7 Things I’ve Learned Do Far, by Nina Benneton
Updated: 2012-05-19 05:47:58
This is a recurring column I’m calling “7 Things I’ve Learned So Far,” where writers at any stage of their career can talk about seven things they’ve learned along their writing journey that they wish they knew at the beginning. This installment is from novelist Nina Benneton.
GIVEAWAY: Nina is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more
The STC Summit takes place in a few days. If you monitor the #stc12 twitter stream, you can feel the excitement of the conference attendees. I’ve been to at least a dozen conferences over the last seven years or so, and I’ve accumulated a few tips that have helped make my conference experience better. Here are my top 15 tips for a successful conference experience. ... more »
A couple of months back, I had the pleasure of talking writing over a Guinness with Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog, Townie, and other books. Our profile … Read more
The writing community is made up of thousands of individuals who support one another. There is a collective understanding between writers that we are strongest together, and to that end, people readily give their time and energy to see their fellows succeed. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi share the writing path with so many great people, and decided to stage a Random Acts of Kindness for Writers initiative at their blog, The Bookshelf Muse. Learn more here. Read more
One of my favorite bands of all time is Van Halen. I love all their music, and probably know more about the history of the band than anybody would care to discuss with me.
That's why it absolutely BLOWS that my quest to see them in concert has been such a tragedy. This sad story has three acts... Read more
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. WritersDigest.com Skip to content Home Writing Articles By Writing Genre Literary Fiction Young Adult Childrens Science Fiction Fantasy Short Story Essay Articles Freelance Memoir Nonfiction Mystery Thriller Romance Horror Spiritual Humor Poetry Script Writing By Writing Goal Get Published Sell Your Work Complete 1st Chapter Complete 1st Draft Build a Platform Start Blogging How to Improve Writing Skills How to Write an Article Overcoming Writer’s Block Business Legal Matters Promoting Your Work By Writing Level Haven’t Written Anything Yet At Work on First Draft Completed Multiple Manuscripts Published Author Community Forum About StoryFriday Weekly Writing Prompts The WD Community Writing Groups Editor Blogs Guide to Literary Agents The Writer’s Dig There Are No Rules Questions
Joseph Bates, author of The Nighttime Novelist, shares tips for editing and proofreading a novel or book. Creating A System For Editing & Proofreading Revision is really about seeing your book as … Read more
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
The Renegade Writer About Us Free Query Packet E-Courses E-Books Phone Mentoring Query Critiques Free Teleclasses Guest Posting Contact Us Tweet Jump to Comments How Magazine Writers Can Diversify Their Way to Freelance Writing Success This is a guest post by Diana . Bocco You’ve probably heard the command before : . Diversify In most cases , what they’re telling you to do is to try out different streams of income : magazine writing , book publishing , coaching or editing . But there’s another way you can diversify as a magazine writer : By looking at new and unexplored markets beyond your comfort zone . Here’s : how Target small specialty . magazines Trade magazines are not as strong as they once were . Years ago , you could find publications for almost every trade , from cement pouring
This installment is with Mary Nethery and Kirby Larson, authors of the New York Times best-selling book NUBS: THE TRUE STORY OF A MUTT, A MARINE, AND A MIRACLE (Little Brown, 2009), a story about marine Brian Dennis and a feral dog in Iraq that found a home in America.
GIVEAWAY: Mary and Kirby are excited to give away 2 free copies of their book to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. Read more
Your story’s opener is your one opportunity to capture an editor’s or agent’s attention. Learn how to avoid the critical mistakes (such as providing too much backstory) that lead to rejection and … Read more
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, published in 2011, is a story about a pharmaceutical researcher’s attempt to make sense of her lost colleague, presumably dead in the Amazon, while wrestling with a domineering academic professor who refuses to communicate updates about her research. The book begins at a slow pace but, as Janet Maslin notes in her New York Times review, the story catches fire ... more »
The Renegade Writer About Us Free Query Packet E-Courses E-Books Phone Mentoring Query Critiques Free Teleclasses Guest Posting Contact Us Tweet Jump to Comments 7 Butt-Saving Strategies for Getting Your Article Written on Deadline A guest post by Carol Tice Does this happen to you You’ve got an article assignment , and you’re all . excited You get your research organized , and interviews if needed . You feel like you’re making good . progress Then it comes time to write it . up And you . freeze That blank page is just mocking . you . Nothing And that deadline is looming in your face . Soon , you’ll have to face your editor and tell her your piece isn’t going to be ready on . time What’s happened here You’ve got a . complex You know your topic and yet you can’t seem to organize all the
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Sunday , May 13, 2012 Crazy personality types you can play in gamebooks I have written before about morality and roleplaying in gamebooks about how sometimes I make decisions in gamebooks that aren't usually good for me because they fit my character . If you fancy a challenge , you could play a gamebook as one of the following characters and see if you can win with them . In all cases , you may break from the behaviour if you know that it will cause an instant death from a previous playthrough or if you need to break from the behaviour to achieve . victory I'm here to play gamebooks and kick ass . And I've read all my . gamebooks The psychopath The challenge : You
The Renegade Writer About Us Free Query Packet E-Courses E-Books Phone Mentoring Query Critiques Free Teleclasses Guest Posting Contact Us Tweet Jump to Comments Didn’t Go to Journalism School Learn All You Need to Become a Pro Freelancer in 4 Weeks Carol Tice of Make a Living Writing surveyed more than 200 writers to find out what was holding them back from reaching the level of success they wanted . The result Many of you are confused about the nitty-gritty details of journalism ethics , research , crafting an article , newsgathering , generating salable story ideas , and . more To help writers gain confidence and earn more , we created the 4-Week J-School We removed the J-school fluff you don’t need the history of media really and condensed the rest into four 1-hour sessions that are
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Thursday , May 10, 2012 Locket Away a solo for the Unbelievably Simple Role Playing system USR If you haven't yet downloaded the free Unbelievably Simple Role Playing USR system by Scott Malthouse then you should . The system does exactly what it says on the tin and provides a simple yet versatile system in just 9 pages . Indeed , the thing I found most difficult about the system was trying to spell unbelievably' . correctly When I saw the system , I decided that it was also a good system for a gamebook simplicity and versatility being key to gamebook systems so I wrote a short solo for it called Locket Away Scott describes it very : well You play as a hard-boiled
: The Renegade Writer About Us Free Query Packet E-Courses E-Books Phone Mentoring Query Critiques Free Teleclasses Guest Posting Contact Us Tweet Jump to Comments New Teleclass with Carol Tice : The 7 Deadly Fears of Freelance Writers And How to Beat Them Carol Tice surveyed more than 200 writers to find out their biggest fears and she and I developed a free one-hour teleclass to help you blast past bugaboos : like Fear of . rejection Fear of making a mistake that will doom your . chances Fear of looking stupid being . embarrassed Fear of picking up the . phone Fear of bugging a prospect by contacting . them Fear of success . Yes Fear of not knowing . enough Fear have you guessed it is the number one thing that holds freelance writers back from achieving success so I’m psyched to discuss
Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson, is a fantasy trilogy that takes you into a world where the characters can “burn” metals inside their bodies to give rise to certain powers, such as increased strength, the ability to push and pull other metals, an enhancement of the senses, or the most potent of all, the ability to see several seconds into the future (critical for fighting). Mistings ... more »
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
, The Renegade Writer About Us Free Query Packet E-Courses E-Books Phone Mentoring Query Critiques Free Teleclasses Guest Posting Contact Us Tweet Jump to Comments Why You Shouldn’t Do E-Mail Interviews Unless You Really , Really Have To In Lessons 4 and 5 of my Write for Magazines e-course I have students find sources and set and conduct . interviews I know this can be scary for newer writers and I know it because a few of them always end up setting e-mail interviews so they don’t have to face the source by . phone Some writers will argue that e-mail interviews are fine . You ask questions , the source answers them . Done E-mail interviews also have the advantage of giving the source a chance to really think about her answers , these writers say . And what if your source is overseas But
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Sunday , May 6, 2012 April A to Z reflections post Before I start , one of my interviewees , Shane Garvey has become interviewer in his new blog , Meet the Gamers At the moment he has one interview , but there are going to be many more , so keep your eyes peeled . Also check out my review of Avenger on my other blog Lone Tiger Gamebook Reviews God , am I glad that I did this year's April A to Z I would like to thank all of the people who were gracious enough to take the time to answer my interview questions for without you , the challenge could not have been so amazing . I would also like to thank everone who took the time to read the interviews and leave comments
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Sunday , April 29, 2012 April A to Z Z is for Zhu Bhajee Art by Zhu Zhu Bhajee is a talented artist and fellow blogger down at http : realmofzhu.blogspot.co.uk where you can find many lovely drawings and posts on other subjects including Fighting Fantasy . For a full low down on what Zhu covers here is the manifesto from the first post on the blog This blog will become a space for my fantasy and gaming related art , design , opinion and campaign development projects . nbsp Expect old school” Dungeons and Dragons , Retro Warhammer , 80’s Citadel Miniatures , Lord of the Rings , Fighting Fantasy , Meta-Gaming , my campaign setting tentatively entitled The Realm of Zhu 
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Friday , April 27, 2012 April A to Z Y is for Youtube Youtube is the second biggest search engine in the world after Google so it is only natural that gamebooks and interactive fiction will appear on Youtube . Here is a selection of gamebook related channels and videos on Youtube . Enjoy Tin Man Games You can see the trailers for the latest Gamebook Adventure at the Tin Man Games channel as well as watch some interviews with the Tin Men and see what they like . Fighting Fantasy Currently has only one video but it might get some more Laughing Jackal Games This is the company that has made some Fighting Fantasy books available on Playstation . You can watch the
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Friday , April 27, 2012 April A to Z X is also for Xtra amateurs an interview with bcyy The gamebook interviews just don't stop . Bcyy is a regular of ffproject who also replied to my interview questions . Here we go . What was the first gamebook you read that wasn't your own Metal City Mayhem Sonic series What is your favourite gamebook Creature of Havoc or Moonrunner , can't decide . which Captif d'Yvoire T T and Warbringer Way of the Tiger also stand out , but they suffer from belonging to mundane series , . IMHO What gamebooks interactive fiction would you recommend to a newcomer to the genre Midnight Rogue , Vault of the Vampire , Creature of Havoc . In exactly
This week, as I was riding my bike to work and listening to Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World (a classic fantasy/adventure book), one of the characters — was it Bayle Domon, the pirate? for the life of me, I can’t remember, nor can I find it, but he says something like this to Rand, one of the protagonists: Sometimes ... more »
: . Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Thursday , April 26, 2012 April A to Z X is for Xhoromag and gamebook writing programs . Writing a gamebook can be a time consuming process . First you have to plan all of the possible paths , then you have to split the paths up into paragraphs and write them . Then you have to randomise the paragraphs . This can get very tedious . Fortunately several people have come up with gamebook writing programs to make the whole paragraph organisation and randomisation thing easier . Once of these people is Xhoromag , whose program , ADVELH is very useful in randomising the paragraphs and producing them as a RTF document or a hyperlinked web page . There are many other
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Wednesday , April 25, 2012 April A to Z W is for the Windhammer competition Ah , the Windhammer competition If it wasn't for this showcase of gamebook talent , I probably wouldn't have ventured too far into the world of gamebooks . It was the Windhammer competition that motivated me to write better gamebooks after a few terrible attempts . So it means a lot to me . However , there is more to arborell than this competition . It is also home to the Windhammer gamebooks written by Wayne Densley which are set in a rich vivid world . You should definitely take a look at . them The Windhammer competition is running this year and there is no excuse for not entering so get
: , Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Wednesday , April 25, 2012 April A to Z W is also for Wright , Andrew Andrew Wright has been a huge contributor to the world of gamebooks on the internet for as long as the internet has been around and before that , he was probably planning lots gamebook related stuff to put on the internet as soon as it was to be invented There is nothing he hasn't done . He has written many many gamebooks He has won competitions for his gamebooks He has produced a gamebook for the iPhone He has and is the leading expert of Titan's bestiary and he is also a lynchpin in many gamebook groups and forums going by the name Greyarea13 He is also a regular contributor and Out of the Pit
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Tuesday , April 24, 2012 April A to Z V is for Very comprehensive gamebook websites Demian Katz has done exactly what this blog post is about he has compiled the most comprehensive database on gamebooks ever . You can find this at www.gamebooks.org where you can find information and possibly reviews on any gamebook you could care to think of . You can also create your own haves and wants list so that you can trade in gamebooks . It is for this reason that Demian is a gamebook hero . I have what appears to be a short interview with Demian but that is because most questions I would have asked have already been answered on his FAQs page so have a little gander at that
, home Blog About Forums Nathan Bransford San Francisco , CA United States Nathan Bransford is the author of Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow Dial , May 2011 Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe Dial , April 2012 and Jacob Wonderbar and the Interstellar Time Warp Dial , March 2013 He was formerly a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd . and is now the social media manager at CNET He lives in San Francisco . View my Complete Profile Contact Me Blog Directory Directory of All Posts Publishing Essentials How to Write a Novel How to Edit a Novel How the Publishing Process Works What Do Literary Agents Do How to Find a Literary Agent How to Write a Query Letter The Basic Query Letter Formula Examples of Good Queries How to Format Your Query Letter How And Whether to List Your
: , Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Tuesday , April 24, 2012 April A to Z U is for Undead filled new Fighting Fantasy books an interview with Jamie Fry , webmaster of the official Fighting Fantasy site aka the Warlock Today , we have Jamie Fry a long time Fighting Fantasy fan who brings us lots of information and news on Fighting Fantasy with his website Fighting Fantasy Collector Of course , then he became the webmaster of the official Fighting Fantasy website and obtained the title The Warlock I contacted him to as him about his rise to the official webmaster and whether he could tell us anything about Ian Livingstone's new 30th anniversary . gamebook What was the first gamebook you read that
: . Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Monday , April 23, 2012 April A to Z T is for Twitter part 1 an interview with Samuel J . Richards creator of Tweet RPG There was once a time when I thought that Twitter only existed so that we could all read about what Stephen Fry was eating for lunch in Belgum . Howver , I have realised that it is for much much more . Through Twitter , I have found an excellent cover designer talked with gamebook greats and interacted with my fans . People are also coming up with other creative uses for Twitter such as running an interactive RPG on it where followers vote on the outcome . Yes , it seems that Twitter can do anything . The accound in question is Tweet RPG and at
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Monday , April 23, 2012 April A to Z T is for Twitter part 2 an interview with Ashton Saylor I first heard of Ashton Saylor when he entered the 2010 Windhammer Competition with his gamebook The Gates of Heaven and Hell a modern fantasy where you are a girl with the power to open said gates . The next year , he wrote a gamebook that was completely different in every way different genre , different game system , different setting Peledgathol The Last Fortress where you are a dwarf king who is trying to lead his people to a new home and defend it from a horde of goblins . I was really impressed with Ashton's versatility , talent and writing skills . Now Ashton has a
: Lloyd of Gamebooks A blog about writing gamebooks . My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good . gamebook Sunday , April 22, 2012 Gamebook forums to enjoy You can find forums were like minded people gather to discuss literally anything and gamebooks are no exception . So if you want to chow down on all things gamebook and read new gamebooks by talented amateurs , here's a list of forums and message boards you can get involved in . There are also several Yahoo Groups which I will be covering in another post . I go under the username slloyd14, the letters being based on my name and the 14 being the number I needed to add for some internet account I had years ago possibly for an orange phone so I could text from online Do people even do that nowadays The Unofficial Fighting