Hunky heroes and plucky heroines in clean, contemporary, small town romances in the real — and imaginary — worlds.
What are some tips for writing good dialogue? Listen. Hear how people really talk. Go someplace filled with people — a restaurant, mall, holiday venue, wherever — and close your eyes and listen. Don’t worry about the actual words at first (you can do that later), just get a feel for how people talk to …
Continue reading Question: What are some tips for writing dialogue for a novel?
As you know, my last novel The Pathfinder, the first of the Wilderness Women series was recently published by Winged Publications. I'm working on the next novel, the second of the series, titled The Snow Queen. Yep, as you might have guessed, it takes place in the winter and it's now the height of summer, …
Continue reading Next novel is coming along, with an odd result.
How do I keep up a daily writing habit? What are my tricks to keep myself on track? Honestly, I don’t have a daily writing habit and I don’t have any tricks to keep myself on track. I perhaps should bow my head in shame about now but that’s the truth. It’s true that I …
I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. I'd just as soon never go on it because I have other things to do with my life. But when I do check out what's happening there, I'm always glad I did because inevitably I learn something interesting. And, of course, Facebook is a wonderful place for authors …
Another question: Where do you get your ideas for novels from? And my answer (which, of course, is specific to me. Other writers might do things differently.): Ideas for novels come from everywhere. Until your imagination kicks into high gear and gives you more ideas than you can ever want, you might try glancing through …
Continue reading Where do you get your ideas for novels from?
The mistake that comes to mind is that they use too many words. Most first novels and poems would benefit by taking a big red pen and crossing out a lot of unnecessary words. Because readers want to read a story or poem without the distraction of the extra words that people normally use when …
Continue reading What common mistakes do people make when writing their first poem or novel?
Consider two things when deciding whether to write your next novel in third person or first. Which way are you most comfortable telling the story? Some stories naturally lend themselves to either first or third person, usually due to the complexity or simplicity of the story. Which person do most stories similar to yours use …
Continue reading Should I write my next novel in third person or first?
A writer asked what's the better option for a fantasy novel. To do it as two books, three books, or one very long (250,000 word) book. When new writers approach a publisher, they are usually told not to think about publishing a book until they have three written because the work involved in marketing just …
There are thousands of tips. Here are a few: Don’t expect to earn your living as a writer because it’s very hard but, as an avocation, it’s great. If you truly want to make your living writing, then spend a whole lot of time finding out what kinds of writing pays and how to do …
I'd like to announce another anthology from Winged Publications with one of my books in it. Summer Love's Adventure Anthology contains 5 romances that are perfect for lazy, summer reading. Here's the cover, wonderful, as usual, and isn't that summer in a picture? Now a bit about each book: Sunny's Dream by Mary Ball: A …
