As romance readers and writers we can easily fall into the trap of perfect. This is, after all, fiction and involves a certain amount (some romance books more than others) of fantasy. If you could fantasize your perfect guy and put him on paper what characteristics would you include? Most, including me, would probably describe... Continue Reading →
Editing Technique: Ask Questions
I received comments back from a new beta reader for me the other day, and something she did really struck home. She asked questions! Lots of them. It occurred to me that this was a fabulous technique which filled a personal gap for me in terms of my writing. I am not naturally a questioner,... Continue Reading →
Adding Character to a Scene in Layers
I consider myself to be a character driven writer. The tricky part with writing side characters is giving them a voice without letting them take over the page, but at the same time not letting them just be place holders or extras in the scene. Even harder, I find, is writing a cast of characters and... Continue Reading →
Going Overboard with Deep POV
Im going to take a moment for a mini-rant today about deep POV. For those who dont know, I define Deep POV as this: when you are writing a character you are as deep into their point of view (POV) as you can get, trying to express their reactions, thoughts, feelings, and experiences (sensory or... Continue Reading →
The Little Things: And, But, So, Then…
At the moment I'm balancing several projects in various states. I was in the process of getting beta reads done on my contemporary skydiving book and got feedback from Wendy that I'd developed the habit of starting sentences with "And" and "But" more frequently. Sure enough, I did a search and it was an embarrassing... Continue Reading →
OneNote for Authors: Tracking Querys
As an author, one of the more detailed activities I do - outside of writing - is querying. I have to keep track of both agents and editors I am querying. There are a lot of details to keep on top of when querying. I use OneNote to track it all. This post assumes you... Continue Reading →
The Little Things: Chapter Beginnings & Endings
Often times, the little things are what count the most. I find that to be true both in life and in writing. In this series of blog posts, I plan to take a look at some of the little things I've learned over the years as a writer and share what I've found most effective... Continue Reading →
OneNote for Authors: Social Media Management
Technology has made the world of the author into something very different from what it once was. Not only do we have the ability to self-publish and reach a mass audience through ebooks, but marketing has changed with the advent of social media. The level at which you do this is entirely personal preference. You'll find... Continue Reading →
The Little Things: Chapter Length
Often times, the little things are what count the most. I find that to be true both in life and in writing. In this series of blog posts, I plan to take a look at some of the little things I've learned over the years as a writer and share what I've found most effective... Continue Reading →
Using Sensory Description… But Is It 5 or 20?
A frequent tip you'll hear in writing workshops, seminars, and blogs is to include the senses in your descriptions. One workshop I attended mentioned trying to include all 5 senses on every page. I took this to be a bit of an exaggeration, as that would be a LOT of description on every page. But... Continue Reading →
