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paranormal author

Branding 101: What Is Your Brand?

Crowd picture with focus on one man with text: How Do You Show Who You Are?

Yeah, yeah, I can hear it now. “Ugh. Not more branding stuff. What if I don’t want to be a brand?” I hate to break it to you, but you already have a brand. So does your kid’s soccer coach, your next-door neighbor, and possibly your pet. *smile* How is […]

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September 24, 2013

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Are Beat Sheets Intimidating? Cut through the Clutter

Beat Sheets: Back to the Basics

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of story structure. I’ve created several beat sheets and have oodles of posts about the topic. But I’m also not a math person, so the idea of working in Excel for all those worksheets gave me the heebie-jeebies at first. I’m probably not […]

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September 19, 2013

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5 Essential Elements for Pitching Romance — Guest: Marcy Kennedy

A bouquet of roses in a vase with text: 5 Essential Elements for Pitching Romance

Whether we’re aiming for traditional publishing, small/ebook publishing, or self-publishing, we have to pitch our stories. We might call it a query letter or a back-cover blurb, but in essence, a pitch is a pitch. Those who regularly read my blog have probably heard my woes of coming up with […]

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September 17, 2013

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In Books and Beyond: Love vs. Lust

Two hearts with text: #LoveIsAVerb

The idea of love at first sight has a long history in the romance genre. Thousands of heroes and heroines have experienced the pitter-pat of their heart when first laying eyes on their love-to-be. While we might laugh at the trope, as we discussed a few weeks ago, many story […]

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September 12, 2013

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WANACon: A Conference for All Writers

WANACon 2.0 logo

Forgive me for not having a post packed with writing advice today. Instead, I’m sharing writing-related information of a different sort. Last February, I posted about the fantastic experience I had with WANACon, an interactive online writing conference. So you better believe I’m excited to announce that WANACon is happening […]

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September 10, 2013

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Writing Craft: Watching Out for Bad Advice

Rotten apple on the ground with text: Watching Out for Bad Advice

In the comments of my post about the number one writing rule, we shared some of the bad advice we’ve heard. Many of the examples didn’t point out advice that’s inherently bad, but rather advice that doesn’t apply equally to all situations. Carradee shared the example of a writer who […]

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September 5, 2013

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How to Find the Start of Our Story

Plant sprouting with text: Finding the Start of Our Story

A lot goes into deciding how to begin our story. We have to introduce the characters, the story, and the setting. We have to make it interesting, not confusing, or not accidentally misleading. Etc., etc., etc. If we think about it too much, we might seize up and not write […]

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September 3, 2013

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Writing Rule #1: There Is No “One Right Way”

Sunset silhouette of a direction sign with text: Looking for Writing Success? "One Right Way" Doesn't Exist

Every once in a while, I come across a blog post or a workshop description that makes me want to warn newbie writers away. The problem usually lies with the author/presenter’s insistence that their way is the best way, or in some cases, the only way. The truth is that we all have […]

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August 29, 2013

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Story Tropes: Should We Avoid Them?

Field of tulips in Holland with text: Are Story Tropes Always Cliches--and Bad?

Several months ago, I saw a fascinating Storify by Carina Press editor Angela James. I meant to do a post about the issue she brought up, but I often have more blog post ideas than time. With my recent articles about subtext, genre stories, formulaic writing, and my guest post […]

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August 22, 2013

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