Tag: how to and tips
Crafting Resonance: Music and Writing
My feet are tired. I’ve been standing in front of a whiteboard most of the day, trying to tease apart strands of story in the novel I’m working on. Working like this is new to me, but I really like mapping out the book in this tactile way. It reminds me of playing music. I […]
After Your Death, the Royalties Keep Coming, But Where Do They Go?
In the United States, death is a legal process. If you die with a will, a court metes out your assets according to your wishes. If you die intestate, your property is divvied up according to a legal formula put into play by your state’s legislature, typically handing over your assets to your spouse and […]
How To Pitch A Series
A few weeks ago, I announced the Gamer Girl series, three books coming out from Kensington’s Lyrical Press starting in 2019. Since this is my second series, many people have asked me how to get an editor to buy multiple books rather than just one. Initially, if you do not know the editor and have […]
Writing About Love
It wasn’t until I started writing fiction that I became aware of the widespread tendency to view men’s writing about love, family and relationships as a meaningful reflection on the human condition and women’s as frivolous and inconsequential. Increasingly there is a will to challenge and redress this prejudice and its consequences and that is […]
How to Prevent Your Characters from All Sounding the Same
At the start of my career I had a book rejected because the commissioning editor didn’t feel my characters were ‘coming across’. I think she was trying to find a polite way of saying they were flat and dull – ‘cardboard’ characters, if you like – which is about the worst thing you can say […]
Nonlinear Narratives – Tips & Tricks
Have you ever finished a chapter in one character’s point of view only to find the next chapter is written from somebody else’s perspective? Me too, and these mini cliff-hangers compel us to keep reading. Nonlinear narratives – stories where events don’t happen in chronological order – do this too. They are extremely useful for […]
I Can’t Believe You Said That- Using Dialogue to Build Conflict
Dialogue is a critical component of your novel. It shows character, provides an opportunity to move the plot forward, and increases your pacing by breaking up large narrative blocks. This article focuses on how dialogue can also help build the conflict in your novel. All novels require conflict. Agents, editors, and readers rarely feel that […]
5 Crime Fiction Blunders To Avoid
In addition to being an author, I am a big crime fiction, psychological thriller and mystery fan. Though I have always read this genre, I’ve spent the last year absolutely immersing myself in it, reading and reviewing everything I can. In addition, I’ve been discussing the genre with lots of other fans as part of […]
Tips for Author Blogs
Last year, I wrote a column with three golden rules for author blogging. Here they are, in order of importance: (1) create relationships, (2) entertain your readers, and (3) sell books. The first rule is, by far, the most important. (Most of) Your blog posts must have as their main goal to create relationships with […]
How To Handle Rejection: Six Tips
The lives of creative people fascinate me. As far back as I can recall, I have devoured biographies and interviews with performing artists—singers, actors, dancers, even famous models. Often I read how some celebrated actress has faced repeated rejections, only to triumph finally with a huge hit—the breakthrough role that made her career. I learned […]
Recent Comments