Blog Roundup: November 7 - 13, 2011

25 Things You Should Know About Suspense and Tension went up at Chuck Wendig's Terrible Minds this week.

Greta van der Rol shared a lesson in keeping up with your online identities. (I'll be fixing links on my blog to her site/posts this week. If you've hosted a guest post or linked to author websites, it might be a good idea to make sure your links still work.)

If you care about the self-publishing vs. traditional publishing vs. whatever else debate, Bob Mayer had a couple of good posts. There's this one about the many roads to publication and this one on the fight itself. I liked this post, too, but it's about the why of writing. (I write to quiet the stories in my head.)

This week, I discovered the blog Caustic Cover Critic. If you're worried about your cover design, it's a good blog to read regularly.

James Killick wrote about why story beats character every time.

Keystrokes and Word Counts continued its ABCs of NaNo.

Sierra Godfrey showed us a real-life example of the importance of humor in a romantic relationship and then posted her Google Reader Roundup with some links to some great posts.

Stella Deleuze posted a how to on the possessive apostrophe.

The Bookshelf Muse is a really great blog. If you're looking to do research on a character trait or a plot element or a weather trait or anything like that, this place should be one of the sites you visit.

Blog Roundup: October 31 - November 6, 2011

Chuck Wendig's blog remains a go-to resource for the writer with a sense of humor about what she does. He posted another 25 things article, this one about writing advice.

Greta van der Rol hosted Meg Mims for a post on the importance of research. Lack of research can rip your reader right out of the story and leave a sour taste in her mouth, so it's vital.

Imran Siddiq offered this post of tips on writing prose. I also thought this post on "oomph" words was interesting because it shows how important word choice really is.

Bob Mayer offered this wrap up of Storyworld. I thought Disney's weenie was especially useful. All ten of those tips can apply to your "brand" as a writer.

I want to share this post from Erotic Romance because it made me start planning a blog post on the crossover from fanfiction to original fiction.

Into the Morning made this post on book design trends she loves and hates. Look closely. If you're in the market for a cover designer, I think she potentially offered.

Keystrokes and Word Counts has a series of posts on the ABCs of NaNo. Even if you're not doing NaNo, the posts are worth checking out.

Stella Deleuze posted part three of her dialogue attributes series.

The Bookshelf Muse hosted a guest post from Janice Hardy on marketing your novel.

Written Words posted about not carving your outline into stone. I think the core of the post is important to every writer: be flexible.

Your Cover Uncovered reviewed the Tulagi Hotel by Heikki Hetala.