Wednesday links: Switching genres, diversity in history, and “I never give up”

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. 5 Things I Learned When I Decided to Switch Genres, from Helping Writers Become Authors: Sometimes, writing within a genre you wouldn’t normally choose can be a good idea. It can also be a bit intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Excerpt: “Writing contemporaries comes with its own unique set of hurdles, but I had years of experience overcoming those. Did I really think I could handle something as complicated as a historical mystery?”
2. People of Colour in the Middle Ages: A Primer to Support Diversity in Fantasy, from Book Riot: If you haven’t included a diverse cast of characters because of the time period that inspired the setting of your novel, then chances are you’re going about things in the wrong way. A little bit of research could just help to make things right, though. Excerpt: “Therefore, the argument goes, medieval fantasy fiction with all white, all Christian characters is historically accurate. Any inclusion of people of color or other religions is a distortion of history in the name of political correctness. In actual fact, medieval Europe was a complex society where several different cultures, religions, and linguistic groups coexisted under the umbrella of the omnipresent Catholic Church.”

3. Why “I Never Give Up” is NOT the plus you think it might be from an agent, from Janet Reid: Usually, perseverance is a good thing. But the phrase “I never give up” may not be what you want to hear from an agent. Excerpt: “I realized that “we never give up” might sound attractive to an author. We’ve all heard the horror stories about writers who got dumped by their agents after five or ten submissions.”