March Character Studies
Morgan Dusky at Studies in Character, a wonderful blog written almost entirely by the author’s fictitious characters, hosts a monthly character study. You can find out more about it here. This month’s theme is Introductions. And yes. I do realize that it’s April. I’ve been having a crazy week … actually, I’ve been having several […]
To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander
To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander A Belle Meade Plantation Novel (#1) Set at Nashville’s historic Belle Meade Plantation, the most influential thoroughbred stud farm in America’s history, To Whisper Her Name weaves the struggles of real people of the post-war South with the journeys of a man and a woman scarred by betrayal. Olivia […]
Introducing Ivy Introspective
Today I’ll be introducing a new book … Ivy Introspective! . . . Yes, it’s just a remodeled Ivy Inquisitive. Since when are you so insightful? 😀 I’ve figured out a beginning, middle, and end, I have a very good idea of what I want to do with the plot, and I’m going to be writing […]
Prologues: The Dos and Don’ts
Prologues are, perhaps, the most greatly debated technique out there. They are greatly overused. Some stories – most stories – are better off without their prologues. They are out of style. Most publishers and readers dislike them. I’ve heard that some even skip them. Though I think that’s kind of stupid. Why bother reading the book if […]
Are you meant to be an author?
So, you want to be a writer, eh? Well, that’s a dream that thousands upon thousands of people have. However, I’d say only about half of those could really be authors, and only about half of those have what it takes to be serious authors. How do you figure out if novel-writing is going to be […]
The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen
~ The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen ~ Miss Mariah Aubrey, banished after a scandal, hides herself away in a long-abandoned gatehouse on the far edge of a distant relative’s estate. There, she supports herself and her loyal servant the only way she knows how–by writing novels in secret. Captain Matthew Bryant, returning […]
Tips for Writing a Book Series
Hello, Everyone! Sorry about the half-a-post yesterday. 😉 I deleted it after I accidently published it … but I’m pretty sure it went out to everyone who receives email notifications of new posts. Sorry about that. I’m not perfect. 😛 Today I’ll be giving you a few tips for writing a book series. 🙂
Interview with H.L. Burke
Today I’ll be interviewing author H. L. Burke, author of The Dragon and the Scholar series, Beggar Magic, Lands of Ash, Thaddeus Whiskers and the Dragon, and Cora and the Nurse Dragon, to name a few. But her real claim to fame is that she is my big sister! Heidi, how does it feel to be […]
How to Write Three-Dimensional Characters
The most important thing you can put in your book is well-rounded, three-dimensional characters. According to Google, the definition of three-dimensional (in literature) is sufficiently full in characterization and representation of events to be believable. So a three-dimensional character is a character that is, well, human.
The Elsie Dinsmore Series by Martha Finley
Hello, Readers! Today I’ll be reviewing, or rather discussing, the Elsie Dinsmore series by Martha Finley. Martha Finley was born in 1828. She wrote numerous books, the most popular being the twenty-eight “Elsie books.” She died January 30, 1909. The Elsie Dinsmore series is, essentially, a devotional (and, meanwhile, an interesting story) for Victorian children. I have read […]
The Evil Subplot of Doom
Subplots are, essentially, smaller stories that interweave with the main plot of a novel to add to it. A subplot in my novel The Dressmaker’s Secret is … um … come to think of it, The Dressmaker’s Secret doesn’t really have subplots, does it? Or maybe it does and I’ve forgotten. New example! 😛 In The […]
Books That Should be Made into Movies
When one of our favorite books gets made into a movie, we’re both excited and scared. Excited because we, well, our favorite book has been made into a movie. Scared because it almost certainly will be spoiled. But today we live in a Utopian world and every book that gets made into a movie turns […]
