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Episode 42 - Trumprotica

In this episode we talk about book warning labels, the good and bad of online writing communities, and how to add humor to your writing.

Works in Progress

[00:00:37] Mike has been working on his short stories. He hasn't finished the first one, and the third prompt is out now. He is writing the first one and planning the second one in the meantime. He has a super-secret website but he isn't divulging the URL of it for now.

John is back working on Drone Syndicate. He hasn't figured out the second act yet, but some revisions to the first act that make for a better story will allow him to flow into the second much better.

Eric continues to work on FreeFall. He officially hired a book doctor to get some advice on Prince of Pigeon Hill. He will have a one hour consultation on ways to improve the novel for sale.

What’s happening online

Between the Words

[00:02:25] Chicago artist Nicholas Rougeux has an art project called Between the Words where he creates posters based on the text of classic novels. He removes all the words, leaving only the punctuation which he arranges into a spiral.

Source: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3055691/wanted/8-classic-novels-reduced-to-their-punctuation?ref=webdesignernews.com#1

Amazon Warning Labels

Amazon Warning Labels

Making an Author

[00:03:33] On Netflix, the series Making a Murderer has been all the rage. The prosecutor in the case Ken Kratz is now writing a book "because the one voice forgotten to this point is Teresa Halbach", the victim in the case.

Trump Erotica

[00:04:26] Comedian Elijah Daniel wrote a Donald Trump Erotica Novel called Trump Temptations.

Bill Gates' Books

[00:06:37] Bill Gates reads about 50 books a year, and in this article Bill Gates on Books and Blogging he is interviewed on the books he chooses to read and why he blogs his reviews of them.

Geo-engineering

[00:08:37] Kim Stanley Robinson Explains Why Sci-Fi Writers Avoid Geoengineering

Reading Spotlight

[00:09:21] John is still reading Devil’s Vortex (Deathlands).

Mike is reading Deep Work by Cal Newport. Eric is also reading Deep Work.

Eric started Silk Road by Colin Falconer.

Tech Focus - Online Communities

[00:12:42] We've talked about online communities before in passing, as resources to use as a writer. We wanted to revisit some of the sites again as well as mention a few we haven't talked about before.

Scribophile

Scribophile is an online community for critiquing your writing. After reviewing the works of others and earning karma, you can post your own work for feedback from others on the site. The people there are very warm and welcoming. Critiques are usually very good.

We have a Typehammer Group on Scribophile.

Critters.org

Another critique site is Critters. Critters started in 1995 as a critique site for science-fiction and fantasy writers, although it has grown into other genres since then. Critiques are handled through an email list and your story goes into the queue until it reaches the top of the list and is emailed to the group.

Critters is 20 years old, one of the oldest workshop sites on the web. It does not look like there's a way to see the critiques written by other people like you could on Scribophile.

KBoards

KBoards is a forum for writers with a specific focus on Kindle authors and owners. The Writer's Cafe, one of the forums, is particularly focused on writing and author issues. It's a very active site and a lot of content flows through.

Reddit

We talk about the /r/writing and other subreddits on Reddit all the time. One caution with Reddit are the unlimited possibilities for distraction and procrastination, as well as the inability to unsee things. There is no filter.

/r/writing has 156,000+ members and is focused on the tips and techniques writers face in creating their work.

When it's time for a critique, /r/DestructiveReaders will take a no-holds-barred look at your masterpiece and point out the problems with it, whether you like it or not. Scribophile is a friendly place for critiques. /r/DestructiveReaders is not.

/r/WorldBuilding

/r/WritingHub, while not recently updated, has an extensive list of subrredits applicable to writing. In particular, the index on the right side of the page is a quick topical list to make subreddits easy to find.

Facebook Groups

There are a lot of Facebook Groups for writers as well.

Google+

Google+ has a lot of groups as well.

How Many Groups?

Now that we've mentioned all these groups, how many is too many? There is a limit to the number of groups to which you participate. What is that number? There isn't a finite answer, but John proposed "2". It comes down to procrastination. Are you spending all your time participating in these groups when you should be writing? If so, that's too many groups.

"Going to Reddit should be after your daily word counts are done, not before."

-John

Craft Talk - Writing Comedy and Humor

Comedy can be difficult to write. In the last episode we talked about building suspense, and that comedy is one of the ways to release the tension. So how can we do some funny stuff.

"While I think I'm funny, my wife has assured me, multiple times, that I am not.

-John

Some techniques:

  • Using comedic timing

  • The "K" Rule, and slightly less popular "G" rule

  • The Rule of Three

  • The Comparison Technique

  • Edit, Edit, and Edit. Then Edit.

Sources:

  • http://writetodone.com/how-to-write-funny/

  • http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/the-4-rules-of-comedy-writing-for-screenwriters.html

  • http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/how-to-mix-humor-into-your-writing

Writing that Pays

Travelsignposts

Travelsignposts makes a big effort to provide our readers with high quality, informative and entertaining travel articles about places to go in Europe, things to do and real life experiences. We don’t like the usual travel supplement processed press releases, spammy promotional hype or impersonal guidebook descriptions.

Updated by John Uhri over 3 years (view history)
Episode 41 - Flock of Minions Episode 43 - Unreliable Narrators

Contents

    About Writing Advice and Quotes Dealing with Distractions Planning World Building Naming your Characters Writing Tools Word Count Tools Tracking changes Editing Your Work Critiques Beta Readers Info Dumps Author Websites Twitch writers Book trailers Books we talk about (Reading Spotlight) Commonplace books
    Show Notes
    Episode 7 - Puppetmaster Mike Episode 49 - Takedown Episode 48 - We Quit! Episode 45 - Continuity Bolts Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 - I write good episode-18 Episode 20 - The Story Grid Episode 21 - Ambien Fiction Episode 22 - My Little Pony Episode 23 - Strategic Quill Locations Episode 24 - Your Cheatin' Heart Episode 25 - Copywork episode-26-podcasts-are-better-than-books Episode 53 - Pump up the Conflicts Episode 54 - Following the Want Episode 52 - Typehammer Turns One Episode 27 - The Scariest Episode Yet Episode 28 - Our Secret Identities Revealed Episode 47 - Get Off My Lawn Episode 29 - Revel in the Crapness Episode 30 - Batman Duct Tape Episode 31 - I Reject your Rejection Episode 32: Benevolent Dictation Episode 33 - Giggling Snowballs Episode 34 - Destroyer of Words Episode 35 - Toss a Gimli Episode 36 - Special Guest John Helfers (Part 1) Episode 37 - Interview with John Helfers, Part 2 Episode 44 - Writing the Detectives Episode 39 - Critiques Episode 40 - Game of Deadlines Episode 41 - Flock of Minions Episode 42 - Trumprotica Episode 43 - Unreliable Narrators
    Episode 58 - World-Building Show all
    Discussions 0 Pending changes 1 Contributors
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