WriteWorld: Where Your Ideas Come From
One of the most frequent questions I get as a writer is “where do you get your ideas from?” I’m always a bit baffled at first because sometimes I’m not really sure. It’s a difficult question to answer and I don’t think you can be a writer unless you have the ability to see…
This is fantastic advice! I’m an extrovert, but I always come up with my story ideas when I’m by myself for long stretches of time—driving, walking to the subway, while shopping, etc.
Hank's Tumblr: Thoughts on the Yahoo! Thing
First, I love Tumblr and want to keep loving it. And yes, it is immediately terrifying to hear that Yahoo (which, from a lot of our perspectives, is a laughably backwards and culturally irrelevant company) is going to own Tumblr, I sympathize.
But there are a number of circumstances in which…
WELL I FOR ONE AM TERRIFIED.
Today my cat was sleeping on my pillow while I made my bed. So I made my bed around her.
EDIT 5/21: Oops I meant to post this on my personal blog, not YW haha, but in the mean time I guess Whitey has become an Internet sensation!Miracle Ezine and Nostrovia! Poetry present...(A Publishing Opportunity for Poets)
Nostrovia! Poetry and Miracle Ezine are excited to present you with another publishing opportunity and chance to get your name out there, especially through this particular publication. This is a micro-chapbook/contest/anthology hybrid.
The anthology features the winner and short-list of a micro-chapbook contest. The winner is published in his/her own Nano Poem Collection (micro-chapbook), and also featured in an anthology of 5 other poet’s who made the short list.
^Check it yeah writers! -Liv
it’s called AAVE, you [oh let’s censor this]
I hate how people here think that “proper general English” is the only way to speak English and all the others are considered “idiocy” like if language has anything to do with intelligence. I’m not even from the U.S. and I know this better than most of you.
Below is a list of all English dialects in North America:
American English - Standard American English is the general form
- Cultural
- Regional
- New England English
- Inland Northern American English (includes western and central upstate New York)
- Mid-Atlantic dialects
- Inland Northern American English (Lower peninsula of Michigan, northern Ohio and Indiana, Chicago, part of eastern Wisconsin and upstate New York)
- North–Central American English (primarily Minnesota, but also most of Wisconsin, the Upper peninsula of Michigan, and parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa)
- Yooper dialect (Upper Peninsula of Michigan and some neighboring areas)
- Midland American English
- North Midlands English (thin swath from Nebraska to Ohio)
- St. Louis
- South Midland (thin swath from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania)
- Southern English
- Western English
- Hawaiian Pidgin
Canada
Bermuda
Native/American indigenous peoples
Native American/indigenous peoples of the Americas English dialects:
From the New England accents Wiki:
Some speakers of the Western New England dialect—especially those from the region surrounding the major cities of Springfield, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut, along theConnecticut River—replace “t” with a glottal stop and replace “-ing” with “in’”. This would mean that those who do such would pronounce (for example) “sitting” as “sih-in’”, New Britain as “New Brih-nn”, and Clinton as “Clin-nn,” etc. T-glotallizing is found in other parts of the country as well, to varying degrees; however, it is prevalent in Southwestern New England.
I totally do this. I can’t say “mountain” or “kitten”; I say “mau-in” and “kih-en”. My parents always give me a hard time and it’s SO FUCKING ANNOYING. One time my stepmom told me that it made me sound less smart, which is ironic because I’m the most educated person in my entire extended family, and I wouldn’t think that a speech affect that makes you sound like you’re from Connecticut would dumb you down.
Seriously though, I met so many ultra-intelligent people with thick Southern accents when I was at UNC, and met so many idiots with perfect British accents when I lived in London. The accent=intelligence stereotype has totally been broken for me, which I’m quite thankful about.
Okay sorry /end rant.
(via worddocs)
Your Writing and How to Take It Further
Hey yeah writers—check out our first guest blog, from indie new publisher Rowanvale Books. If you’re looking to semi-self publish, definitely check them out! In the mean time, these are great tips that they shared with us to help you have a very well-rounded writerly life. Enjoy! -Liv
Join a Writers’ Group or club in your area. Not only will you meet new people, and potentially good friends and contacts, but it never hurts to get a bit of objective advice. You will improve your critiquing skills by discussing others’ work, which you can then apply to your own writing. You also may well gain valuable nuggets of information that extend further than ‘writing’ itself – groups often discuss publishing as an industry, e-books, bookshops, agents, courses, and who knows what else. Writers’ Groups sometimes have speakers, too, which provide excellent networking opportunities with authors, editors, publishers and agents. The same goes for conferences, if you can get to them, and there a fair few webinars out there too.
I have a big empty wall in my room and I kinda just wanna do built in bookshelves and a ladder so that I can do this^ every day.
Did anyone actually read “The Great Gatsby”?
One spring just before the financial crisis struck, students at Princeton University threw a Gatsby party. “It’s going to be big,” said an organizer, promising all the trappings of the novel’s soirees. “It’s going to be grandiose.” Gatsby parties are common, but this one stands out for its extravaganceâthe expected outlay was $20,000âand the particular irony…
I mean, of course we all did. So we can read this article and laugh at the plebeians.
Writing is physical work. It’s sweaty work. You can’t just will yourself to become a good writer. You really have to work at it.
(via worddocs)
I just want to give a shout out to all the teachers who made me rephrase my question to “I mean, may I go to the bathroom.” I rolled my eyes then but now I say to you Touché, Madam, touché.
In a note to Fitzgerald, Hemingway shows he was better at being aggressive than passive-aggressive.
For more of this morning’s roundup, click here.
Prompt idea by rosewinterborn:
You [or your character] go for a walk in the middle of the night and come across a gateway to another world. What do you [or your character] do, and what do you find?
Submit Your Story | Yeah Write!
“Until the mid-nineteenth century, most authors published their books at their own expense—Walt Whitman, for example, self-published (and typeset!) Leaves of Grass.
Self-publishing could change from stigma to bragging point—maybe we could change the term to “artisanal publishing” and foster the image of authors lovingly crafting their books with total control over the process.
What would you rather read: a mass-produced or artisanal book?”
Side B Magazine is devoted to publishing unknown and underrepresented voices in the contemporary arts world. We believe that all people have the right to read, see, and hear stories that affirm their identity.
Consequently, we have a special interest in publishing and promoting the work of women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ people, working class people, and people with disabilities, especially in the beginning of their careers.
Side B has published eight print issues, a special anthology issue, ran an arts and culture blog for two years, and are currently accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue due in July.
We are currently accepting submissions for fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Please review our submission guidelines page before you submit.
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We need more nonfiction pieces! Please pitch ideas to sidebstaff@gmail.com
(via sidebmagazine)
Prompt idea by headphonesdeepinthought:
Write a story about a father looking for his son. The child was one of the passengers in a plane that crashed earlier that day.
Submit Your Story | Yeah Write!
