Why Are Publishers Failing?

Here are more conversations taking place around the net. I’ll be mostly offline until January 5.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Laurence Osborne, writing in the Forbes magazine, gives his opinion on why book publishers are currently failing:
A powerful editor at one of the big houses said to me last week, “Very little of the recent [...]

Novel Revision Retreat in IL in February

Even if it is the week before Christmas, there’s lots of interesting discussions going on!

Novel Revision Retreat. I’ll be teaching the Novel Revision Retreat in Illinois on February 27 – March 1 for the IL-SCBWI. Only nine spots remain! Register soon! See comments here from previous participants. Or see comments from Kirby Larson here. [...]

Novel Endings

This week, I’ve been revising my story and am coming near the end. How should I end it?
Novel Endings
I know the ending that I have planned, but I want to be sure it’s the strongest ending. I know that the ending should bring together the antagonist/villain in a scene of great emotional power. But what [...]

Generous Agents

The holidays and the end of the year are bringing out the generous nature of agents!
The 2nd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge

Deadline: 7pm. EST, Thursday, December 11, 2008.
Who: Literary agent Nathan Bransford, Curtis Brown, San Francisco office
What: Post the first paragraph of your WIP and compete for the prize of a partial critique, query [...]

3 Writing Tips from the Season

Creative writing tips, courtesy of the season:

Peppermints! When you add sensory details to a story, the most common is visual details. The two most neglected are olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste). Flavors of the season are peppermint, cinnamon and cloves.

Gifts! Give your character something to hold in his/her hands. It’s one of the easiest and [...]

After the First Draft

I have a new Ebook available for free download.
After the First Draft
After the First Draft: 30 Fast, Easy Writing Tips to Help with the Second Draft is a reworking of the series of blog posts, 30 Days to a Stronger Novel. This version collects everything in one place and provides an easy reference.

Snooping on Characters

I’ve been reading a great new psychology book that should help in developing characters, especially the settings which reveal so much about a character.
Snoop
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling, Ph.D. is a fascinating book by a psychologist who studies a person’s environment and what that environment says about you.
For example, in [...]

See How Easily You Can Subplot

My problem is that the subplot was conceived as a mirror or parallel plot, but now, it’s too similar. And that makes this first draft boring. . .

12 Days of Christmas Writing Tips

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
For the last few years, I’ve posted writing tips from Winter Holiday personalities. For example, Frosty the Snowman has 6 Top Writing Tips. This year, as our Christmas gift to you, we’ve collected these into one downloadable pdf.
Winter Writing with Kids
FREE download. 34 Writing Skills addressed. Celebrate the Season while Teaching Kids to [...]

Obama is a Doodler

I am woefully behind in sharing some great posts with you! Here’s a ton of links to articles of interest.

Dori Butler just interviewed me for KidLit Central about my experience of judging the SCBWI Works-In-Progress Grantl
Meanwhile, check out this podcast: Carla McClafferty is featured on Book Bites for Kids, talking about her new book, [...]