Wednesday links: Common problems and including research

I love regularly reading tips and advice articles in certain subjects — particularly writing and publishing. I don’t always need the information right then, but I know that it’ll eventually come in handy. Or at least, I hope it will.

I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way I do, but sometimes it can be difficult to find every useful advice article that’s out there. So I thought I’d bring you a few.

Here are the tips and advice articles that jumped out at me the most over the past week.

1. Five Common Problems I See in Your Stories, from Terrible Minds: While everybody has their own set of mistakes they tend to make when writing, some of those mistakes are common to a lot of writers. Also, I should let you know that Chuck Wendig does use some language that not everyone would approve of, so maybe don’t read this if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing. Excerpt: “What was interesting to me, however, was that while each story was very different, my criticisms of those stories often kept to a few common themes. And I thought, as I always do, HEY, HOLY CRAP, BLOG POST. I can pass along my dubious critique and maybe you writers young and old can do something with them.”

2. 3 Cautions For Adding Research Into Stories, from Jody Hedlund: If you’re writing a novel (or a short story) based in the real world, then it’s likely that you’ll need to do at least a little research. But you need to be careful how you include that research in your writing. Excerpt: “However, with each little bit of research we do about a unique job our character has, or illness someone faces, or lifestyle of a community, etc., we’re able to add authentic depth to our story. Each layer of research builds upon the last until soon we have a richer, more complex tale that will transport readers into a fascinating story-world.”