10 Interesting Links For Readers and Writers 2/28/14

1. The Difficulty for Men Writing Female Characters - Women can create great male characters, but men often struggle with female characters. Here's a good overview of why. (via Hobbes Lives)

2. Great Character Descriptions from Science Fiction and Fantasy Books - The introduction of a new character can be a great moment. Here are some of the best. (via io9)

3. The squalid truth about call girl lit - There are some really popular novels and memoirs about high-class prostitutes. Here's a good editorial about how they glamorize a very ugly reality. (via Femail)

4. How Not To Write Female Characters - Another good article on writing women. In case you haven't guessed, I've been researching this topic. (via impishidea.com)

5. Beginner's Guide To Book Cover Design - As someone who's dabbled in designing his own book covers, I can say it's given me new respect for the art form. Here are some really good tips on cover design. (via Hongkiat)

6. Writing a Strong Book Description, a.k.a. The Blurb - Another skill I've had to learn in self-publishing is the art of writing a good blurb. This article goes over a good system for creating the perfect copy. (via Digital Pubbing)

7. 4 Easy Steps to Creating the Perfect Book Blurb - I love this article, a perfect four point system for creating a blurb. (via Digital Book World)

8. Fear of Flash Gordon and Sibling Rivalry: Why Authors Use Pen Names - I've known a few authors who've used pen names, and I have considered using them throughout my career. I think indie publishing takes away one of the major reasons for them (pressure from publishers), but there are other reasons why authors use pseudonyms. This is a good overview. (via Bookriot)

9. Why is Indie Music So Much Cooler than Indie Books? - One thing I'll never understand is why the band in their garage playing music is cool, but an author writing his own novel is not. Here's why. (via Indie Reader)

10. 11 Movies You Won't Believe Were Made Into Novels - When I was a kid, we didn't go to a lot of movies, so I read a lot of novelizations. Bad ones. How about Clueless: a novel based on a movie based on a Shakespearean play? That and ten more crazy novelizations (via Huffington Post).

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10 Interesting Links For Readers and Writers 1/17/14
10 Interesting Links for Readers and Writers 12/27/13

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