For Writers

I have two announcements of possible interest to the writers who read this blog. The first concerns an interesting contest the extremely talented DBA Lehane is holding. The details are on his blog, Short Short Fiction. His blog post provides the links to the actual site where the contest is being held. Note that the deadline has been extended; there is a notice on the site hosting the contest. I encourage anyone who can come up with a good story meeting the requirements of the competition to enter.

Also, I have a few minor resources to share with any writers who are interested. Since blogs aren't set up for downloading files directly (and I could probably set up a link to remotely download the files, but I'd be forever tweaking it) just visit my public E-Snips folder, Writers Helps. Everything there is free.

There is a sample of one of Holly Lisle's books, the Create a Plot Clinic; as I already mentioned, I have become an affiliate of her shop. In this case, you don't have to rely on my judgment (and writers are different, so even a book I found helpful might not be for you). Download the sample and look it over. If it doesn't look helpful, all you'll have wasted was a bit of time reading. If you do find it helpful, pass the sample along to a friend once you get the full copy.

There is also a character creation checklist I made up a while ago. If you use that kind of thing, it might help you. It is free, and you can make as many copies as you like for yourself; all I ask, if you want to share, is that you point your friends to the Writers Helps folder. There is also a PDF for a very experimental form of manuscript paper I designed. That probably won't be right for many of you, but if it is, enjoy it!