After another cloudy, monsoon season weekend here in otherwise sunny Arizona, it’s time, again, for the Monday Messenger. Before I drop the latest and hottest links in the self-publishing world, I’d like to share with you a schedule of posts coming up in what will prove to be a busy week here at Ruminating:
Monday: Monday Messenger (duh!)
Tuesday: Review of the novella My Life in Darkness and interview with its author, Harrison Drake
Wednesday: Harrison Drake reviews my short story, The Scorpion Nest, and interviews me (Ruminating will provide the link to his blog)
Thursday: First available excerpt from Agents of Chaos, book two in the Agents of Change Series
Without further ado, here are four of the best links out there for indie authors:
How to Write Decision and Action Scenes
StavrosHalvatzis.com
A former screenwriting teacher and indie author, Stavros Halvatzis deftly gives us the rundown on the construction of Decision and Action Scenes. When you read the breakdown, it’s amazing how half of storytelling is artistry and the other half is pretty much following a scientific formula. If you have trouble transitioning from quiet scenes to action scenes, give this post a read.
As a bonus link, check out Mr. Halvatzis’ breakdown of the Decision Scene’s predecessor, the Realization Scene.
So You Want to Write? What’s Stopping You?
Eliza Loves Sci Fi
If you’re one of countless people on this earth that are on the fence about whether or not to start writing, or you need some motivation to keep on truckin’, check out Eliza’s post.
The Five Mistakes Killing Self-Published Authors
Kristen Lamb’s Blog
This is one of my favorite posts in a while. There are some great tips in this post. The gist: if you’re an indie author and you’ve only published one book, marketing the heck out of that one book on social media is a misuse of your valuable time (unless all you want to do is sell that one book, in which case, the odds will probably not be in your favor.)
Make Your Fight Scenes 20% Cooler
Omnivoracious (Susan J. Morris)
As an action/suspense writer, I understand the tendency for some writers (myself included) to want to write the craziest, most heart-pounding, most badass fight scenes ever read by man (and woman). In our zeal, though, we sometimes forget that we are writing these scenes for our readers’ enjoyment, not just our own. Susan J. Morris gives us four key things all writers should be doing when writing their fight scenes.
Thanks for linking to my post. Hope your readers enjoy it
Eliza, thanks for commenting and for writing such a brilliant post!