The Wednesday Web Browser for Writers
![Rcake](https://www.erikadreifus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Rcake.jpg)
Over on the information-packed, multi-author Beyond the Margins blog, Randy Susan Meyers has begun a series of “What do Do Before Your Book Debuts” posts. The first post outlines some beginning steps; the second focuses on author websites and blogging; and in due course we’ll be reading about “Publicists, Marketing, Launch Parties, MANNERS! and more.” I’ll be following along and trying to learn what I might have done more effectively before my story collection, Quiet Americans, was published.
Meantime, here’s wishing you all an extra-wonderful New Year’s weekend. See you back here in 2012!
I’ll be honest: I didn’t find Philip Martin’s slim new book, How To Write Your Best Story, on my own. Rather, it found me: I was in the middle of some struggles with a short story of my own when the author–whose anthology for writers I’d previously reviewed and admired–contacted me and asked if I’d like to receive a complimentary copy.
Subtitled “advice for writers on spinning an enchanting tale,” this is a nice, focused little book (about 100 pages) that concentrates on three specific “aspects of story.” As Martin writes: “A story needs the other normal things too: good characters, a plot that works, and all that. But in my experience, a story will sink or swim based on the appeal of those three elements: intriguing eccentricity to draw us in, delightful details to make us enjoy the course of the story, and a satisfying conclusion to wrap it up well.” I liked especially Martin’s choice of quotations throughout; I was less enthralled with “The Princess and the Apple,” a story that threads throughout the book to illustrate concepts.
What I discovered only after reading the book is that there’s a blog to accompany and complement it. There, you will find a much more complete sense of what the book offers and how Martin presents his material than I’ve been able to give you here.
With that, I wish you all a great weekend. See you back here on Monday!