Sunday, December 31, 2006

Courtroom Quotations

From the mouths of . . . You fill in the blank. At least when you say something stupid at work or at home people may not remember what you said. In the courtroom, you don't have that luxury. You have a court reporter.





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Totally Absurd Inventions

Creative types can be so entertaining in the early stage of developing an idea. Many of the absurd inventions fall into this category. Maybe if they pursued another draft or two, their inventions would be anything but absurd.





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Monday, December 25, 2006

StrangeUSA.com

This site contains links to the macabre and weird that have occurred in a specific area of the country. On the home page, visitors click on a state then city contained in a list, which brings surfers to the oddity that had occurred in that location: from hauntings to UFO sightings, etc.. Great for story ideas, as well as just a fun place to lurk if you enjoy learning about things that go bump in the night. I'm not talking about headboard knocking. There are other sites for that.





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Home page link: http://www.strangeusa.com/index.asp

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Classic Short Stories

Found this website that lists links to many classic short stories. Hence, the title of the website: Classic Short Stories.





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Saturday, December 16, 2006

All About Forensic Psychology

Another great website. That is, if this is your cup of poison.





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Psychic Detectives

This is a website definitely worth visiting if you are an armchair detective like me.





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Friday, December 15, 2006

HItman

Stumbled onto this website while doing research on my book. I'm hoping it is a joke but not sure. The subtitle on the site is: Hitman - The most trusted name in professional killings! You be the judge if this is the real thing or not. Scary . . .

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Turning Book Signings Into Profit Centers

An informative article on how to increase book sales at book signings.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Author Courts Book Clubs And Boosts Sales, Romance Novelist John Shors Makes Personal Calls And Visits To Book Clubs - CBS News

John Shors, author of "Beneath A Marble Sky," a romantic novel, boosts book sales by speaking at book clubs. Shors proves that a little innovation can go a long way.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Craft of writing might help art of medicine - Health Care - MSNBC.com

Interesting article. As long as the doctors are not into Horror or Science Fiction, it could be highly effective.

Craft of writing might help art of medicine - Health Care - MSNBC.com

Monday, October 02, 2006

Writing English - Proofreading and Copyediting Services

Good punctuation site if you can get past the typo in the fourth paragraph.


Writing English - Proofreading and Copyediting Services

Saturday, September 30, 2006

all that's new(s) from A to Z

Counting words in a manuscript.


all that's new(s) from A to Z

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Backspace-- The Writer's Place

Noah Lukeman article on plot at the link. . .

and Flannery O'Connor quote on writing below.

"'People are always asking me if the university stifles writers. I reply that it hasn't stifled enough of them. There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good writing teacher."
--Flannery O'Connor"

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Pub Rants

A primer on the grant of rights by Agent Kristin at pubrants. Great explanation why agents are important in negotiating a publishing contract.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Casinos to Book Lovers: Let Us Entertain You, Too

Book readings have reached a whole new entertainment level. Authors supplement their bookstore readings with appearances at fashion stores, corporate headquarters and even at car dealerships. So why not a reading at a Casino?

Sunday, June 18, 2006

FictionAddiction.NET - What Do Editors Want?

A helpful article on what editors are looking for and not looking for in a manuscript.

FictionAddiction.NET - What Do Editors Want?

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Backspace-- The Writer's Place

After reading a query, an agent will request a partial (first 30 pages of a manuscript). This article provides an agent's insight into how she looks at partials.

Backspace-- The Writer's Place

Saturday, June 03, 2006

International Thriller Writers: The Thriller World

Found this great article, "Ten Rules for Suspense Fiction," by Brian Garfield, author of "Death Wish."

International Thriller Writers: The Thriller World

village voice > books > by Jessica Winter

Small book publishers thrive in Brooklyn, the heart of a new literary renaissance.

village voice > books > by Jessica Winter

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Bookseller Chick: The Rise to Greatness: the Power of a Single Reader

Bookseller Chick's article on midlist authors.

Bookseller Chick: The Rise to Greatness: the Power of a Single Reader: "The Rise to Greatness: the Power of a Single Reader"

Sunday, April 23, 2006

alg: P&Ls and how books make (or don't) money: part the first: the mass market original complete failure

This link will take you to an article written by an editor at Tor, which delineates the cost of printing a mass market book. Interesting stuff!

alg: P&Ls and how books make (or don't) money: part the first: the mass market original complete failure

Friday, April 21, 2006

Building Fictional Characters

A lot of useful information here on building characters.

Building Fictional Characters

Monday, April 17, 2006

WSJ.com - Publishers' Solution to Slow Sales: My Story (And His, Too)

Great news for memoir writers in the Washington Post article. Despite James Frey's deception, the memoir market still thrives and did not explode into a million little pieces.

WSJ.com - Publishers' Solution to Slow Sales: My Story (And His, Too)

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Fresh And Original

Agent Kristen at Pub Rants posted this exceedingly relevant article about having an original story line. It is relevant because last night I had attended a MWA Mentor Panel in New York City with agents, an editor and authors. One of the topics of conversation was having an outstanding hook. Kristen echoes this sentiment. I would strongly recommend reading her post at http://pubrants.blogspot.com/.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

How code-cracking treasure hunts and pre-dawn press-ups have made Brown the bestseller he is

Ah, behind every successful man there is a good woman. In Dan Brown's testimony while under cross-examination, he admitted that his wife carried out much of the research for The Da Vinci Code.

Read about Dan Brown's climb from obscurity to household name.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Writers Watch Your Backs!

The James Frey effect. Tsunami or ripple?

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Almost Done with the Novel? Read this.

This is excellent advice from an agent about finishing a novel. Please read it and learn as I did.

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/2006/03/almost-done-with-novel-read-this.html

Friday, March 03, 2006

Rejection

It's nice to know that writers aren't the only people in the world that receive rejections. The above link shows how the other half lives and also receives rejections.

It's not often that we get to see this perspective.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Miss Snark: The Index

Drum roll . . . Introducing the Snarkives -- An index of Miss Snark's archived posts, now accessible by topic. If you haven't yet sauntered over to http://misssnark.blogspot.com/ test drive the index and see her invaluable resource in a more organized format. Once you have stuck your toe into the cool waters of literary reason, dive into http://misssnark.blogspot.com/ -- and go mad.

Miss Snark: The Index

Friday, February 24, 2006

alg: Pitching and Catching. (Hahaha, thanks, SerialKarma.)

How to pitch an editor at a writer's conference, as written by an editor.

alg: Pitching and Catching. (Hahaha, thanks, SerialKarma.)

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Monday, February 20, 2006

Pub Rants

Another great agent blog to bookmark. It's fantastic that these agents take the time to post their thoughts to help writers. Really, anything you glean from these sites is gold.

Pub Rants

Friday, February 17, 2006

Contest Tip Sheets

Thought this was a useful article.

Contest Tip Sheets

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

From The Belly of The Blog

Want to get inside a literary agent's head? Mosey along to Miss Snark's blog and read "The Tipping Point." 10+ reasons why she passes on manuscripts.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Coal Miners Deaths

In honor of the twelve coal miners who lost their lives and the one who lays in a coma, I wanted to post this quote by George Orwell.


"The comforts of civilisation, the light and heat we take for granted, depend on men toiling deep below the earth's surface to mine narrow seams of coal."


My heart goes out to the families.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Publishers toss Booker winners into the reject pile

Interesting experiment conducted by The British Sunday Times.

Typed manuscripts of the opening chapters of Naipaul’s In a Free State and a second novel, Holiday, by Stanley Middleton, were sent to 20 publishers and agents.

None appears to have recognised them as Booker prizewinners from the 1970s that were lauded as British novel writing at its best. Of the 21 replies, all but one were rejections.