Spring Connections for Writers

Don’t look now, but spring is just around the corner. Here is a fresh list of writers’ resources we hope will inspire you.

Call Me Ishmael: Do you have a beloved book and a story to go with it? If so, you might enjoy this delightful way to share both. Use the phone number on the website, and leave a voicemail about your book and its story. The stories are transcribed and shared weekly.

Hootsuite.com: This social media dashboard lets you manage multiple networks and profiles and measure results. Most plans are fee-based, but there is a free version. All allow you to measure your social media growth.

IngramSpark: IngramSpark is an online publishing tool that offers access to a vast distribution network for books and e-books. This is a fee-based service, but you can begin for free.

Internet Archive: This free library of millions of books, movies, software and music is especially useful for research and offers access to historical collections in digital format.

Literistic: Each month Literistic collects and emails submission deadlines for literary publications, contests and fellowships. The full service is fee-based, but the shortlist is free.

The Write Life: This site is one-stop shopping for the writer, with free articles, markets and news – and you can write for them, too.

Writers Write: Similar to The Write Life, this service offers free content for the writing community in the form of articles, markets and news.

Happy writing!

Story as Tapestry: Of Plot and Subplots

Most stories have the potential for more than one storyline or plot, and that can produce a rich tapestry as long as the threads are chosen well and woven properly.

A basic definition of plot is what happens in a story, or, more precisely, the main events. The bigger events, whose impact is usually on the main characters, form the main plot. The lesser events, whose impact is more on secondary characters, form the subplot, of which there may be more than one. When revising your story, one question to consider is: Does the subplot overshadow the plot?

If this is the case, the reason may lie in the strength, or lack thereof, of the main characters. If so, consider how to strengthen the main characters. If they’re right for the story as-is, look closer at the secondary characters. They may be more integral to the overall work than first appeared. If so, consider changing the balance of characters and storylines. Selecting new narrative threads can create an entirely new design.

Share your writing journey and queries on plot and subplot with Word for Words. Happy writing!

The Writer's Voice of Experience

Stevenson Dam, CT

One key quality the agents and editors at last fall’s Ridgefield Writers Conference said they still thrill to find in a writer is voice. Voice can be defined in more than one way, but one description is how the writing sounds. It’s not just what the writer says but how she says it.

One factor that shapes a writer’s voice is her experience, not just those that are formative, but the ones that are transformative. This doesn’t necessarily mean the writer keeps rewriting her own story in different forms, although that’s sometimes true. It means that writers usually write best with their experience, thought not from it. But can voice be cultivated, or is it a gift?

Voice isn’t something that’s created so much as revealed, and nothing reveals it better than when the writer writes what she’s passionate about. Sometimes it takes a few paragraphs, pages, chapters or even an entire novel to unearth this discovery, but when you get there, you'll know it. The moment may come at a turning point in the story, through a simple setting description or even in a seemingly insignificant scene, but when you find your voice you’ll suddenly feel the story and characters come alive.

Share your queries on voice and your writing journey at Word for Words.