Admin Post: Resources post

[china_shop]

Hi, all! Here's where you can comment to recommend and/or promote writing resources such as:

• other Dreamwidth writing comms, including productivity comms, prompt comms, and more
• resources on other platforms, such as writing-specific Tumblrs, podcasts, Substacks, YouTube channels, websites, etc.
• any other writing-related resources.

Comments

[china_shop]

Podcast: Writing Excuses ("15 minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart). I've been listening to this for years. It's a little hit-and-miss in terms of how technical it is, but sometimes it's really great, and Mary Robinette Kowal has some excellent tools for revising and thinking about plot.

Zoom community: London Writers' Salon hosts free Zoom sessions, Monday to Friday, at 8am in four different time zones. There's five minutes of setting your intentions and listening to an inspirational writing quote, and then 50 minutes of time where "you can either do absolutely nothing, or you can write." At the end, you can stick around for the five-minute debrief, or you can "flow out" if you have the bit between your teeth. (I always do the latter.)

Writing lectures: I haven't read any Brandon Sanderson, but he has some great technical lectures on his Youtube channel, BrandSanderson, which I've saved as MP3s and listen to in my podcast app from time to time when I want to prime my brain to think in terms of story mechanics.

Dreamwidth prompt comm: I co-mod fan_flashworks, a multifandom multimedia flashworks comm with three monthly challenges. We've been running since 2012, first on LJ, then straddling both platforms, and now on Dreamwidth exclusively.

Stephen King's "On Writing"

[mific]

Stephen King's book "On Writing" Is a classic, and worth reading. But if you don't have access to it there are several YT videos that summarise the book. Having looked at a few, I think the best is this one which gives his actual tips in full, plus some interview clips with him that illustrate various points. In this vid Mari uses King's system and discusses it: https://youtu.be/fCNaKe1CEXw?si=kvfwVLq8_bLe44uj

[senmut]

Hi, love the idea. I mod communal_creators, which runs a short event in March and one in September. It is open to ALL creative efforts, but writing does tend to be the lion's share of what gets done. We have a resource post. The goal of that comm is to encourage folks to support one another during the creative process.

I also run reference_library, a crowd-sourced comm for links of all kinds. The writing post is here.

[kalloway]

I post prompts monthly on inspiredby. My goal is to keep them as general as possible. (But obviously they sometimes skew in certain directions.)

[brumeier]

You Should Be Writing (ushobwri) is a writing support comm. We post on Mondays and Thursdays, mostly general writing topics and check-ins, plus a chance to share snippets of what you're working on, though there are theme months as well (Trope Fest, Monster Fest). In November we have daily posts for wordcount check-ins and all manner of writing topics.

If you're interested in exploring alternate universes, you can stop by whatif_au. There's a new AU theme every two months, and a bingo that runs from April through July. And no deadlines, so you can fill any theme any time. You'll find all the favorites here - cowboys, steampunk, high school, coffee shop - plus so many more.

Both these comms are multifandom, and welcome original fics as well.

[rattfan]

I need to ask you what "writing meta" means. Was reading over the intro post and realised I really didn't know what you meant by it. It's probably a new way to describe something I already know, but there seem to be several options as to meaning. It says "meta" about writing, so do you just mean posts or letters?

[china_shop]

Hi! Thanks for asking! :-)

In the transformative works corner of fandom, the term "meta" distinguishes non-fiction analytical writing from fanfiction and other kinds of fanworks. Often meta is about specific media, but this comm is a place for analytical essays, posts, etc, on topics related to writing (structure, style, process, etc). Most of us are coming from a fanfic context, hence the recent post here about tagging on archiveofourown.com, but writers of original fic are also welcome.

We're mostly focused on prose fiction, but open to posts about writing poetry and non-fiction, too.

[mific]

It could get a bit recursive! This comm is for people to discuss the writing process and writing practicalities - so it's for making posts about writing itself, rather than for posting our fiction.

And meta is a type of nonfiction writing where someone analyses and critiques an aspect of media, like meta about a fandom, or a pairing, or a genre, etc.

So on this comm someone could write a meta (discussion) post about the process of writing meta! Hope that hasn't confused you further. :D

[rattfan]

That's what I figured, but I wanted to check as that word shows up all over the place, in various contexts, i.e. Meta AI. I avoid anything to do with AI. Sigh. We used to call that sort of writing "literary criticism" when I was at university.

In the Dark Ages before the Internet, this was!

[switchbladeeyes]

If you're looking to write smut, this is pretty helpful: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Smut Fic.

Advice bout how to be a beta reader - from seldnei

[mific]

I just remembered a blog post made by seldnei a few years ago, about betaing. Here's the link to the actual post, published in 2018.
https://lauraeprice.com/2018/08/20/how-to-be-a-good-beta-reader. It's not lengthy so I'll paste it in below.

---

I see a lot of writing advice, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any beta-ing advice.  So I thought I’d write down my tips for being a good first reader/critiquer/beta reader.  Obviously your mileage may vary on this, as with any advice, but these are the things I try to do when I’m critiquing, and they’re the things I appreciate from a critique.

1. Always remember that it’s not your story. You’re trying to help the author achieve their vision, not yours. And to that end …
2. You want to understand what the author’s goals are with the piece. Don’t be afraid to ask, “What are you trying to do with this?” Maybe it’s supposed to be a rip-roaring yarn. Maybe it’s a somber reflection on Art. Whatever it is, you read with an eye toward it so that your comments contribute to the goal.
3. If at all possible, get familiar with the author’s work. Read their stuff, as much as you can. This helps you to know what sort of things the author does generally, what their strengths are. (I’ve also found it super helpful, when someone’s trying to do something new for them, to know what it is they’re working away from.)
4. Ask questions. Basic questions like whether or not they want to work in Google Docs.  Questions about what’s going to happen next–I, personally, like seeing a question in the middle of a finished piece (“Holy cats, is Jessica really about to kill Elizabeth?!”) because then I can see how the plot is shaping up from the reader’s perspective. Things you wonder about the worldbuilding, even if they’re not things you necessarily need to know within the story (though label that–I do “This is not a plot hole, just something I wondered about”).
5. Be enthusiastic and specific about what you like.
6. When it comes to critical comments, if you can be specific about why something isn’t working, then be specific.  For example: “I think you need to flesh out this relationship between Jessica and Elizabeth, because Jessica’s motivation to kill Elizabeth is good, but is not quite landing.” But don’t get so specific with it that you end up writing the “fix” for the author: “Jessica should have a past affair with Elizabeth’s husband, and he won’t leave her, and Jessica is jealous and angry!”
7. Suggestions are fine (“Maybe move this paragraph earlier to make the punchline really sing”), but don’t be offended if the author doesn’t use them.
8. Sometimes there will not be a lot “wrong” with a story. That’s okay.
9. Take your time with the story, while adhering to any deadlines the author needs to set.  I try to read everything at least twice–once to just read it, and then the next time more critically. I’ve found that the first read gives me a sense of what the end goal is.
10. BE ENTHUSIASTIC AND SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE.
11. Seriously, tell the author exactly what’s working. Writing is hard, and when they send you this draft they usually think it sucks.  Critical commentary is important, but if you like this author and want them to keep writing, encouragement is also key. Tell them exactly what parts were amazing. Some good examples of this:
- WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME WITH THIS?!
- OH MY GOD THEY SHOULD JUST KISS ALREADY!
- I love this character!
- I did not know I needed a murder scene on a water flume ride, BUT APPARENTLY I DID.
- You are really, really good at X, and this scene is a perfect example of it.
- When do I get the next one?
12. Laura, what about grammar and SPAG and all that jazz? Well, yeah, mark that stuff. But really, beta-reading is much more than proofreading.
13. Have fun!
14. When the story comes out, promo the ever loving fuck out of it. Tell the world how much they’re going to dig this story that you have inside info on!