Category Archives for "Writing"

Murderbot: A Lesson in Character Growth

One complaint authors frequently make is that writing fiction has ruined reading for pleasure because they can’t turn off their editor brain to enjoy a story. I usually don’t have that problem. However, every once in a while some aspect of a book I’m reading for pleasure will jump out at me. Sometimes it’s a plot element […]

–of the Action

​As writers, we’re told to start in the middle of the action so the reader doesn’t get bored. We don’t want to give our reader details and backstory that aren’t necessary for understanding the current action. We want the reader to care about the character and understand the situation enough to want to turn the […]

Bringing Back the Medieval Book Curse

Illustrated medieval manuscript from Depositphotos.com.​​On the copyright page of the hardback edition of Leigh Bardugo’s novel King of Scars there’s this little story:​At the foot of the Petrazoi lies a small swamp that smells potently of feet and rancid cooking oil. It is known as the Armpit and its fumes cause dizzy spells, vomiting, and […]

Reluctant to Write

There are some days when I delay working on my writing, putting it off for hours before finally opening up my manuscript. Sometimes I feel as if I don’t have anything exciting to write. Other times I’m not in the mood to write the next scene, or I fear it will take too much out […]

Fleshing Out the Villains

The first draft of my current manuscript was written only from the hero and heroine’s points of view (POV), which is typical for me. I like to get the basic story down before I add additional POVs. Now I’m going through and adding secondary character POVs. That includes adding POVs for the villains. A recent episode of […]

Embrace the Conflict!

I saw an announcement recently for a class on how to write conflict into your stories. The description said something along the lines of how as writers, we often want to protect our characters from any type of conflict.Um. No, I don’t. Anyone who’s read my books knows that the last thing I want is for […]

Story Changes Are Hard!

​One of the weird things about writing fiction is how real the events in my stories feel to me. When I hit a snag in my story and realize that I have to change an event or a character’s personality, I sometimes feel reluctant. A part of me can’t let go because I remember the […]

Characters Do the Darnedest Things

The other night I was writing a chase scene for my latest book. The hero had stolen a box from the bad guys and was running away from them on foot. ​I’d planned to have an exciting chase through the streets, with the heroine joining ​in at some point.  I was writing this just before bed and […]

Choosing the Right Font

I’m in the process of re-formatting my books for print. I’m using a different software and unfortunately, it doesn’t allow me to import the font that I licensed for my current print books. So I’m trying to decide which of the fonts offered by this software will best suit my books. I want the font […]

Like Books? Like to Travel?

If you like books, like to travel, and would be interested in hearing authors talk about the places that have inspired their writing, then you might want to check out the Books and Travel website. There are articles about interesting places, as well as a podcast so you can listen to authors talk about the places […]