Story Sensei

I'm a big fan of Pyromarketing by Greg Stielstra , because he gives great advice that can be applied to marketing fiction. He blogged about a new book (not written by him) on word of mouth marketing. The best part is, the .pdf download of the book is free! Word of Mouth Marketing

A friend forwarded this website to me that gives a very interesting, visual take on emotions: The Nature of Emotions by Plutchik It's only two figures and they're pretty self-explanatory. I thought this might be a good tool for anyone working on writing with more emotional intensity or emotional subtlety.

I just got this from Randy Ingermanson: Tax Day is behind us! To celebrate that happy event, I'm running one of my rare 24-Hour Specials on all my fiction-teaching products. See if you can spot the pattern: * Fiction 101: 50 percent off * Fiction 201: 50 percent off * Public Speaking: 50 percent off * Strategic Planning: 50 percent off * The Snowflake Method: 50 percent off * Writing SuperArticles: 50 percent off * Writers Conference Survival Guide: 50 percent off Why is everything 50 percent off? To find out why, click here: http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com/links/24.php This 24-Hour Special will run from midnight to midnight, Pacific Time, April 17, 2008. Randy's Fiction 101 and 201 series are terrific. If you've got some extra cash, take advantage of this sale.

The faboo writers at the FAITH blog ask me some great writing questions.

A Place for Writers Seeking Publication Who : For anyone on the journey toward publication who needs some direction, practical tips, and wisdom from professionals who have been there. What : An online place full of practical, hands-on tips for writers seeking publication. Where : http://www.wannabepublished .blogspot.com . The blog is called " So You Want To Be Published " When : Anytime your fancy strikes you . Why: To bypass years of trying to figure out the bookselling industry, the writing world, or the tangled web of getting published . Get wise advice in one easy place. How: Nonfiction and fiction author Mary DeMuth (author of five books with four on the way) remembers what it's like to be wide-eyed and naïve about publishing. She's passionate about helping new writers, but since her writing and speaking schedule is filling up, she's decided to funnel her

Visit the November Carnival of Christian Writers at Writer . . . Interrupted

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas... A few years ago, I came across an article on gifts for writers, and I expanded on it with an article of my own. If you have ideas, leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list! This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but it might help jump-start some other creative ideas. Some of these taken from All I Want for Christmas by Diana Rowe Martinez . I also have several Levenger.com products because I like them and think they’re wonderful gifts for readers/writers. • Gift certificate to any of the major bookstores--Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, Borders, Christianbook.com, or my favorite, Amazon.com (cheaper books, free shipping on orders over $25, and no sales tax) • Gift certificate to Office Depot or any office supply store • Dictionary and/or Thesaurus--one of the biggest and most comprehensive. My favorite thesaurus is the Visual Thesaurus , which you can purchase as a CD and/or subscribe to the online version, which is constantly upda

I just got this message from my friend Randy Ingermanson. If you're an auditory learner, this is a fabulous writing series and a great deal: Today, September 27, 2007, I am running a rare event: a 24-Hour Special on my two top-selling products, Fiction 101 and Fiction 201. These are my flagship products. I've taught these courses at writing conferences across the country. Last year, I created them as software products that run in any web browser. They let you SEE my notes and HEAR me lecture. Fiction 101 and Fiction 201 are available on CD or as large electronic downloads. The reason for this 24-Hour Special is to celebrate freedom. Recently, I've outsourced the CD distribution to Kunaki.com. That means FREEDOM for me from the drudgery of packing CDs in envelopes and mailing them off. It saves me MONEY, which I can pass on to my customers in lower prices. I have already cut the price of the CDs by about 20%. To celebrate that FREEDOM, I'm slashing the price of a CD by A

Angie Breidenbach over at F.A.I.T.H. blog posted a great article on dressing professionally at conferences. She's talking specifically about the ACFW conference coming up in September, but her advice is great for any writing conference with the exception of the more casual ones like Mount Hermon and Oregon Christian Writers Conference, which are on campgrounds in the woods. Many other conferences, like ACFW and RWA, are set in hotels, and Angie's article is exactly the advice you need for how to dress. ACFW Conference Wear

Congratulations! Typing “The End” is one of the best achievements of a writer’s career! No first draft is perfect (except God’s first draft), so now’s the time for the revision process. If you haven’t yet read my first article, “I want to write a book and I have no clue what to do,” go back and skim through the resources listed there. There might be a few books, articles, or resources you haven’t seen yet, and they might be useful to you for tightening structure or deepening characterization. The following resources are for the revision and submission process. Do a little large-scale revision. Often, even the best manuscript needs some larger scale revision—shifting scenes, changing character goals, rewriting the climax. The one thing I notice the most in manuscripts that I do for freelance editing is a need for more conflict in the story. Most people avoid conflict in real life, but in fiction, conflict is what keeps a reader reading. The best books I read for figuring ou

Congratulations! You’ve decided to take that wonderful, scary step and write that novel burning inside you. Writing is an art, just like music. A musician wouldn’t expect to sit down at a piano or take up a violin and immediately crank out a perfect rendition of Mozart. Good music requires learning and practice. Good writing is the same way, requiring learning and practice. Thanks to the internet, free and inexpensive resources are readily available to anyone who wants to write their first novel. This article lists some tips, books, articles, and websites that I found most useful when I started writing. Join a writing community. The best money I spent was in joining an online writing organization. Writing groups have informative discussion loops, workshop archives, and sometimes critique groups. Often, published authors are on the email loop to give advice that you can’t read in a book. I joined American Christian Fiction Writers , which is a large organization that has a liv

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Fiction Fundamentals Linda Fulkerson has launched this new blog/website with TONS of information for writers, and new stuff being posted every day. If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to learning more about writing, this is a good site. It gives lots of links and recommendations. Here’s what Linda says about it: The purpose is to help those who wish to learn more about the craft of fiction, especially newcomers. There are tons of links in a number of categories, plus three days a week (Mon-Wed-Fri), I post on the blog. There is also monthly "Leave-a-Link" contest, where everyone who leaves a new resource link during that month will be placed into a drawing for a book. I hope to develop it into a great resource for those who are learning fiction--kind of a one-stop learning location. On another note, during the month of June on my personal blog, http://linesfromlinda.com , (you may not have time/room to mention this), I've revived &

The Christian Writers’ Market Guide by Sally Stuart Camy here: This is one of the best resources for Christian writers who want more information about magazines, publishers, and agents. I personally used the magazine listing more than anything else, especially in trying to find markets to publish my short fiction stories. This is only a jumping-off point—it’s up to the writer to get sample copies of the magazine and figure out the style and tone of the articles for each publication. But writing articles is a terrific way to beef up your resume, even if you’re writing a novel at the same time. One thing I do caution is for writers to write what they delight in. If you don’t like writing articles or short stories, then don’t. But if you enjoy it, then go for it and beef up your resume. And above all, if you want to write that novel, you have to schedule time to work on it in addition to any other articles or stories you do. If your goal is to finish that book, then don’t give up too mu

There was a two-part interview with my Zondervan Senior Editor, Sue Brower, over at Novel Journey with Gina Holmes. Sue used to be Senior Marketing Director before she became Senior Fiction Editor, so she brings a lot of extra background to her editing. She thinks not only about the writing, but also the marketability, the author's brand, etc. She's been really great to work with. Check out the pearls of wisdom from the woman who “discovered” me . ;) Part One Part Two

I just got this e-mail from Randy Ingermanson, who publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine : Hi all, For nearly two years, the most popular feature in my Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine has been my monthly column on marketing. Some of my readers don't even write fiction! Some of you read this e-zine only for the marketing information. I'm delighted to tell you that I'm launching a new free e-zine dedicated to teaching advanced internet marketing methods to writers of all stripes, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, whether you have been published or not, whether you are techie or not. The new e-zine will be called THE MAD GENIUS WRITER. (My friends came up with this name, and I defer to their near-unanimous opinion, the wretches.) THE MAD GENIUS WRITER is for writers ONLY! (And your editors, agents, publicists, and publishers.) I do NOT want anyone else reading it. I hope to unleash your inner "mad genius" to help you market your work as effectively as

The three Barbour editors, Rebecca Germany, JoAnne Simmons, and Susan Downs, have a blog! It’s called The Edit Café , and it’s FABULOUS. The blog posts offer great insight into the action behind the editing process, and they answer questions, too! Head on over and say hi. Tell them Camy sent you!

Howard Books fiction editor Terry Whalin has started a "Writing Tip of the Day" where you can insert html code into your blog or website and have his writing tip automatically change each day. He has 31 tips now, and intends to write more later. Information is at this blog post . I've inserted it in my sidebar so you can see what it looks like. It's a terrific idea and Terry's background and expertise makes him an ideal person to write these tips for writers.

This is a great website uncovering various agent scams and unscrupulous practices among agents. http://www.sfwa.org/beware/ There's also a highly informative blog. http://www.accrispin.blogspot.com/

Psychology for Screenwriters by William Indick From the back cover: To make their stories come alive, screenwriters must understand human behavior. Using this book, writers can make Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, and Joseph Campbell their writing partners. Psychology for Screenwriters helps scribes craft psychologically resonant characters and conflict. You’ll learn to create convincing motivation, believable identity and development, and archetypes that produce authentic screen moments. Camy here: It might be because I majored in Psychology in college, but I thought this book was one of the more fascinating writing books I’ve read this year. This book was most useful to me to explain the concept of archetypes and dramatic situations—why there only seem to be a limited number of them that are used often in drama and novels, why they’re important, the psychological theories behind them that explain their power over an audience or a reader. As writers, we’ve read

WritersReaders.com This is a great website and blog for writers. At www.WritersReaders.com you will receive the INSIDE information that is key to understanding what goes on behind the scenes of major New York trade publishers. Jerry Simmons, a former director of sales for Random House, runs this site. He also has a free ezine.