Sunday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

4 REASONS TO WRITE SHORT STORES

By: Stefan Bachmann, @Stefan_Bachmann

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In this post . . . I wanted to put down a few reasons to write short fiction, because I think it's sometimes overlooked, and especially for writers it can be a valuable thing to try out, even if it doesn't end up being your preferred method of storytelling. 

Here's why: 

1. It teaches conciseness

For me, just sitting down with the intention to write a short story makes me write differently. I'm much more aware of every sentence, how it fits together with other sentences to build a mood, and how little space I have to establish character or plot. I know I have to keep it short, and everything that can go, must. 

I'm fairly convinced that conciseness is the greatest skill you can learn in writing. It keeps the prose clear, and it keeps the plot moving, and it doesn't have to mean that everything becomes spare or bare-bones. All it means is that the words are used to reach a goal, and none are wasted. I'm in awe of writers who can say a lot with only a few words. I'm in awe of writers who can really get to the heart of what they're trying to say, and can express profound or complex ideas in a single sentence. And I think writing short stories can make you to re-evaluate how you use words and make you quite brutal about killing your story-darlings, which is almost always a good thing. 

2. You can use up random ideas that don't fit into books

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Mike Wells Official Website: Why I'm Not Publishing Books on Paper http://ow.ly/xJxIN
2. Self-published authors: where you live doesn't matter - BookBaby Blog http://ow.ly/xJxL8
3. Fiction University: 4 Reasons to Write Short Stories http://ow.ly/xJy2F
4. The Goodies Table: 8 Ways To Make Your Promotional Items Stand Out And Boost Sales - Writer's Relief, Inc. http://ow.ly/xJya8
5. Amazon Is NOT the Vladimir Putin of the Publishing World | The Passive Voice | http://ow.ly/xJyba
6. David Farland’s Kick in the Pants—What’s Wrong with your Story, Part 8 http://ow.ly/xJyfY
7. Do You Make These Online Marketing Mistakes? by Jason Kong — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/xJyji
8. Why You Should Curate Content (And How to Do It Right) - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/xJylN
9. BookMarketingBuzzBlog: China Shuts Google Down But Can You Trust Either One? http://ow.ly/xJymu
10. BookMarketingBuzzBlog: 33 Twitter Tips For Authors & Book Marketers http://ow.ly/xJynL
11. Self-Pubbed AND Traditional? An Interview With Author Pam Beason | Molly Greene: Writer http://ow.ly/xJyqi
12. 12 Things Every Indie Author Needs to Know | Knite Writes http://ow.ly/xJys1
13. SciFiMagpie: Character Development VS. Techno-Wank: When Sci Fi is More Than Sci Fi http://ow.ly/xJyC2
14. 8 Reasons Why Twitter Power Users Are Influential - Jeffbullas's Blog http://ow.ly/xJyF1
15. Does Privacy + Twitter = A Reputation Disaster? | SEJ http://ow.ly/xJyK1
16. Theme Week: Publish Your Blog Post Without SEO, and 1000s of Visits Will Be Forever Lost : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/xJyLc
17. 11 Questions for Crafting a Fiction Pitch - Books & Such Literary Management : Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/xJyMc
18. The Millions : Book Clubs Mean Business http://ow.ly/xJyNI
19. The Netflix of Ebooks — The Periodicalist http://ow.ly/xJyPi
20. The Ins and Outs of EPUB — The Periodicalist http://ow.ly/xJyQ5
21. Understand Your Character's Obsession | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/xJyRr
22. How to Avoid the Self-Published Look | Digital Book World http://ow.ly/xJzpq

Happy writing and running, Kathy