The Daily Port of Call: July 4, 2014

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

In today’s Daily Port of Call, you’ll find what you need to know about DRM, an exploration of where writing advice comes from, and how to create energy in dialogue with summary.

Find out what you need to know about freedom of expression, DRM, and censorship from Cory Doctorow.

Jane Friedman shares a post that explores where writing advice comes from “99% of what writers are hearing in terms of advice comes from 1% of Authors.”

This post shows how you can create energy in dialogue with summary.

Discover one writer’s experience in the transition from nonfiction to fiction. “Plot was my five-foot gap, and it lay in the way of success.”

Here are a few facts you might not know about the Declaration of Independence.

The Daily Port of Call: July 3, 2014

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

In today’s Daily Port of Call, you’ll learn how to infuse every moment with need, create suspenseful cliffhangers, and master the passage of time.

“How do we infuse every moment with unspoken awareness of the need that is pulling a character inexorably through the length of the story?” Donald Maass shows you the way.

Discover these tried and true methods for creating suspenseful cliffhangers.

Master the passage of time in novel scenes.

What makes a bilingual writer choose one language over another?

Here are some reasons you might want to use a pen name.

Tips for growing your email list: “The ‘experts’ say you’ve got to offer freebies, discounts, value-value-value, and other double-horned unicorns. In all this marketing hype and posturing, the fact that there are actual human beings on the other end of every email list is mostly lost.”