Writing Links

Erik (not the hairy Swede, but the author of science fiction books), read a short story of mine today. I'd given Klund the story to read before, but it was significantly different by the time I handed it to Erik. I'd added some personality to the main character and wove the bits and pieces together more solidly, as well as shredded the last third, which I always felt was the weakest part. I'm still not 100% sure it isn't, at its heart, a retelling of Star Trek I, but I think I buried that thread deep enough that it stands on its own now.

A bit of writing got me digging around again.  I've always dragged my stories with me, from desktop 1, to desktop 2, to desktop n, to laptop, to Dropbox.  But I've got a lot of old material that needs reviewing, despite knowing what I want to work on next (scifi book - it's already 1/8 done, and there are enough notes to flush out the next 180 pages.  But I have to finish the bits and pieces I'm supposed to be pulling together with Ming and Erik [the Hairy Swede this time]).  So this evening I was poking around, organizing interesting publishing and agent links.

• http://www.openculture.com/2012/01/writing_rules.html - an excellent compilation of writing rules by various authors.  I like "never use a verb other than said to carry dialogue."  I'm pretty sure I avoid that rule all the time.  I also like Gaiman saying if someone tells you to fix it, it probably needs it.  If they tell you HOW to fix it, they're probably wrong.
• http://www.sfwriter.com/agent.htm - Robert J. Sawyer talking about how to find an agent.  Apparently "never use a Canadian" is valid advice.
• http://www.meetup.com/MNspec/about/ - the local Meetup group.  It doesn't seem particularly active, although the links for local authors has been updated recently.  
• Minn-Stf - the Minnesota Science Fiction Society.  I get Einblatt, but I can never bring myself to attend an event or convention. I don't even like obsessive bicyclists, and I'm one of them.  How well would I do with obsessive science fiction writers, each with a particular niche.  I think it's funny that their "very sporadic webzine" hasn't been published since before I was born.  Literally.  Ha!  That's some Shakespearian humor.
• http://www.duotrope.com/ - how to search for publishers of fiction.
• http://critters.org/ - a scifi, fantasy, and horror workshop on the web.  You critique and get critiqued.  Haven't tried it yet.
• http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mslee/mag.html - speculative fiction markets compiled by Mary Soon Lee.
• http://www.hughhowey.com/ - Erik (the writer) indirectly sent me this.  A blog by the guy who self-published "Wool" to Amazon.  He breaks down the sales math on Amazon here.
• 10 Writing Rules We Wish More Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Would Break from io9 - I like the point about Lev Grossman's The Magicians being portal fantasy.