This week! Books!
It was an abbreviated week with the holiday on Monday, but there were still some links out there that caught my eye.
First up, what’s with those bizarre, unreadable screenshots authors post when they have a new book deal? Katie Notopoulos dives into the phenomenon of the book deal announcement lit shot.
Jennifer Hubbard reflects on the extent to which the extent to which classic books’ lifespans are now bound up in their movie adaptations.
Last week I posted a link to a Scientific American article that critiqued Game of Thrones by distinguishing between sociological and psychological storytelling. Author Jennifer Crusie discussed how this is very questionable writing advice… and I also totally agree with her. What makes for interesting cultural commentary does not usually translate to good writing advice! (Thanks to blog reader Rebecca for passing that on)
Over at Freelancers Union, Caitlin Pearce takes issue with CNN’s new net-90 payment terms. Stand with your fellow writers!
In case you missed this week’s new posts, they were:
- How to organize a chapter
- How will you publish your work in progress? The results! (2019)
- How to find and work with a book editor
I’ve been doing extensive revisions of past posts in order to make the blog as fresh and useful as possible. Check out these especially:
- How to write a query letter
- Get the big stuff right
- Can you query if you are an unpublished novelist and your novel isn’t finished?
This week in the Forums: What’s your favorite writing spot?
Comment! of! the! week! goes to John T. Shea, who notes the power of chapter breaks:
I’ve always liked the very short chapters employed by Arthur C. Clarke and, more recently, James Patterson. In truth, they’re so short their chapter breaks are more like the line breaks other writers use within chapters. They certainly seem to encourage reading, since one is always tempted to read just ONE more chapter, and so on!
And finally, well, raccoon dogs (which apparently are a real thing) are terrorizing an English town. How could I NOT share this with you:
Have a great weekend!
Unreadable screenshots on Twitter? Lots of online stuff is unreadable on my Macbook Air, probably designed for the Lord Of The Rings characters who could recognize people a hundred miles away! I shudder to think what they look like on a phone.
Amen to Jennifer Hubbard re movies sustaining the books they’re based on. One might have expected the opposite, for movies to compete with books, yet people continue to chose to enjoy the same story in different formats, a remarkable redundancy! Novels, comics, audio-books, movies, Lego, Lego movies(!), stage adaptations AFTER the movie, variety remains the spice of life, and repetition ubiquitous.
We crave novelty but also love the familiar. Retellings revive stories. Which raises a question I’ve often asked myself. Why is there any market for new novels when so many older ones are available free or cheaply? Not that I’m complaining!
I’ll check out the GOT links. Meanwhile, I persist in my ambition to achieve undying fame as the only person in the world he has never watched GOT!
As for the Comment Of The Week, modesty stops me from commenting on that BRILLIANT comment! Oh wait…
And does that English raccoon-dog look a bit like Rocket Raccoon?
Thanks, Nathan!