SUNDAY LINK LOVE

• David Powers King writes incisively on the subject of prologues. If you’re struggling with a prologue, I highly suggest you check it out. Also, he recommends the Mistborn Trilogy – an opinion I have come to share.

• An amusing loop of TV shows referencing each other:

• Okay, I know we’re past Valentine’s Day – and that there has been an endless saturation of fandom-themed Valentine cards. But I can’t help myself – these Game of Thrones Valentines cards are pretty boss. From io9.

• More Valentine’s day shenanigans! I like to imagine that this was cut for a significant other:

ROW 80 UPDATE

My ROW 80 goal is to write 750 words a day on 750words.com.

So I missed the last check-in. Sorry about that. That was a somewhat hectic travel day…but I probably still could have posted if I’d mustered up the energy to do so. Despite the fact that I missed the check-in, I’ve been successful with my goal: written 750 words every day since the last check-in.

Previously, I posted about plotholes. I’m glad that I worked out the kinks in my plot, even though it involved some backtracking and scrapping of what I’d already written. I’d been scraping the bottom of the barrel for scenes to write, feeling at loose ends, but now I feel like I have a definite direction. It’s a good feeling.

How was your week, fellow ROWers?

If you want to support/find out about ROW 80, check it out here.

SUNDAY LINK LOVE

• Kait Nolan makes an argument for deeper explorations of more interesting villains. I agree a lot with what she says here, maybe ’cause I’m studying psychology.

• Nicole Basaraba gives us an an excellent post about longhand, and the writers (some famous) who use it.

• Ari Susu-Mago gives me another gem on Twitter:

Can you find Wall-E?

• I’ve seen the Ira Glass on Storytelling meme circulating on Tumblr ad nauseam, but that’s usually via poster. I love the video version, which you can find here.

• I thought Kiersten White’s post about a night in the life was hilarious.

• Need some inspiration and encouragement, fellow writers? Saundra Mitchell’s post You Can Always Walk Away is one of the best of its ilk.

• Remember how Chuck Wendig wrote about 25 things writers should stop doing? Well, here are 25 things writers should start doing. Also by Chuck Wendig.

• I loved (emphasis *loved*) Claire Legrand’s post on first drafts and the wordiness they inspire, and how that’s okay. Definitely what I need right now, as I draft the heck out of my WIP.

STYLISH BLOG AWARD

ROW 80 UPDATE

• Goal recap: write 750 words a day on 750words.com.

This week was great! So far, I’ve plowed through 4739 words. Not bad, if I do say so myself. (And I do.) There’s no reason I won’t make my 750 quota today.

I’m starting to wonder if I’m weird, though. Because I’m so not writing in order. Not even a little. I’m not just talking about jumping between chapters, but jumping between scenes. And I’m… not sure that this is the best way to write a novel? Probably not. It’s working, sort of, I’m drafting at least, but it’s also kind of terrifying because scenes keep going in completely different directions than I originally intended (they’re telling the outline to talk to the hand, basically), and when you’re spending half your time writing future scenes that are dependent on earlier scenes working out a certain way…it’s um, well…unnerving.

Which has made me think a lot about Claire Legrand’s post that I included in the Sunday Link Love. Because while I might not be sure that I’m keeping all of these scenes – or that they’re even going to make sense once I organize them into chapters – they’re not completely meaningless either. No! I’m glad I wrote them. These scenes are helping me flesh out important story qualities such as character, emotion, theme, stakes, ect. They’re useful.

And for the most part, they’re viable places for the story to go. Writers often compare writing stories to childbirth, and in that vein, I feel like I’m telling my future novel (aka prospective child): “You can grow up to be this, or this, or this.”

Anyway. Those are my thoughts for today. How did your week go, fellow ROWers?

MONDAY LINK LOVE

• I really appreciated Neil Gaiman’s New Year wish about being willing to make mistakes.

• I’m a little iffy about this Game of Thrones videogame, starting with the fact that you have to work to unlock the website…BUT but but it’s Game of Thrones. So there’s that.

• There’s a Doctor Who themed bar? WHY AM I NOT THERE, INTERNET.

• Michael Offutt shows us how to write good.

• Want to know more about how to write good like me? I appreciated/agreed with this article by E.J. Wesley: ‘5 Realistic Ways We’re Going to be Better Writers in 2012‘.

ROW 80 UPDATE

Well, I was doing good this week…until the weekend.

Saturday was extremely-extremely busy, what with me moving back into my apartment. Sunday wasn’t much better, and I made it much much worse by Bootcamping my Mac in order to play PC games, which hasn’t quite worked out yet. To give you an idea of what that’s like, let’s just say that I’ve restarted my computer more times in the past 24 hours than I have in the entire year that I’ve owned the Mac.

BUT. Last Monday through Friday, I wrote at least 750 words a day, ultimately totaling in 3917.

That’s something, right?

I might have taken a couple steps back over the weekend, but I’m ready to wade back into the waters. Starting…now.

Wishing you all a merry and productive week!

THERE ARE NO PICTURES OR VIDEOS ON THIS POST. Surely this cataclysmic event has ushered in the apocalypse – sorry about that.