Thoughts for Writers – Links from the Week

I may not have been very successful in actively writing this week, but the extra time allowed me to read and find some good links for writers.

Links for Writers

Rant on putting your characters through absolute hell – this LiveJournal post from 2005 made a comeback via twitter this week. Some punishing situations to really bring out the worst in your hero.
To celebrate the end of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), Writers Digest offered a large sale on Monday only. The NaNoWriMo collection put together at Writers Digest also offered these savings.
The Atlantic Online asks When Does a Writer Become a Writer, quoting French writer Alexis Jenni who has recently won the country’s top literary prize.
Another repeat storm took over the twittersphere for a while – via “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell’s suggestion that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something. Several writing hashtags saw writers working out how many hours of writing practice they may have already put in. The topic was later answered personally in an article by Tess Hardwick published at Write on Edge entitled The Miracle of Voice.
What makes a good book? A guest post by Tahlia Newland lists some good points. Author of urban fantasies, some of Tahlia’s points are equally at home for the suspense/mystery or thriller writer. Although she does dislike cliffhanger endings.
Writer’s Digest published The 90 Top Secrets of Bestselling Authors – categorised quotes. I like No 75 which I quote below.
Vicki Keire, via the ROW80 writer’s challenge blog told us 5 Ways to Fail at Writing
Author Sam Sykes had a morale-boosting take on why writers shouldn’t despair, in response to one telling us how much being a writer sucks. (Via Deniz Bevan, who won NaNoWriMo this week)
Genreality – an excellent writer’s blog, discusses why Authors are the Gatekeepers now but must do 10 things to succeed. In this they state that “99.5% of indie/self-published authors will be gone in two years. Others will take their place. And be gone in two years”.
Ava Joe, at Writability, reminds us Why Writers Must Read – link via another excellent website/blog for writers – Sydney’s Writer’s Centre (via Twitter)