Friday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

Tomorrow I’m running in the Queen Bee Half Marathon in Cincinnati, Ohio, with my daughter. It will be my last race before foot surgery in early November, which might end my running career. Since I only started running in 2011 (at 61), it’s not like it will end a lifelong passion, but it has become a very joyful part of my life. Part of that joy comes from sharing the experience with Lynn. We ride to races together. We stand at the starting line together, and that’s the last I see of her until I finish long after she does. Knowing she’s on the course, too, makes the race a very special mother-daughter event.

For the last several months, I’ve spent twelve to fifteen hours a day at the computer finishing and editing THE SAPPHIRE BROOCH, and I need to step away from the computer for a day or two. I don’t think it will be a beautiful fall day on Saturday (cool and rainy), but sometimes you have to look below the surface to find the beauty. And if I do, I will certainly discover a gorgeous day. The book is halfway through editing, the cover is done, I’m racing with my daughter, and life is grand!

Happy writing and running, Kathy

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EMOTIONAL DESCRIPTION: 3 COMMON PROBLEMS WITH SHOW & TELL

By: Angela Ackerman

Writing compelling emotional moments is the lifeblood of any story and the key to building a relationship between characters and readers. Yet steering clear of the show-don’t-tell pitfalls requires practice and skill. I’m reposting this from where it originally appeared at Romance University to shed light on three scenarios that challenge writers as they search for the right balance of emotional description.

Telling

Telling is a big issue, especially when writers are still getting to know their characters. Often they do not yet have enough insight into the hero’s personality and their motivation to really be able to describe how they feel in a unique way. Instead of using a vivid and authentic mix of body language, thoughts, dialogue and visceral sensations, writers convey emotion in broad, telling strokes:

EXAMPLE:

Bill had to steel himself emotionally before entering the church. He’d managed to avoid his family for seven years, but his father’s funeral wasn’t something he could blow off. Anger and jealousy welled inside him as he thought of his two older brothers, the ones who always impressed Dad by being just like him: athletic, manly, hard. Now he would have to face them, and hear once again how he was a failure, a disappointment, an abomination that should have done the world a favor and hung himself from the Jackson family tree.

What’s wrong with this passage?

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Emotional Description: 3 Common Problems with Show & Tell - WRITERS HELPING WRITERSWRITERS HELPING WRITERS http://ow.ly/CuCM9
2. 5 Moral Dilemmas That Make Characters (& Stories) Better | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/CuD3x
3. Writer Unboxed » Squeezing out the Stupid http://ow.ly/CuD9g
4. Pub Hub: Walk the Walk: Accept Critique http://ow.ly/CuDgE
5. A Unique Way to Develop Conflict in Your Novel for Pantsers - Writer's Fun Zone http://ow.ly/CuG2p
6. Use This Tip to Test if You’re Showing or Telling http://ow.ly/CuGi8
7. Fiction as Art: Going Back to the Beginning » Writeonsisters.com http://ow.ly/CuGpo
8. WOW! Women On Writing Blog: High-Concepting Your Nano Novel with Agent Sally Apokedak http://ow.ly/CuGHm
9. Karen Woodward: How To Write A 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Story http://ow.ly/CuGQD
10. What You Need To Know About Your Second Draft « terribleminds: chuck wendig http://ow.ly/CuH4g
11. Cause and Effect: Understanding Story Flow | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/CuHge
12. Give Customers What They Want | Hugh Howey http://ow.ly/CuHAh
13. 5 Unusual Ways to Benefit from Twitter Ads | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/CuHOr
14. Using Pubslush to Fund Your Next Book | Lindsay Buroker http://ow.ly/CuHSX
15. How to Get Traffic to Your Author Website: 30+ Tips for Discouraged Writers | Your Writer Platform http://ow.ly/CuJ2j
16. Selling Direct, the "Buy Local" of eBooks - Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/CuJ98
17. Advice for the Overworked Indie Author | Wise Ink's Blog for Indie Authors about Self-Publishing http://ow.ly/CuJnu
18. The Series Sales Advantage - BookBub Unbound http://ow.ly/CuJxT
19. Selling Direct, the "Buy Local" of eBooks - Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/Cw8AZ
20. Amazon Kindle Unlimited vs. Scribd vs. Oyster: E-book subscriptions battle it out - CNET http://ow.ly/Cw9zm
21. Graphic Design for Authors Part 6: Collateral Design and Strategy - Author Allies http://ow.ly/Cws89