
Truly, Madly, Deeply: Considering the use of adverbs
Stephen King once said, “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” And while this might be a titch hyperbolic, he does have a...

Author Interview: Renee Lovins
This week I am interviewing author Renee Lovins, author of Ink Deep: Fairy Modern: Beauty & the Beast and the newly released Glass...

Must-Read Writing Blogs for Fiction Writers
Hello! I hope you are enjoying the holiday season with your friends and family. I have been missing from the blog scene over the last few...

Call Me Ishmael: Common naming issues in fiction
Call me Ishmael. Well, actually, call me Erica. Because, you know, that’s my name, and as Dale Carnegie said, “A person’s name is to that...

Fifty Shades of Gray: Why your good guy shouldn’t be all good
Have you ever met someone who was always happy, always looked perfectly put together, never seemed to get ruffled, and never made any bad...

Lightning Bolts and Dinner Dates: Creating realistic conflict
Writers hear a lot about character motivation: you have to know what your characters want and why they want it, and you have to make sure...

I Am Author, Hear Me Roar: Why you should stop calling yourself an aspiring author
I follow a lot of authors on Twitter, and many of them describe themselves as “aspiring authors.” Now, perhaps these people are sitting...

Are You Talking to Me?: Giving your dialogue that extra oomph
Good dialogue is vital to an engaging story. Done well, it allows you to build character, propel your plot forward, and provide vital...

As You Know, Bob: Info dumping in dialogue
You’ve spent weeks, maybe months, thinking about your book, figuring out who your characters are, picturing the setting, and you’re...

Fighting to Be Blonde: Making character description more interesting
When a reader begins a novel, they need an idea of who they are reading about, and that usually includes some sort of physical...