Links

This is going to be a short one this week. I have a new time commitment that I'm not sure I can talk about on the blog. That makes it sound much more exciting than it is, and it has nothing to do with publication or fame. But anyway, I've been working on this project a lot this week, so there went all my blogging time.

So here are some links for your enjoyment! Here's hoping that none of them have been posted on the blog before.

Some enterprising individual has collected the rules of magic from most popular fantasy series together in one huge chart. For someone who still feels like a newbie at designing magic systems (as described in earlier posts), I really love going over the chart, and seeing the commonalities and differences of magic systems. Interesting that the 'how to defeat magic' column is so empty...

(Someone on this blog definitely might have given me this link. If so, sorry for not crediting you. :( If only my memory were better...)

Everyone knows about David Farland's Daily Kick in the Pants, right? He publishes short and sweet tips on everything from designing your book covers to grammar to worldbuilding. One of my recent favorite posts is on the best way to hook a reader (and it doesn't have to do with the first 13!)

In fact, have you ever noticed that we don’t really have genres? We tend to buy our books based upon the emotions that they promise to arouse—romance, thrills, horror, wonder (in SF and fantasy), justice in Westerns, and so on...

Yet authors often fail to recognize what their readers’ needs are. I can't tell you how many times I've read stories for science fiction or fantasy contests that failed to arouse any sense of wonder at all--tens of thousands, obviously.

Interesting. I think some of my favorite fantasy authors (Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia McKillip) are quite skilled at conveying that sense of wonder. 

Finally, I think everyone here knows what day it is, a special day that many here have been planning for.

That's right, it's my cousin Jennifer's birthday! 

(That's her on the far right, and me on the far left, with my sister and grandmother in between).

I'm kidding, of course - today is the start of NaNoWriMo. I'm not participating this year, but I'll be here cheering on those brave, creative souls who are. You can do it! I believe in you. :)