Links GALORE

Hello everyone,

This is Ashley, finally in the mood for summer. I haven't been around the Writer's guild lately but I have been writing(a little bit).

Apparently, I have reached a state of nirvana in all subjects concerning writing. At last, I have finished the registration process for university which means all that's really left is finding money(bursaries and scholarships, where are you? ;) ) and starting my year in September. Oh, and cleaning my room.
Next on the list, I decided to start doing some random research on fantasy publishing and the result was surprising. Admittedly, I didn't find a specific publishing house or the like but a kind fellow answering someone's question on Yahoo! Answers actually gave a few pretty good websites to look at. Yes, there were the usual: agent listings, Writer's Digest, etc. but then there was one that really stood out. A forum for writer's!

This is the first link you'll want to visit. It's a site called Absolute Write: http://absolutewrite.com/ (pretty easy, right?)
Well, the site can be a little difficult. I'm still navigating my way around slowly but surely and there is one huge thing that can be very confusing. On many of its pages, it appears as if it's a very short page with three books advertised at the top, one of their mottoes and a couple of links. In reality, there's a whole other section underneath(just have to scroll down) depending on what page your on. So what's first?
Sign up! This is definitely a site you'll want in your repertoire and if you want to discuss, you do have be a member(like any forum really). The great part is that it is free. The better part is the information you'll be able to join in on. The even better part is that you can have signatures including sites that you participate in (especially like this one(Publicity!)) and the best part is that their forums are for serious discussions. No internet flaming, trolling or general negativity. It is best to check out http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66315 first since it gives you the lay down on basic 'netiquette' plus the link to sign up(which I haven't been able to find anywhere else on the site). just remember to scroll down after clicking the sign up link and you will find the sign up stuff.

Alright, so what WILL you find in the forums? Well, so far, I have been in the Writing for Kids, Novels, AW Library(PUBLICITY!!! =) ) sections and I have yet to look at the Young Adult, Short Fiction, Nonfiction, Script, Stage, and Screen, Poetry, or the Comic Books and Graphic Novels sections. As you can see "we serve all kinds here." When I was looking around I couldn't help but notice that any question asked on the threads were answered. That's more proof of what a large community it is and if you want to say something, it won't go unnoticed. I know we have a few writers on this blog that could really help in answering questions for new writers and all of us could greatly benefit from this plethora of resources. Which is funny, because by this point you haven't even clicked on the actual resources portion of the website. This area is more for outgoing links, such as literary agent blogs, workshop information and writer's organizations.
Wow, and that was only the first link. Of course the first also led to this goldmine. I now have two links I'm definitely keeping around for future use.

1) http://www.buzzymag.com/submissions/
Buzzy Mag is currently accepting Science Fiction, Fantasy and/or Horror short stories. Read the whole page for understanding.

2)http://www.shortstorycompetition.com/Guidelines.php
I am taking you straight to the guidelines for this contest since it is generally the first part a person wants to see. There's money in this competition and you have quite a while to perfect your short story(under 3500 words, any theme).

I have mentioned these three sites before, but never on the blog(well, one was, I think). Two are perfect for feedback, especially if you know how to use the sites to their greatest potential.

The first site is called Writing.Com. Guess how you get there... exactly! Their name is also their URL. This is a site where the most popular phrase is Write On! Once again, you do have to sign up but it is free AND you won't receive pesky emails from them. Instead, you have an in-site email which I find is the best part of the whole thing. Your initial account, because it is free, will only allow you to create 10 items(10 poems, 10 short stories, mix and match and whatnot). So unless you do start paying for a subscription, feedback can only go so far here. What you really want from this site is its newsletters. These are people taking time out of every week or so to create an information resource for you. I am currently signed up for practically all of them. Now I have information at the ready on how to design characters, edit, review, outline and so much more at the ready. I know I read out one of the newsletters at a meeting about the different ways to kill people. Of course, upon signing up for that newsletter, you won't receive older ones. instead just check out the newsletter archives and you can check out what you've missed.
Now, if you do decide to be a paying member, you're golden. Access to more items, the ability to enter official contests, and over all more publicity... this is the serious writer's website. But if there is anything else that I really loved about WC(its short form) it was being able to read others works. It is a great helping community. But I'd also like to drive home the idea that they are very, very serious. I remember when I signed up, a rather naive teenager looking for information and wow, did my heart ever beat faster when I read that I was giving them permission to contact the government or I for identification verification and just how quickly I could end up in trouble with the law if I wasn't honest. But then I relaxed. Because, just after I put up my first item, I understood why it was necessary to go to such extremes. Underneath your item is the most glorious symbol ever. A copyright. Proof that the work belongs to you and only you. Your work is under your control and you are simply allowing it to be viewed in a public domain. Hence, they really want to make sure they know who you are.

The second site that I absolutely adore is DeviantArt. Just add .com on the end and you have their website. This site is more art-oriented but if you can find the right people you can get to be pretty popular. It's a really great way to send out previews of what you are working on and get feedback. Just as warning though, "thar be trolls." Yes trolls. A race of people that exist solely to torment other internet users. the best defense against these creatures is simply to leave them be and abide by Murphy's Law. In any conversation with them you will always come out worst.
Jokes aside, DA(its short form) is very useful for finding tutorials and other writers to chat with.

The final site is NaNoWriMo. Just add .org onto the end of the name. I have mentioned this site on the blog before(I am 99.9% sure of that). It's largest use is in November where you are challenged to write 50,000 coherent words in a month. By coherent I mean don't write the same thing over and over again. Otherwise, you can be as cliché and insane as you want. Plot holes await and by the end you may feel like you only accomplished making a 50,000 word outline. But that's not true. You have likely killed off more characters than you can count, probably killed or beaten up the main character one or two times and set something on fire.Especially on the 5th of November if I remember. ;) But most importantly you at least have gotten a few things right. After 50,000 words, the likelihood is that you now have an IDEA of where you are going. Plus you now know that you can write 50,000 words which is the minimum consideration for a novel. Awesome.

Indeed, that was links GALORE. I hope that you find interest in at least one of these sites and the motivation to write just one more word(and another, and another, and perhaps... another).

Ashley Haworth
http://www.writing.com/main/portfolio/view/mizu_doragon
http://alexia-shriver.deviantart.com/
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/258163
ahshriver@gmail.com