience than it was.
On a Pale Star 
Some very interesting articles in this roundup, particularly the Rusch piece. I only wish more authors would understand the merits of freely offered eBooks as a means to boost popularity and garner attention. Thanks for linking to these… a lot to think about.
Thanks for taking the time to read, and leave a reply! I found the Rusch piece quite interesting, too. I don’t usually think about the marketing & intent behind the sales and promotions I see for books–printed or digital–so that article opened a whole new world for me. I found myself contemplating it as I received the promotional & marketing e-mails from publishers for December.
Thanks for this. I especially enjoyed David Brin’s list–books for young adults that aren’t about vampires. And blogging tips are always useful.
Hi! Thanks for coming by and commenting. Brin’s list was great for me, too. I do love vampires, but at this point, particularly in the context of YA, I’m rather over them.