Hunky heroes and plucky heroines in clean, contemporary, small town romances in the real — and imaginary — worlds.
I recently answered a question on Quora. I chuckled as I wrote the answer because I could imagine the would-be professional writer seriously looking into the business side of writing for a living because I was in that same place a long time ago. I almost cried when magazines went bankrupt and my nice, comfortable …
Continue reading Which pays better, short stories or novels?
First, there's the snow. It's white. It's also blue -- and pink -- and purple -- and more, and it's beautiful. (Okay, it's lovely while it's clean and pristine. By spring, not so much.) Second is the quiet. I don't know why winter is quiet. Maybe because people stay inside more. Maybe snow is a …
Word counts became necessary so publishers could plan how to print their books ahead of time; so their print runs could be set up for a certain number of pages and that meant a certain number of words to fill up those pages. Now that online books are popular, word counts aren’t as important and …
Nice, normal, people are every bit as interesting as people with huge problems. Their lives are every bit as interesting as the lives of people who are unhappy, dysfunctional and ridden by guilt or angst. So that's what I've been writing lately. Romances of normal, happy people who aren't looking for love but find it …
Depends on when in the writing process you begin to feel you need feedback. Most of the time, writes want feedback after they’ve completed their first draft and before they start ‘tweaking’ their story. That way, they think, any big flaws will be caught by their readers before they put too much effort into the …
You can write your novel in any order you wish as long as it works for you. I know many authors who plot out their story then, when they sit down at the computer, decide which scene they wish to write that day. It works for them. Not for me. I plow ahead one scene …
Continue reading Can I write the ending of my novel before writing the whole novel?
There are lots of advantages! Most of all is the fact that not a single reader can come back at you and tell you what you did wrong about your setting. Another advantage is that you can shape the setting to fit the story. You can make the setting become a valuable part of the …
Continue reading What are the advantages of using a fictional setting for the novel I’m writing?
I don’t believe that the term ‘generic’ had much meaning when you are discussing authors and writing. Some of the best writing ever can be described as generic, cliche, and any other term you can think of that describes themes and characters that have been used so much that they can seem overused. Consider Shakespeare. …
Continue reading What screams “I’m generic’ when it comes to writing?
For many years I paid part of my family’s bills by writing confession stories. They are true stories and the author’s name is never given. I wondered how it would work using my own life experiences for stories. If I would be criticized. The funny thing is, the few times that family was there when …
Continue reading How can I use my life’s experiences to write short stories?
It should contain what the first chapter of what every novel should contain: the seeds of the conclusion. It’s sometimes called the ‘author’s promise’ to the reader that they are about to read a book that will conclude with the solution to the problem that the beginning posited. That brings the beginning of the story …
Continue reading What should the first chapter of my fantasy novel contain?
