Fiction Scribe

Today I don’t have an author interview lined up for you. However, I am going to put up a list of past interviews for you to browse through. I have had a lot of fun doing these interviews and they have been very informative. I hope you have found them to be the same.

Thank you, and happy Friday!

Jen Wills - Poetry

Chris Miller - The Inevitable Roundness of Everything - Science Fiction

Mr. Scribe - Short Stories

T.D. Hawke - Historical fiction

Elsa Neal - Crime Thriller

Bobbi Chukran - Historical mystery

Elske - Freelance Writing and Journalism

Tansy Rayner Roberts - Part one and part two - Children’s Fantasy

Felicity Pulman - Medieval mysteries

Brian Wainwright - Historical fiction

Gillian Polack - Literary Fiction and Fantasy

Sandi Kahn Shelton - A Piece of Normal - Women’s fiction

My mini-interview - Professional blogging

Wendy J. Dunn - Historical fiction

GA Whitting - Pickle to Pie - Cultural, coming of age, fiction

PG Forte - Waiting for the Big One - Romance

Kim Baccellia - Earrings of Ixtumea - Young Adult Fantasy

Judi Moreo - You Are More Than Enough: Every Woman’s Guide to Purpose, Passion, and Power

Thirteen Ways to get Instantly Rejected

1. Bad grammarz skillz!!1!!1!
2. Over-punctuation
3. Using words that don’t exist
4. Using the wrong form of words that sound the same
5. Overuse of words like that, just, seemed, however…
6. Submitting a story that seems a little too much like the latest bestseller
7. Submitting a handwritten manuscript
8. Submitting a manuscript written in marker or crayon
9. Submitting a manuscript on anything but white paper in the size the publisher requested.
10. Perpetual revisions of your work
11. Submitting more than the publisher asked for
12. Submitting less than the publisher asked for
13. Submitting to the wrong publisher

How would you like $500 for writing one line?

Well, here is your chance.

At That First Line, the Spring/Summer contest deadline is fast approaching! Submit your fantastic one line tomorrow for your chance to win $500.

Best of luck!

Welcome again to another Bird by Bird discussion. Last week we discussed “Short Assignments”. This week we’re reviewing “Shitty First Drafts” and “Perfectionism”.

The reality of ‘shitty first drafts’ is something I think needs to be told to every writer, as early as possible. The sooner you realize no one sits down and writes (without revision) what you sit down and read in book form, the sooner you’ll be less overwhelmed by the whole writing process. As Lamott says, “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.”

When you realize that the first draft isn’t going to be perfect – likely not anywhere near perfect – then you can get everything down and let it out without the usual roadblocks or voices.
(more…)

Last week your word to define was reckling.

Elisa said…. “An amazing shape made using only three socks.”

Jennifer Springer said… “A redneck fistfight brought on because of religious intolerance… (try-sock-the-heathen)”

The actual definition?

Trisoctahedron - noun - a solid with twenty-four faces, three for every face of an octahedron.

Thank you to all who participated in this game. It has been a lot of fun, but it’s time for Fiction Scribe to retire this game and move on to the changes I have in mind for the site.

It looks like Harry Potter.

“But it’s not,” you say.

The characters are like Harry Potter characters.

“It’s not Harry Potter, though,” you insisted. “They can’t do magic.”

Uh huh.

You might as well face it love, either call it fan fiction and get over it, or give up on the idea. I don’t care if you are borrowing a character, a plot line, a setting, or a hair off Harry’s head, if you do that, you are writing fan fiction.

(more…)

The Bird by Bird book discussion will be continuing tomorrow, don’t forget!

Remember to have your copy of Bird by Bird and have read “Shitty First Drafts” and “Perfectionism”.

Thank you to all who participate. Feel free to jump in at any time on the discussions.

(Sorry for the delay - technical difficulties with my internet connection.)

The Scribes blog carnival is coming up soon once again. If you’d like some attention from Fiction Scribe readers, would like to get your name out there, or simply want in on some link love, use the carnival submission page and submit your blog post about writing.

I’m going to be going to a writer’s conference in late September and will be gone for over a week. If you have something to say about writing and would like it to be put on Fiction Scribe (with links to your blog/site), contact me using the contact me button on the right under the site description.

As I mentioned before, a few changes are coming to Fiction Scribe. Not huge renovations but definitely some spring cleaning. (We’re coming into spring in Australia.) This includes the newsletter, which I’m thinking about closing. I’ll be putting up a poll after this post, however, to see if there is a mass outcry (or little whimper) about the possibility of it being discontinued.

200 words is still going. If you aren’t familiar with it, you send me 200 words of your work in progress and I will put it up with a short critique. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s even fat free.

I have been having a lot of fun with the author interviews and I hope you have enjoyed them as well. I’m fully booked for September with a science fiction author, historical romance author, and more. I hope you’ll check in and get to know these authors even more.

I’d like to get a feel for whether or not you’re reading the newsletter, would like to sign up for it, are not interested in it, etc. I’m trying to decide whether the next edition will be the last edition.

Thank you for your votes.

Last week I challenged you to step outside your usual writing style. This week, we’re going to step back in and get to know our characters a bit more.

This week’s challenge is about getting to know your antagonist. Too often, writers don’t dedicate enough time to rounding out their antagonist and creating a character the reader will pay attention to and think about. Antagonists don’t need to be cardboard murderers with mental illness(es). Your antagonist has the potential to be your most complex and perhaps even your favorite character.

Take your favorite character and put him or her in a new setting. Make it a busy marketplace or a quiet bedroom - whichever makes it easier for you to get to know him or her.

What you do next is up to you. You can ‘talk’ to your antagonist as author to character, or you can give him or her a playmate to get to know, get to torture, or get to have a pillow fight if you like. Anything that reveals all sides of him or her. Anything that puts him or her out of his or her usual situation to reveal anything you might not have given him or her the opportunity to show.

Have fun with it.

I say … and you think … ?

1. Uneven ::
2. Wonder ::
3. Spider ::
4. Emma ::
5. Swing::
6. Orbit ::
7. Flirt ::
8. Donation ::
9. Veil ::
10. Atmosphere ::

Courtesy of Luna Nina

Courtesy of Inky Girl

A while ago, I won a contest at DaveP’s Brit Music Scene.

Dave later contacted me to see if I would do a review of the CD. So if you’d like to see how I take to reviewing CDs or if you’re wondering about Prince’s Planet Earth CD, check out my review here.

This is only loosely related to writing, but I’m going with it because I think this is cool.

I found this site called Dear Anonymous, which basically takes your letters of gratitude, strangeness, love, rants, etc and posts them up. They post them up for the world so your issues (or love, or thanks) are off your shoulders and out into the world.

I’m absolutely addicted to these kinds of things - anonymous thanks is usually my thing - so I thought I’d post about this in case my readers share my addiction.

(more…)

If I had $300 dollars I would buy________.

What would you buy with $300? Or even $200 or $100? Now is your chance to find out! Comment on any 451 Press site during the month of August and you could win! Three comments will be chosen at random to win a cash prize of $300, $200 or $100. The more you comment the more chances you have to win. So start reading and let those fingers fly.