Sunday, July 11, 2010

Recommendations

My ARC contest is open until midnight, July 17th. Please enter here.

Because people ask me a lot: websites and books that I highly recommend for writers. In no particular order.

WEBSITES FOR INFORMATION:

ABSOLUTE WRITE--I pretty much assume that everyone I meet is an AW member, but if you aren't, you should be. Besides offering a wealth of information--a serious, serious wealth--being part of AW is fantastic for networking and offers connections with a ton of people. Being able to say "I'm an AWer" can get you a lot further than you'd expect. Don't miss the Share Your Work section--free critiques! You can find me there a lot--my username is Shady Lane and I'm all over the YA forums.

TWITTER--You've heard it before. Get on Twitter. Delete your facebook if that'll help motivate you. Twitter. Talk to people. I'm @hannahmosk.

GOODREADS--I'm obsessed. Librarything and Shelfari and I'm sure others provide the same basic service, but Goodreads is the most user-friendly in my opinion. No easier way to keep track of what you've read and what your friends are reading and enjoying. I'm, well, Hannah Moskowitz.

WEBSITES FOR INSPIRATION:

CRACKED--Hilarious articles on things you never would have realized you didn't know. Articles like "The Six Creepiest Places" are begging to be novel fodder.

SNOPES-Urban legends, myths, and outlandish stories. It doesn't matter whether they're real or not; a ton of them would make great stories.

TV TROPES--You can lose your life here, and I'm sorry. But there's no better place to find cliches. The article about mermaids inspires Fishboy--How do mermaids breathe underwater when you don't see any gills, and how are they sex symbols when they don't have genitals? Tada, magic gay fish.

POSTSECRET--I can't imagine you don't know this one.

BOOKS

ON WRITING by Stephen King--A classic. Don't take the rules too seriously. I like it as a version of the journey that we all, in a way, go through, and the personal parts are very brave.

CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT by Orson Scott Card--Very useful. I've read this one several times. Keep in mind that it is somewhat out of date, and certain parts might strike you as a bit...well, offensive, to be completely honest. And remember, take it all with a grain of salt.


For great blogs, check my blog roll right over there ---> Nathan Bransford's, Jacket Whys, Pimp my Novel, and Editorial Anonymous are some I never miss.

7 comments:

Samantha R. said...

Oh god, I love Cracked! I'm addicted to lists and theirs are the funniest! Awesome list of recs!

Kara said...

Okay, no joke, I spent about two hours on Snopes today. I've been visiting that site since I was really young. I'm kind of obsessed with conspiracy theories and urban legends. Snopes is my crack.

Nomes said...

awesome list. I fail @ knowing some of these - so off to investigate...

cat hellisen said...

tv tropes is my crack, it's an inspiration gold-mine

Claudie A. said...

Noo, not TVTropes !!!

*two hours later*

Yes, finally managed to close that tab. Hannah, you are the devil for linking that site. ;)

Rebecca Christiansen said...

Where the frick is the Share Your Work section of AW? Can't find it... I'm an AW member but I haven't spend too much time on there, it's kind of overwhelming. But I'd like to find this mystical Share Your Work beast you speak of.

hannah moskowitz said...

Go to the main page and do a CTRL+F for it :) it's password protected but the password is right there in the description.