Readercon Edition

This week’s best thing: Readercon!

Mentions:

Hamilton in Baltimore

Fast Color movie

Sycorax’s Daughters – Anthology of Black women horror writers

“What Screenwriters Get Wrong About Outlines” – video with Alan Watt

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope 

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Dragons & Princesses

This week's best thing: I have an outline and started writing Earthsinger Chronicles book 4!!

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope 

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Obligatory Scenes

This week’s best thing(s):

• Honorable Mention: Backstreet Boys subway sing-along
• Winner: Watching Shaka Zulu for the first time

Mentions:

• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle - https://amzn.to/2FJq7a4
• Story Grid Editor Roundtable podcast on Black Panther - https://storygrid.com/editor-roundtable-black-panther/
• The Story Grid by Shawn Coyne - https://amzn.to/2xjNXEZ
• Story by Robert McKee - https://amzn.to/3043Ont

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope 

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Lightbulb Moments

This week's best thing: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Mentions:

Story Grid article: Discover Your Story's Core 

Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Namesake by Kate Stradling

Books with a Past – Maryland indie bookstore

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope 

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Story Essentials: Character Goals & Endings

Storytelling with prerequisites, concrete character goals, and the ever elusive ending.

This week’s best thing: Rocketman movie! Go see it! https://tickets.rocketman.movie/ (I hope Taron Edgerton gets an Oscar nom!)

Mentions:

Beyond the Screenplay podcast – https://www.lessonsfromthescreenplay.com/beyond-the-screenplay/2019/5/3/episode-9-gone-girl-8khy4 

Lessons from a Screenplay Youtube channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErSSa3CaP_GJxmFpdjG9Jw

Deepening character goals article: https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/writing-better-character-goals/#

4 types of endings – https://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/story-endings.html

My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due – http://lpen.co/mysoultokeep

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope 

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud 
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ 
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

017: Drafting Rituals & Telling Myself the Story

Fast drafting, writing rituals, and a mini rant on naming your fantasy months.

"The first draft is just you telling yourself the story." —Terry Pratchett

This week’s best thing: New York Times's Tiny Love Stories - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/style/tiny-modern-love-stories-most-beautiful-hands.html

Mentions:

• Author Darynda Jones on her process: https://writersinthestormblog.com/2015/04/right-braining-with-darynda-jones/
• Alphasmart Neo on eBay
• Time Cubes
• Pacemaker - goal tracking for writers: https://www.pacemaker.press

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope 

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

016: There is no spoon…and other life lessons

This week's best thing: New music from Sleater-Kinney! Video directed by Miranda July!

Mentions:

• Me and You and Everyone We Know - film by Miranda July
• No One Belongs Here More Than You - short story collection by Miranda July
• 20th anniversary of The Matrix - There is no spoon.
• Dramatica story theory - http://dramatica.com/
• Plot Outlining with Dramatica: https://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/plot-outline.html
• Enneagrams: The Psychology of Creating Characters: http://booklaurie.com/workshops_psych.php
• Guardian article - "Watched plots… Hilary Mantel and the writers under pressure from fans" https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/24/watched-plots-hilary-mantel-and-the-writers-under-pressure-from-fans

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope 

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure: I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

015: A Little Each Day

• The Career Author Podcast - https://thecareerauthor.com/
• Readercon - http://www.readercon.org/
• Tananarive Due - https://www.tananarivedue.com/

014: Plotting with Character & Theme

An overview of my first week plotting book 4 in my fantasy series. 

This week’s best thing: Plotting! Perhaps my favorite part of the writing process.

Mentions:

• Michael Hauge character development - This article is what started it all for me in terms of understanding this method for creating inner conflict: http://blog.janicehardy.com/2012/08/the-inner-struggle-guides-for-using.html

• Plot vs. Character by Jeff Gerke - https://amzn.to/2JMZTX0

• Creating Character Arcs by KM Weiland - https://amzn.to/2LVOp6t

• The Negative Trait Thesaurus - with Reverse Character Backstory tool - https://amzn.to/2YJmyIj

• Dan Wells 7 Point Plot Structure - https://hunterswritings.com/2016/09/16/7-point-story-structure-resources/

• Save the Cat Beat Sheet - https://jamigold.com/2012/02/how-to-use-the-save-the-cat-beat-sheet/

• The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin - https://amzn.to/2EuRDrx

Subscribe and view show notes at: https://lpenelope.com/podcast

Website: https://www.lpenelope.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslyepenelope
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlpenelope

Music credit:

Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud
Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM

Affiliate Disclosure:

I may receive compensation for links to products on this site either directly or indirectly via affiliate links. Heartspell Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

013: Terrifying & Fun

• Namesake by Kate Stradling
• Project Management Software
• • Smartsheet
  • Trello
  • Notion
• Calendar templates 
• Write, Better, Faster course
• George RR Martin on endings
• Story Genius by Lisa Cron
• Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland
• • positive, negative & flat character arcs!
• Save the Cat by Blake Snyder