I recently picked up Save the Cat by Blake Snyder to learn it’s infamous plotting method. I’d heard the book talked about one too many times. It was time for me to read it, finally. Imagine my surprise when the first three chapters were not about plotting your work, but about pitching your story. Save… Read more »
Our author voices are made up of a combination of modes. The four main ones being dialogue, description, action, and internal thought. Those are the most common modes balancing fictional prose. Too much of any one mode—clumps of description, trains of dialogue, pages of action, and dumps of internal thought—bogs down prose and makes it… Read more »
It starts with an idea, or at least, an urge to write a love story. There’s a nugget, a kernel of inspiration. But how does that idea turn into a full-fledged romance novel with lovers, a first meet, love scenes, conflict, tension, breakups, and an HEA (happily-ever-after)? There are many ways to brainstorm a romance,… Read more »
Being a writer on the brink of publication, in pursuit of the dream, is so exciting. It’s fueled by the hope and desire of sharing your work with the world, and hopefully earning some money for our hard work. But amidst the pricelessness of pursuing our dreams, there are serious difficulties on the way. The… Read more »
There’s no one way to plot a romance. Everyone has their own system of structuring. Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes is a popular one many romance writers swear by. I’m not great at following anyone else’s mold. The way I work is making things up for myself, and finding the way I need to… Read more »
Writing happily-ever-after (HEA) is great a lot of the time. It’s comforting optimism in a world often full of difficult and sad things. Writing about love can boost a dreary day. But what about the days when you just can’t? What about the days where life feels so heavy that getting words about someone else’s… Read more »
Romance author Alexis Daria’s first book, TAKE THE LEAD, named one of Washington Post’s Five Best Romances of 2017, released with St. Martin’s Press Swerve in October. She was under a tight deadline for her second book in that same contract, DANCE WITH ME, and she’s here to tell us about how she used an… Read more »
It’s all about the waiting. If you’re currently on sub with agents or editors or whoever, you know it. The anxiety is real. It involves a lot of WHAT IF thinking. What if I get signed? What if I don’t? What if everyone hates my book? What if they don’t? What if I get the… Read more »
I’s fair to say, without tension, there is no romance. There is tension in love. The very word attraction in physics is a force drawing objects together. A force. An interest. Evoking desire. To be attracted to someone implies a longing or a needing to be around that person. This means whenever they are not… Read more »
All of us writers have introverted qualities about us. We wouldn’t pursue this solitary work if we didn’t prefer spending time alone with our laptops. I’ve never heard someone say, “Yay, I can’t wait to network!” But if you pay the money to go to a conference, that’s the number one thing to get out of… Read more »
