“Lousy Book Covers”

A large collection of self-published book covers.

I’ve been scrolling through this off and on today, steeling myself for my own cover to pop up on the next page…

I’d feel better about “amateur” than I do about “lousy.”  It’s been pointed out that it’s not easy for self-published authors to come up with decent covers if they don’t have either the experience or the money to pay for experience, so keep that in mind.  It’s still a fun website, though.

(Thanks for the link to Aaron Williams at Nodwick.com, who seems to have access to an entirely different and cooler internet than I do.)

The 2011 winners of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

Bad writers welcome!

Guilty admission:  I thought some of these weren’t bad at all, if you were writing for comic effect a la Terry Pratchett.  “They called her the Cat” falls into that category for me, as well as “Deep into that particular wet Saturday night” and a couple of others.

As for the puns, Feghoot would be proud.

(Hat tip to Aaron Williams again!)

Nine and Sixty Ways

(Link to comic source.  Check out Aaron Williams’ blog, too!)

Anyone who spends time on writing forums or reading “how to write” books knows the paralysis that sets in when the sheer number of “rules” overloads you.  A lot of them even contradict each other.

When the rulemakers are arguing endlessly with each other, “use the one that bugs you least” works as well as anything else.  If you’ve been reading good books for years, down deep you sort of know what works.

“There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right!”  – Rudyard Kipling