Regency romance, romantic mysteries, & writing tips too.
You’d love to write, but you can’t imagine spending months on a novel. Why not write short fiction? Not only will short stories improve your writing skills, they’ll also build your readership. You can write and self-publish a short story as soon as you’ve edited it. Alternatively, you can wait. When you a have a … Read more
It’s time to rewrite your novel. In a recent writers’ group meeting, we discussed the benefits and perils of rewriting. Many authors enjoy their rewrites, because the hard work is done. They know they have a story, they just need shape it into the perfect reader-worthy novel for their genre. That said, rewriting can be … Read more
Last year, several of our writers’ group gatherings focused on writing suspenseful fiction. A member triggered this topic when she complained about feeling tired all day: “I stayed up until 2:30 this morning, finishing a novel. I thought why? Then I started wondering how I could write like that.” When we discussed books which hooked … Read more
Unmotivated? What if you could write anyway, no matter how you feel? Here’s a simple (but weird, sort of) strategy. Firstly, how did I hear about this? In a recent meeting of our writers’ group, we talked about how challenging writing can be if you’re unmotivated. Write anyway, even if you’re unmotivated… But what if … Read more
If you’re writing fiction, you’ll struggle with translating the story in your head onto the page. Use scenes to make this process easier. You may be wondering… What’s a scene? In brief, a scene is action, which happens in real time, on the page. A scene is showing the reader, rather than telling him. Much … Read more
Do you write fiction? If you do, you know that there are 1001 (and more) things you need to remember. Not only character names, but their personalities, their histories, and how they fit into your plot. Or how they create your plot. Over the years, I’ve used software and various writing apps to track all … Read more