In the news this week: James Patterson named highest earning author; Jonathan Franzen on the cover of Time magazine; old-school critic Frank Kermode has died; library cuts hit the UK headlines (publicity thanks mostly to the Edinburgh Book Festival); Jersey libraries turn homophobe; Harry Potter a fit subject for study; Ray Bradbury in sight of the blogosphere (or should that be sights?). And that’s just in The Guardian.
I shall attempt to meander on-topic for a bit, mmkay?
There have been some good and useful posts posted over the last few days. A veritable glut of writerly stuff, indeed. One of those posts was on this very blog. Remind me in future that when Matt starts sounding cerebral and overly theoretical about fiction, it may be that he’s thinking something sensible underneath it all. I’ll admit to having shown minimal enthusiasm for his design patterns concept, but Matt’s first attempt at applying programming theory to literary endeavour seems to have worked out just fine.
A number of people posted this week about various aspects of fictional characters. The always-interesting Scott G F Bailey wrote a thoughtful piece for The Literary Lab asking when, if ever, a character is off-limits to a writer. On the same blog, Davin Malasarn wondered how the show-don’t-tell maxim applies when a character’s growth is invisible to the naked eye. I got a whole new word out of that post, too—thanks, Davin, for ‘asymptotic’! Anna Staniszewski came up with a few ways of getting to know your characters. Over at Mystery Writing is Murder, guest writer Wendy Lyn Watson explained how to figure out whether you have the right number of characters in your book in the first place.
The not-so-Mad Woman in the Forest looked at the usefulness of food in fiction, while Sammy Bina wrote about the problems (and otherwise) of utilising txt msgs in ur MS. Interestingly, the British Library is about to stage an exhibition that proves “textspeak” is older than we think. But I digress.
Marketing and PR came in for more than the average number of posts just lately. Darcy Pattison is mostly to blame, this being the week her Book Trailer Manual saw release. She also hosted a guest post offering advice on running a book giveaway contest—rapidly becoming the www equivalent of a Tupperware party. Kristen Lamb wrote about another ubiquitous element of the Intertubes, the Facebook Fan Page, while Elizabeth Spann Craig extolled the joys of group blogging.
According to Rick Moody, writers are more desperate now than ever before; he cites pressure to conform as being at the heart of the matter. There’s an equally depressing vibe coming out of Edinburgh, where Christos Tsiolkas (as in The Slap) termed European literature “dry and academic”. (Wot, us?) But never ye mind; the Guardian appears to be leading the rush into Silly Season, and so there be links to cheer and aye.
To start with, there’s a quiz—not one that will make you feel good about your powers of expression, but I have to say it’s educational! Then there’s a very silly competition. Or, if you’re based in the States, unshelved.com—home to the world’s only library-themed comic strip—are running their fifth annual Pimp My Bookcart competition. How could you resist?
Wherever you happen to be, the Guardian summer short story special is online and free, and contains a munificent eleven tales. Meanwhile on The Rumpus, Mickey Hess promises to Blurb Any Book Within 24 Hours, and then does… If all that isn’t enough to keep body and soul together, Natalie Whipple posted a little something for those dark days when everyone else is cleverer than you.
A major switch here, but I really don’t know how to write about a week that saw flooding affect 20 million people, without even giving it a mention. If you’re in the UK, a donation to DEC would be the humane way to respond. If you’re not, pick your aid agency with care.
Back to normal, and I’m afraid our Matt’s mostly into sex this week…
This link hunting is an addiction.
From the Guardian, Franzen and the death of literary fiction—also some lovely snark about Time magazine in there.
After my attempt to show everyone how to write a novel last week, Nathan Bransford does it for real.
I love a few classic SF authors but this piece of erotic pop comedy genius takes things to a whole new level.
From sex and masturbation with SF authors to… starting your novel with a bang. Ok that was about strong openings, and not about sex at all. I’ll do anything for a pun, apparently.
How about a nice column? Oh damn, there’s no escape. It’s the confessions of a porn writer.
