Instead of being overly concerned with what’s going on in the world of writing and publishing, I thought I’d share some of the articles that are a bit of fun for this week’s round up:
Why Do Writers Drink? (The Guardian): Okay, I’m not immune to sometimes imbibing when on a writing kick or more likely a writing slump. My drink of choice for writing tends to be wine. Beer just makes me want to chill out. A martini, especially a dirty martini with three olives, makes me feisty. Wine provides me a little relief sometimes from the negative voices in my head that tell me that every word that I’m writing is terrible. Mind you, I don’t do this very often. And my drink of choice when I’ve finished a serious amount of word count is single malt scotch, preferably older than 15 years old. My answer to whether I do drink when writing is yes I do occasionally. But the article showcases some of the more famous authors who were known for drinking.
Writing Tips by Henry Miller and More (openculture.com): There’s a fun collection of writing tips from Henry Miller, Elmore Leonard, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman & George Orwell on this page. There are some gems in here, some funny tips, and some that I would tattoo on my writing soul.
“The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can.” – Neil Gaiman
16 Fancy Literary Techniques Explained By Disney (buzzfeed.com): The subtitle to the article is, “Because why waste money on an English degree when you can just watch Disney movies?.” As a lifelong English major, it makes me question all that time in class, reading, and writing papers. Not really. It’s a great collection of Disney and true literary techniques.
Save the Movie! (slate.com): I’ve written before about how Blake Snyder‘s Save The Cat book can help writers outline the plots of their book. It’s a book that Snyder wrote not to create a formula but to help straighten out plot problems, inlcuding his plot beat sheet. Except it’s now being used as the answer to every blockbuster movie. In this essay, Peter Suderman points out how it hurts the viewers if every movie has the same plot beats. If you think about it, he’s not wrong. This is a little depressing to realize, and will make me think about it during the next movie I watch. And for a lark, Suderman points out how he wrote the essay using the same beats.
Falls Into Writing 
nice compilation here! I especially liked the plot beat sheet. My own story doesn’t follow that arc, but it’s definitely apparent when considering a lot of movies.
And as far as drinking goes, never felt the need to, it’s always very distracting. Do you find it actually focuses you? Does it make the words flow better? I mean like you listed, plenty of authors drowned in the stuff, my favourite, Hemingway, included. Or went down darker roads, like Poe and Bryant with opium.
Anyways, thanks for sharing, lots of food for thought.
This was fun to put together. When I posted what I drink, it’s really just a compilation of what I’ve ever imbibed while writing. I may have indulged a little on how much alcohol I involve in my writing process when compiling this post! I typically find that drinking does not help UNLESS I’m just absolutely stuck. But I do enjoy the single malt at the end of a day where I managed a massive amount of words!
The Save The Cat is a good resource, but I still say that using the beat sheet is better used after a work has been written just to check what plot beats you actually do have. Then again, if everyone used this resource, all of our books would start reading the same.
Thanks for reading!
absolutely, how boring would that be? Like I said my book doesn’t follow those at all, but it’s still interesting, just like reading The Hero’s Journey by Campbell. There are striking similarities that go into our stories, and I suppose it became a formula because it’s a solid foundation on which to build. But be brave, try something new!
I’ve got a bottle of Glenfiddich 15 and MaCallan 12 sitting in my cupboard, but sadly I’m not a fan of scotch unless it’s mixed with a full can of ginger ale. I know. I’m an awful person.
Nice bottles, but ginger ale???? Actually, I’m unusual for a girl because I like my single malt neat.
I am trying to be brave with what I’m working on right now. Every time I think I’m getting too formulaic, I try to take a left turn. We’ll see how it goes!
Atta girl, that’s how trails are blazed 😉