Today is the last day to join, so if you want in on it, be sure to read over the rules and PM Shakespearicles!OPWA: Episoden Ten · 11:44pm Jul 18th, 2016
Overpriced Writing Advice
Where you can learn the stuff I paid thousands of dollars to have taught to me, for free.
...Or In This Case, I Share The Free Stuff I Find - Pt. 2
(AKA "Blog share: Pro Tips for Large Ongoing Stories and Stereotypes to Avoid With Secondary Characters")
I've been fairly useless as of late, but I figure I could stand on the shoulders of giants for a few moments to give you guys something worthwhile.
Pro Tips for Large Ongoing Stories
from the (defunct, but archived) blog Genreality by Carrie Vaughn
NOTE: Apparently the site's code doesn't like web archive links, so I just have to paste the full URLs... sorry!
Part 1 = https://web.archive.org/web/20120401180531/http://www.genreality.net/evolution-of-an-ongoing-series-part-1-the-kitty-books
Part 2 = https://web.archive.org/web/20120401180531/http://www.genreality.net/evolution-of-an-ongoing-series-part-2-lessons-learned
Part 3 = https://web.archive.org/web/20120401180531/http://www.genreality.net/more-thoughts-on-writing-an-ongoing-series
Carrie Vaughn is one of my favorite writers ever, not only because I like her attempts at doing something different whilst still retaining the spirit of whatever genre she's dabbling in, but also because she's a giant nerd like I am. Seriously, you should check out her personal(ish) blog. She recently did a post on Star Wars: Rebels. The lady is awesome. (If you want to check out her work, and/or like werewolves, check out the Kitty Norville series!)
Ahem... Anyways.
Way back when, there used to be a writing blog called Genreality. It was a kind of shared project between a number of industry writers who all talked about their experiences in the publishing industry, as well as general writing advice for budding genre writers. Carrie was one of the contributors, and every Monday I eagerly checked in to see what she had to say. Genreality stopped updating on January 2013, and a while later even the archives seemed to vanish forever... Except they didn't! Thanks to the wonder that is the Way Back Machine, I am able to share with you guys Carrie's three part series on, well... writing a series! She talks about her urban fantasy books with Kitty Norville, and her experiences shaping the series as she went along. Great read! I figure this one could be useful to those of you (like me) with big ongoing writing projects. If you don't care to hear too many specifics about Carrie's work, I'd focus on parts 2 and 3.
Stereotypes to Avoid With Secondary Characters
from the blog Paperback Writer by Lynn Viehl
This post was amusing to read, but it also gives a good idea of some typical pitfalls you want to avoid with your secondary characters. If you think you've done one of these, don't feel bad! I don't care what anyone tries to say. EVERY WRITER HAS COME UP WITH AT LEAST ONE CRAPPY CHARACTER. Some are just paranoid saavy enough to keep those ideas from seeing the light of day. The rest of us? Well, that's why we have blogs like this one. 
(Another fun post to check out from this blog is 25 Reasons To Keep Writing! For when you're questioning your sanity over your choice of writing as a hobby/profession)
That's all folks! Till next time.
Nice! Hopefully this works with a short comedy story I had in mind... in fact... would you like to look at it?
Carrie Vaughn took books that anyone else would have made into paranormal romance cliche garbage and she built a monument to genuine authenticity. The closer you got the more real it was, the more genuinely fun it was, and it never felt cliched or cashgrabby or anything.