lilacfield

1. Via start_writing: Sally Quilford's writing competition calendar has been updated for 2010.

2. Book #18 of imaginarybeasts is out, theme: Winter. Sign-up for Book #19 is open, theme: Apocalypse and Dystopia.

2. Ganked from drabblewriter:
1. Write down the names of 10 characters.
2. Write a fic of fifteen words or less for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1.

1. Yukimura Tokine (Kekkaishi)
2. Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
3. Shinguu Hayato (ARMS)
4. Haruno Sakura (Naruto)
5. Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
6. Linghu Chong (Xiao Ao Jiang Hu)
7. Killua Zaoldyeck (Hunter x Hunter)
8. Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter)
9. Echizen Ryouma (Tennis no Oujisama)
10. Huang Rong (Shediao Yingxiong Zhuan)

( The prompts )

Book #17 of imaginarybeasts is out, theme: Monsters. Sign-up for Book #18 is open, theme: Winter.

The workshop posts in spnroundtable are interesting reading for fanfic writers in general. The most eye-catching post for me is Finishing Work in Progress. :)

Book 15 of imaginarybeasts is out, theme: Cities. The theme for Book 16 is Rogues and Scoundrels.

The White List, "a listing of writers, editors, and other publishing professionals that have LiveJournals or LJ RSS feeds", has been updated.

Writing notes
Added 1,000 more words to the wuxia novel yesterday. I discover I enjoy writing emotionally intense scenes better than expository ones, especially when the parties involved are strong characters who are more than able to hold their own.

I've also discovered that posting your writing progress in public seems to be effective in getting you to actually write because, although not everyone reads it, you would want that, when they do read it, there's something to read, preferably something positive. I'm thinking of doing this regularly, maybe on its own separate posts.

Contributors for Crossed Genres, an SF/F webzine, will now receive payment.

There's a post at start_writing about writing interesting opening paragraphs. It makes me think of my own opening paragraphs, which in the past tended to be rambly and way too descriptive to be interesting. These days I just try to get to the point and avoid gimmicks if I can.
What do you do with your opening paragraph in order to lure the reader in?

Book 11 of imaginarybeasts is out, theme: back to school. Sign-up for Book 12 is open, theme: mythology.

India and the Conundrum #4 is out. Again, my thanks to ayabai for the lovely illustrations.

September's genre at genrechallenge is swashbuckler. Rough, noisy and boastful swordsmen, eh?

Book 10 of imaginarybeasts: Travel. Sign-up for Book 11 is open, theme: Back to school.

This year's sign-up at multific is open. Basically, you make a list of your unfinished bunnies, people cast their votes, and for the bunny that garnered the most votes you write a minimum of 10,000 words before October 24, 2008. I was banned since I participated last year but didn't turn in anything.

Issue #02 of India and the Conundrum is out. Meanwhile, new material has to be submitted by July 22. HALP.

100treasures, 100 prompts for original stories. Five sets of prompts.

India and the Conundrum has been relaunched as a double issue. Go see Issue 01 now, and visit indianconundrum for submission details if you're interested. I'm announcing it this early because I'm so OMG!excited to see a bigger version of that illustration for Elegy. The illustrator is ayabai. Thanks to lacewood for the hard work, and sub_divided for helping with the chapter formatting.

From redbrunja:
"Give me a pairing and I will write you a sentence or two (possibly ficcish, possibly discussion-ish) about the characters' love for each other. Whatever I write will be all about the happy stuff--no breakups, no angst, no irony."

India and the Conundrum, a webzine for serialized original fiction, is being groomed for a relaunch. To learn more, you can head over to indianconundrum, the first post to be more specific. They're open for new serials, by the way.

This month's genre at genrechallenge: child fiction.

Via aiwritingfic: why authors should have blogs. The entry should motivate me to speak up more on everyone's journal, not least my own. (How you become a fast thinker and a verbose person, that's what I need to know)

1. Give me one or two characters, a wuxia AU situation, and I'll make up a scenario for them. For inspiration or refreshing the memory, you can look up the titles of classic wuxia novels here.

2. It’s Not You, It’s Your Books, an article about how people break up because they don't read the same books. The article says women generally read more books than men do (which is why women also tend to write more?), and that "listing your favorite books and authors is a crucial, if risky, part of self-branding." I'm not quite ashamed of admitting that I read, for example, Stephen King, although for the past few years I've been trying to go out of my comfort zone and read books by a diverse range of authors.

3. The eighth book of imaginarybeasts is out, theme: gendertwist. Sign-up for Book 9 is open, theme: steampunk.

4. This month's genre at genrechallenge is satire/parody.

Niteblade Fantasy and Horror Magazine is looking for submissions for an upcoming print anthology.

A fanfic writer meme. ( Short answers are short )

Issue seven of imaginarybeasts is out, themes: magic and science.
Sign-up for book eight is open, theme: gendertwist.

Via amamiyarin: jump_exchange, a fanwork exchange for WJ series. Someone ought to make a comm like this for Shounen Sunday series. Yes, I'm a Sunday fan.