Links for writers

What I was going to post Sunday … (yes, the contractor’s still here. And two more coming this week. Aiiieeeeh!)
Sigrid Ellis of Apex Magazine argues that even films with scantily clad female leads can be empowering, if the women are strong enough and tough enough.
•If you do any sort of layout or design work, here are some examples of how not to do it.
•Kung Fu Monkey on digital comics and how to make money on them (he’s not sure) and on whether Kickstarting Veronica Mars is a rip-off (no).
•Someone recently asked Seanan McGuire when her female leads would be raped (You read that right. Not if, when). She responded “never.” Foz Meadows links to that post and McGuire’s follow-up (she got a lot of WTF responses to the “never”) and adds some thoughts. This is good enough I’ll be discussing at length later, but here it is for now (including another link to a male writer, R. Scott Baker who argues that strong female characters just create an illusion that can nevwer happen in real life).
•Charlane Harris is wrapping up the Sookie Stackhouse series. It’s an interesting look at the problems of managing a big, complex mythology and a passionate fandom that knows more about it than you do (yes, I know, we should all have such problems).
•Cristian Mihai on pushing on even when things aren’t working out.
•If you’ve seen Iron Man 3 (my review will be next weekend), here are some legal questions about it (can a local cop really challenge a Homeland Security agent?).