Wednesday links: Describing gay characters, authors on Facebook and writing humour

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.

1. Let’s Stop Saying “Just Happens to be Gay”, from Book Riot: Describing book characters has always been tricky. And for many book reviewers, describing a gay character seems to be particularly difficult. Excerpt: “‘Just happens to be gay’ is a common phrase, particularly in descriptions of book characters. (Book reviewers and book bloggers are especially prone to use it, which is why I think it’s important we have this conversation here at Book Riot.)”

2. 5 Things Writers Do on Facebook That Make Me Automatically Unfollow Them, from Jody Hedlund: I’ve read a lot of posts regarding author behaviour on Twitter, but not very many on Facebook. While the two concepts are fairly similar, there are some key differences. Excerpt: “An ad call involves annoying people that call your private phone number and try to sell you a product. Sometimes they’re really pushy and the only way you can end the conversation is by hanging up on them.”

3. What’s So Funny? (Serious Tips for the Humor Writer), from WOW! Women On Writing: Despite what a lot of people may think, writing humour isn’t easy. But there are a few things you can do to make it a little less difficult. Excerpt: “When you write a joke that doesn’t work or a funny story that’s not-so-funny, you may have no idea that you’ve laid an egg. You just go on your happy, chuckling way, thinking you’re hilarious…until rejection lands in your inbox.”

And a bonus: Amazon Takes on Fake Review Services, from Writer Beware: Like many readers (and writers), I’m not a fan of fake reviews. So it heartens me to know that Amazon is trying so hard to prevent them. Excerpt: “For retailers, fake reviews are a nuisance, not just because they violate Terms of Use but because they degrade the value of real reviews. Partly as a result of fake review scandals, consumers are far less trustful of reviews than they were a few years ago (there’s even a website called Fakespot that purports to analyze Amazon reviews for veracity).”