Everyone’s taste is different, of course, but my favorite fairy tales are ones that are irreducibly strange. When I was drafting my new novel, The Glass Casket, I kept thinking back to the fairy tales that appealed to me as a child. They were often lesser-known Grimm tales, the ones that had not been sanitized—their strangeness muted by a series of cheerful bowdlerizations.
Browsing: Writing Resources
Wonderbook is a how-to resource that seeks to teach people how to write speculative fiction.
Amanda Romine Lynch is a writer and blogger who grew up in Florida. When she isn’t writing about Anabel and Jared or chasing her children around, she blogs about raising her three beautiful boys and attempting to be friendly toward the environment in a world of disposable diapers over at her blog, The Semi-Organic Mom.
Bill Thomson has been called “a master at visual storytelling.” He is the illustrator of several children’s books, including Chalk (Two Lions/Amazon Children’s Publishing, 2010), which received many accolades.
There’s a not-so-new reality in book publishing these days, and it’s this: you have to work as hard at promotion and publicity as you did on writing your book. And while authors do have more responsibility to market themselves than ever before, a publicist—in-house or freelance—is an excellent resource, one every author should make a point to tap.
“What can make MY writing stand out from the rest?” While there’s no absolute answer that guarantees recognition, publication, and fame, these five quick tips are a great place to start.
Young-adult fiction, commonly called “YA fiction,” has exploded over the past decade or so: The number of YA titles published grew more than 120 percent between 2002 and 2012, and other estimates say that between 1997 and 2009, that figure was closer to 900 percent. Ask a handful of young-adult fiction writers what exactly makes a YA novel, though, and you’ll get a handful of conflicting answers.
TRUDY LUDWIG is the author of many books for children, including My Secret Bully and Confessions of a Former Bully. An active member of the International Bullying Prevention Association, she is a sought-after speaker who collaborates frequently with organizations like The Ophelia Project, Hands & Words Are Not For Hurting Project, and Putting Family First.
A good editor is a like a bridge from the writer’s vision to the reader’s desk.
Here is some advice from award-winning author Carole P. Roman for anyone trying to self-publish.