Regency romance, romantic mysteries, & writing tips too.
Do you struggle with writing fiction? In a writers’ group meeting, we chatted about a common struggle: managing your ideas, without being distracted by them. One writer said that she struggled with organizing sudden inspiration. Another said that his big challenge was developing ideas. He constantly second-guessed himself, deleting one or more scenes—he’d even delete … Read more
When you’re writing fiction, starting a new novel and setting up your cast of characters can be challenging. However, if you meet that challenge, not only will your novel be fun to write, it will also (other things being equal) sell. A few months ago, we spent a writers’ group meeting chatting about character creation. … Read more
Have you discovered the power of a book journal? A few months ago, we devoted a writer’s group meeting to journaling. Although many authors favored bullet journals, others used an all-purpose writing journal, and a couple of authors favored project-specific journals: when they started a book, they created a journal for it. Your book journal: … Read more
If you’re writing fiction, you may be procrastinating on finishing your novel. Many authors do. Worst case: you may forget the novel completely. In a recent writers’ group meeting, we shared estimates of how many unfinished novels lurked on our hard drives, so you’ve got a few unfinished novels too, stop feeling guilty. With a … Read more
In a recent writers’ group meeting, we discussed writing fiction, as we often do. A topic came up which intrigued me. I know that I often overlook this simple, but very important element. Writing fiction: is your novel or short story unbalanced? One writer in the group said: “I want to talk about pacing. I’m … Read more
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