July Bunch O' Links

By Alex Villasante


This post by published author Roni Loren literally stopped me in my tracks. Blogger beware - those pictures you (and I) are populating our blog posts with could get us in to trouble.


Bloggers Beware: You CAN be sued for using Pics on your Blog.


What do you fellow bloggers think? Will this change how you blog? I know it's making me think. Greg is a photographer as well as a writer - Greg, what are your thoughts?


By Greg Hardin

http://www.audible.com/

Okay, so many are audiobook haters, but I find that there are so many moments in my day when I can listen to a book, when I couldn't read one.  While I'm driving.  While I'm cooking.  While I'm outside cutting the grass.  Immersing myself in good writing is a great way to become a better writer myself.  Instead of flipping the radio on in any of the above scenarios, get a good audiobook.  Not only do you gain time in your day to "read", but by listening to the pacing and rhythm of a piece, you can gain a better understanding of subtler aspects of writing.  If you don't want to use audible, no problem; check out your local library.  Libraries have tons of great audiobooks.  My recommendation is to listen to a book you have read already and were thinking about revisiting.  Listening to it will allow you to enjoy it in a completely new way.

http://www.world-english.org/stories.htm

Here are a number of free short stories by very respectable authors, (Joyce, Dickins, Conrad, Irving, etc.)  When you need some inspiration read one or two.  :)

By Laura Campbell

Glimmer Train Literary Journal

-       Very Short Fiction Award: up to 3,000 words

o   First Place Prize: $1,500, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and 20 copies of that issue

o   Deadline: July 31, 2012

o   Details here 

-       Short-Story Award for New Writers (unpublished): 1,500-12,000 words

o   First Place Prize: $1,500, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and 20 copies of that issue

o   Deadline: August 30, 2012

o   Details here 

Writer’s Digest Magazine

-       13^th Annual Short Short Story Competition

o   Summer Tales or Summer-Themed Fictional Stories 1,200 words or less

o   First Place Prize: $3,000, publication and a trip to the Writer’s Digest Conference

o   Deadline: November 15, 2012

o   Details here 

Narrative Magazine

-       Spring 2012 Story Contest

o   Fiction & Literary Nonfiction: 15,000 words or less

o   First Place Prize: $2,500 and considered for publication

o   Deadline: July 31, 2012

o   Details here

WOW! Women On Writing

-       Summer 2012 Flash Fiction Contest

o   Open (any style; any genre): 250-750 words

o   First Place Prize: $350, $25 Amazon Gift Certificate, publication on WOW! Women On Writing and an interview on the WOW! Women On WritingBlog.

o   Deadline: August 31, 2012

o   Details here 

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

 New Purlieu Review

o   Seeking Essays, Short Fiction, Artwork, Photos, and Poems

o   Theme: Family

o   Deadline: August 31, 2012

o   Details here

Cliche vs. Archetype

By Greg Hardin

I was watching a new show on television with my wife the other day. It was about a heroine with a secret life as a crime fighter.  She wasn't a super hero or anything really fun like that; she just couldn't tell anyone what she did for a living, which was bumble her way through covert operations somehow remembering how to be a trained agent at just the right moment to save the day.  Or whatever.  I felt like I'd seen the show a thousand times.  There are some ideas and story lines which are constantly being repeated. Many of these are cliches.  They are repeated until we are sick of them.  There is no nourishment left, and there was never really enough meat in the first place to make a meal.

Then, there are the archetype story lines and characters.  These can appear to be indistinguishable from their cliche counterparts.  However, in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, they can be an endless source of inspiration.  There is a thin line here.  Very thin.  Many of these archetype characters and plots are still overdone by unskilled hands and become tiresome. It is worth differentiating, though.

A good rule of thumb is strip away all the details.  Simmer a story down to its essence.  That story of the secret government agent -- it can be boiled down to a story of someone with a hidden life they cannot tell others about.  That is an archetype.  That can be made into good fiction. It has become a cliche because the secret life that everyone seems to want to portray is that of a sexy but bumbling crime fighter.  The tv show, Weeds, is popular in part because they put a different spin on this archetypal story: a suburban mother who can't tell anyone about her secret life as a drug dealer.  A unique spin on the same basic idea.

Story archetypes are everywhere.  Find ones that resonate with you.  Identify the current cliches coming from misuse of these and think of ways to make the plot fresh and fun again.  

May's Bunch O' Links

And how was your May? 


Writing Tools
By Alex Villasante


I've heard of Save The Cat a lot, but haven't picked it up yet. Maybe it's because that writing book is associated with screenwriting? I don't know. But Liz at www.lizwritesbooks.com has a good post on Plotting for Pantsers (that's me) and how it measures up to Save the Cat.


There's also a really cool online tool to help you figure out Goal, Motivation, Conflict - something most writers have to amp up in first (second, third) drafts. Shawntelle Madison created a GMC Wizard here. She's also the author of Coveted, which sounds amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on it. 


Finally, if you follow my blog (and just pretend you do, make me feel good) you'll know that I've started using Donald Maass' Breakout Novel Workbook for my wip, FIND ME. I can't tell you how much it's improved my story. Okay, I can tell you. It was like a little explosion in my writerly brain. Suddenly I had pops of inspiration. His questions get you to delve deeply, even when you thought you didn't have to, into the meat of your characters and story. He's the real deal. He is not related to me, I swear. And he doesn't pay me. I am just a fan. You can look at worksheets from his other book, The Breakout Novelist, here, to give you an idea of the awesome.


Carrot & Stick
By Greg Hardin


Writing Motivation is hard to find, and not everything works for every writer. So here are two sites to get you writing.


http://writtenkitten.net/#  A hilarious help to nonstop writing.  Every 100 words you write gets you a new kitten picture.  :)

http://writeordie.com/  For those who need something a bit harsher than kitten pics.  This app will punish you for becoming distracted in your writing.