drusillas_rain

I seem to be in a weird headspace today of productive (Finished project! Invoicing! Cleaning! Email!) and kind of hating the world every time I look at a news site.

So, have some links instead of a rant or whining.

1. Nathan Bransford has some thoughts and links on self-publishing and e-fiction millionaires here.
I read a lot, both published "real" books and fanfiction, and I've frequently been frustrated when a book I've bought or borrowed from the library is in need of an editor and is of poorer quality than free fanfic. Yes, there's a lot of bad fanfiction out there, but there's also some really good stuff, and if some of these people are self-publishing original work, I'm interested in reading it. The example listed of Amanda Hocking who has sold a million copies of her 9 books is fascinating, and I'm definitely going to check out her work.

2. A really good post on why words can affect us and why it's not just about being politically correct when you don't use words such as "retarded" or "gay" in a derogatory manner. As writers, we are encouraged to be careful with our words and choose them deliberately. A person who is affected with mental retardation is not broken or disposable or any number of adjectives you can find in urban dictionary. They're a person and someone's loved one.

3. a) This book has a completely cracky premise and is a must-have in pretty much every fandom I've ever been in. The basic premise is that the main character's husband dies and then he becomes a dog. It's been added to my eventually read list.

b) This got me thinking - how many other fandom tropes can be turned into serious, original fiction? I kind of want to create an anthology of short stories with this theme (if only I was in the publishing industry). Maybe if there's interest, we could use AO3 for this? *Goes off to ponder*

4. This is a really long, but incredibly worthwhile article to read. It describes and teaches in great detail how to improve your writing by avoiding an exposition dump through dialogue. If you only click on one of my links (and you're a writer/aspiring writer), this is the one!
From the post: if a statement doesn’t serve any purpose other than revealing a fact to the reader, as opposed to the character to whom it is said, then it’s Hollywood narration. And it should go — to free up page space for more intriguing material and good writing.

5. And now for some candy:

a) Dirt·y -adjective (dirtier, dirtiest) (Sherlock/John) by aslipperysloth
One of those rare fics where the dirty talk was actually hot and dirty (YMMV).

b) For reading this far, here's Alex O'Loughlin (Steve McGarrett in Hawaii Five-0) in a really hot hot hot photoshoot for GQ.