I love regularly reading tips and advice articles in certain subjects — particularly writing and publishing. I don’t always need the information right then, but I know that it’ll eventually come in handy. Or at least, I hope it will.
I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way I do, but sometimes it can be difficult to find every useful advice article that’s out there. So I thought I’d bring you a few. Here are the tips and advice articles that jumped out at me the most over the past week. Well, the past two weeks, this time around.
1. 4 tips for handling multiple perspectives in a third person narrative, from Nathan Bransford: Third person narrative is one that I tend to employ fairly often–in fact, I think the majority of my stories use it. And while I feel I have a decent hold on it, it’s always good to get some new tips. Excerpt: “Third person is third person, right? Can’t you just jump from one character to another as you need to?”
2. Why Deal Lunch is Best Served With A Large Pinch of Salt, from Pub Rants: I admit, I don’t follow Publishers Marketplace as much as I should. But for those who do check it religiously, this is a good thing to keep in mind. Excerpt: “But I don’t think the general public realizes that deal announcements on Deal Lunch are based on the honor system. Agents report the information to PM and it’s not Cader’s job to fact check or police the deal announcements posted there.”
3. Tropes and Why We Love Them (And Love To See Them Smashed), from Book Riot: A good writer can incorporate tropes into their writing without a problem. But even good writers have to be careful they don’t turn that trope into a cliche. Excerpt: “Tropes can be so great. They are inside jokes the world has with itself. HOWEVER. They can become clichés when overused or used boringly.”
4. Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 39: Referencing Characters By Title Rather Than Name, from Helping Writers Become Authors: Striking a balance in terms of how often you use your characters’ names can be difficult–I’m very aware of this fact, as it’s a balance that I sometimes have trouble with. But one thing to keep in mind is that you can’t let yourself slip into using titles instead. Excerpt: “In the time it takes you to write two small words, you might be dramatically distancing your readers from your story’s narrative. Scared? You should be.”
5. The Power Of A Kindle Daily Deal, from Pub Rants: The second Pub Rants link this week tells the story of an agent’s experience with a Kindle daily deal. It’s definitely worth a read. Excerpt: “If I was looking for evidence of how powerful Amazon has become in the book-selling market, then I don’t need to look much further than the news I received yesterday!”
6. When Should I State My Character’s Race/Ethnicity?, from Writing with Color: As someone who has trouble with character descriptions–I tend to fall into the habit of not including them, which can cause problems–it’s always nice to see how someone else feels about them. Excerpt: “I’m a fan of threading indicators throughout the story, early on and here and there throughout, particularly when it comes to my protagonist.”
Miranda Burski 
Leave a Reply