What I’m Reading:
I just finished Soulless by Gail Carriger. It’s the first of her Alexia Tarabotti series and combines supernatural romance with Victorian England and a touch of steampunk. I’m planning a more lengthy review, but let me just say that I lost a few good work hours to this novel because I didn’t want to put it down. Delightful in all the right ways with enough interpersonal conflict to keep me reading and a big enough external plot to set the characters up royally. I highly recommend Soulless to anyone with a taste for adventure and love in Victorian times.
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The link pickings are a little spare this week, largely because I’ve been NaNo focused and Thanksgiving distracted, but I hope you find something of interest below.
Publishing
An evaluation of examples used by self-publishing/vanity scammers to prove it can make you famous
http://jimhines.livejournal.com/313073.html
A look at Harlequin’s recent move into self-publishing that takes a different tack than most:
http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2009/11/23/HarlequinsSelfPublishingVentureIsItTheFutureOfPublishing.aspx
Information like this makes me long for the day of sponsors, cause if the author AND the publisher is making a pittance…
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/11/economics-of-publishing.html
Science
This article explains how a mild bad mood makes you a more persuasive writer and possibly a better thinker. Maybe I’m school obsessed, but what does this say to the trend when I was in school of promoting self-esteem if making students happier also makes them dumber. Oh, and the next time I’m grumpy, I can say I’m doing it for the work :D.
http://www.good.is/post/a-happy-writer-is-a-lousy-writer/
Submitting
Things to check your novel opening for:
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/7+Reasons+Agents+Stop+Reading+Your+First+Chapter.aspx
What NOT to put in your query letter:
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2007/01/pitch-lines-that-dont-work.html
Writing
When, why, and how revision advice should be heeded:
http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/11/writer-question-when-should-i-take.html
Tips for including worldbuilding in children’s stories (though applicable at all ages):
http://www.writing-world.com/foster/foster16.shtml
Well, you’ve piqued my interest in Soulless. I saw it somewhere else and was wondering – now I’ll have to check it out for myself.
It’s very fun. I’ll give fair warning there’s a continuity error in the beginning that made me nervous about the rest of it, but that was the only one I saw, and the story itself is enough to carry you forward.