Straight From Hel: bookmark

Showing posts with label bookmark. Show all posts

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Medical Research -- Healia

Writers who are searching the Internet for health information, perhaps for a character, symptom or scene -- here’s a place to get a good start: Healia.

It has a lot of information and is searchable. You can search the web, medical journals and even clinical trials. There are also Health Guides, so if your character has heart disease, you can find the basic information here and that will most likely give you a base on which to build more detailed information.

This site even has its own medical blog. You can follow the blog to get book ideas. Be sure to check the sidebar for other blogs related to medicine.

There are health communities where you can ask experts questions, but I wouldn’t do this unless you have already done extensive research on your own since this isn’t a site dedicated to curious writers, but to patients or people with medical problems or looking for support.

So, if you need to know about breast cancer or asthma or some other medical ailment for a character, here’s a place where you can start your research.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Writers Resource Site: Ask Angela

The “Angela” in Ask Angela is Angela Wilson, “freelance publicist and book blog host diva.” She writes columns on marketing your novel. Sometimes she posts on a daily basis; sometimes weekly. You might want to subscribe to her RSS feed so you’ll be notified of new posts.

As a writer, you’ll find lots of useful information on her blog. Take a look at her post called, “The Art of Critique.” If you’re a published author, check out posts like “Fresh Ideas for the Marketing Weary” or “What You Should Know Before You Hire a Publicist.”

She offers advice on using FaceBook, Twitter, video clips and MySpace. You want to know how to conduct an online contest? Look at her October post called “What’s the Best Way to Conduct a Virtual Contest?”

Her blog is only a little over two months old, but so far it has a lot to offer. If she keeps having great posts, it’ll be a valuable resource for writers, both unpublished and published.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Bookmark: Writers and Authors

Writers and Authors has been nominated for awards, like the Blogger’s Choice Award for Best Blog of All Time. It’s read by people around the world – you can tell that by its Live Traffic Map widget. It has other interesting widgets in its sidebar, like the Online Reference and Writing Contests.

Lots of reasons to go look at Writers and Authors. But the main reason is the posts.

It seemed like in its beginnings Writers and Authors did primarily author interviews, but they’ve branched out

You’ll find book reviews, like the recent one of Wings of an Angel Poetry Collection by Angel Logan. Here’s a snippet:

I see this book as a perfect gift for events when you're not quite sure what to give. … While it is a book of angels and finding oneself, it's not a sappy religious view that overwhelms the reader with issues and provoking thoughts. Instead it has a calming effect, much like a warm lavender filled tub does at the end of a stressful day.

You’ll also find publishing information and tips for authors, along with ideas for writers. Sometimes they have listings of current writing competitions along with more in-depth info on particular conferences.

There’s plenty of new and relevant information on Writers and Authors to make it worth bookmarking. Or, better yet, subscribe to its feed (right after you subscribe to Straight From Hel’s feed, of course).

Friday, October 24, 2008

Bookmark It: Literary Devices

This page, called Literary Devices is part of Mr. Braiman’s English Online. Now, this might be a page for students to study before a literature test. And it’d be good for that.

But it’s also interesting for authors to study – or at least bookmark so you can refer to it. It enables you to put a name to things you do without even realizing you’re doing them. It can also give you ideas.

Do you use anthropomorphism? It’s different than personification. Mr. Braiman defines anthropomorphism as:

Where animals or inanimate objects are portrayed in a story as people, such as by walking, talking, or being given arms, legs, facial features, human locomotion or other anthropoid form.

And what would you do if you were called on stage and asked to speak in iambic pentameter? Run like hell? Well, according to Literary Devices, iambic pentameter is:

A poetic meter wherein each line contains ten syllables, as five repetitions of a two-syllable pattern in which the pronunciation emphasis is on the second syllable.

Now, I bet you’ve used onomatopoeia in your writing. Here’s the example Mr. Braiman uses to demonstrate onomatopoeia:

Remarque uses onomatopoeia to suggest the dying soldier’s agony, his last gasp described as a “gurgling rattle.”

So, visit Mr. Braiman’s page of Literary Devices. Enjoy the read and bookmark it for future reference.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Bookmark It!: Stop, You’re Killing Me!

Not only do I think this site, Stop, You’re Killing Me! Is a great site, a lot of other folks do as well. Stop, You’re Killing Me! just won an Anthony Award for best website. The Anthony Awards were given out at the recent Bouchercon.

Now, this site didn’t win for beautiful photos or soothing color theme. It won for its information. If you read mystery or suspense, you’re gonna love this site. You can search by author names, character names, date written or award winners. There are indices for location, jobs, historical, diversity, and genre.

You want to read a series, but want to start from the beginning and can’t tell which one came first? Check here. Just find the series and the books are listed in order written.

Are you looking for books written in the same style as a beloved author? Look in the Read-Alikes section. It’s like having your very own librarian or friendly bookseller help you choose.

If you’re an author, you can email them to find out where to send your review copies so you can get listed here. Then your fans (and fans-in-the-making) can find you and discover your books.

And if you still want more, sign up for the newsletter.

Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a great resource for both writers and readers of mystery.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Bookmark It!: Donald Maass Literary Agency

Welcome to post # 600!

Today I’m highlighting literary agent Donald Maass’s site, primarily because he’s offering a free download of his ebook, The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success. It downloads in a PDF file and you can save it on your computer to read.

The Donald Maass Literary Agency is in New York, and Maass is known for his workshops and books on writing fiction.

On his site you can find out about the agents at DMLA, including Maass, Jennifer Jackson, Cameron McClure and Stephen Barbara. You can check out their submission guidelines, clients, and speaking schedules of the agents. You can also find out what the agency is currently looking for. (This month, they’re looking for “novels built around an historical event.”)

You can, of course, buy Donald Maass’s books. But for now you can also download one for free.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Bookmark It!: Tiny URL

Here’s a site for you to bookmark. It that won’t really help you with your writing, but could help you in your marketing. It's called Tiny URL.

If you’re out there on the Internet trying to promote your books (and I hope you are), then you’re learning about – or already doing – things like Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, virtual book tours and blogging (among probably a hundred other things).

When you Twitter, you only get 140 characters – that’s characters, not words – to tell your message. If 75 of those characters are taken by the URL you want your tweeps to visit, that doesn’t leave you many characters to tell them why. Let’s say I read one of Mark Troy’s post’s and wanted others to visit. I could put:
http://hawaiian-eye.blogspot.com/2008/10/tagged.html
Or I could Tiny URL it and put:
http://tinyurl.com/3nfk8k

And when you’re on a blog book tour promoting your book and you want to leave a link to a specific page or article, that link can run mighty long. Let’s look at an article on my site called 30 Tips for Blog Tour Hosts. The full URL is:
http://helenginger.com/blogging_advice.htm#blogtips
The Tiny URL is:
http://tinyurl.com/6ocrq7

Of course, sometimes you don’t have to worry about how long the URL is. You can embed the link so that the word or title becomes a hot link. If I had embedded the above link it would have looked like this: 30 Tips for Blog Tour Hosts. When you do that, the length of the URL doesn’t really matter.

But other times, it can matter. If the link is not embedded and it breaks and then when people click, only part of the link actually works which means the entire link doesn’t work.

So, if you haven’t bookmarked Tiny URL, then give it a try. It’s very easy to use.

Another thing that's very easy to use is this link: Emma Larkins, Emerging Author
I'm being interviewed today on Emma's blog. Stop by and ask a question or leave a comment. I don't say anything particularly smart, outlandish or disturbing.... But you can!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008

BookMark It!: Electric Scotland

If you need to research Scotland or things Scottish, try visiting Electric Scotland. Want to look at pictures of Scotland? They have those, along with pictures of castles and historic sites.

Speaking of historic, if you’re writing a historical set in Scotland, you can find a lot of history about Scotland here.

Need to know about the House of Tartan for your fashion book? Hey! I hear the Tartan plaid is all the rage this year. I know nothing about fashion, but I did hear that on the morning news. Really. Anyway, you can research the weaving mills of Scotland here.

Need a bit of Scottish poetry for a character? They got it – poems and stories both.

And, ya know, your character can be a Scotsman and not even live in Scotland. Check out the page on Scottish Connection around the World.

Electric Scotland is a huge site – great for research and also great for getting so immersed in that you lose track of time!

Friday, September 05, 2008

Bookmark It!: Candid Canine

Now, you may be wondering why I would offer a site called Candid Canine as a blog worth bookmarking for writers. You probably think it’s about dogs, don’t you?

Well, you’d be right – and wrong. There is a bit of dog in this blog, but what really dominates the conversation is miniatures. Christine Verstraete makes them, talks about them, introduces you to others who make miniatures.

Can you think of why it might be valuable to bookmark such a blog? Think of ways miniatures could be used in a plot. Remember CSI and its long-running miniature serial killer? Can you think of a storyline involving miniatures for your romance novel? How about for a horror novel – now there’s one to consider!

So I say, visit this blog. Soak up her posts. Get ideas for your work. You might even want to take a look at her YA book staring the candid canine in her title. And bookmark it so you’ll have it handy when a miniature idea turns into a blockbuster.