In the first day of our series, we talked about something every good protagonist needs: agency. Today, we’ll talk about something else many can’t do without: best friends. Or coworkers, or spouses, or roommates . . . you get the idea. The sidekicks. In Young Adult novels, the best friend is an important character –…
Welcome to the first Blogging from A to Z challenge post! We start our series with the reason most stories exist – character agency. Great, now my characters need an agent too. Not so, aspiring writer (and for the record, you may not need one either, but we’ll save that for a different post). Simply…
In the past few years, I’ve seen bloggers participate in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge. After picking a theme, they post something about that theme every day during the month of April (not including Sundays). I’d considered doing it, but this is the first year I’ve actually done the necessary work of picking a…
This post popped up in my Facebook memories yesterday. Now, let’s get a closer look. Aside from the obvious difference in word choice/reading level, there is a noticeable difference in length. The marketers must think guys don’t have time to read their body wash labels before they buy. For the record, I’ve never read a…
Confession: I struggled to come up with a title for this post, because I knew the second you read “theme” you’d remember your high school literature classes and all their boringness and run away. “I want you to write . . . a theeeme!” Dun dun DUNNN! Come back! This won’t be boring! Know how…
Last weekend, I published this post about why we stop reading books. Many of you submitted insightful comments, and as I read through them I realized something: many of our “reading pet peeves” can be boiled down to the author doing one of two things. Not bad, huh? Just avoid doing two things and you’re…
I’ve read a lot of books. A LOT of books. When I was a kid, I’d get sets of books and be thrilled at the promise of spending countless hours sitting upside-down in my mom’s recliner with an open book. Reading and appreciation of a good story is part of who I am. But in recent…
Last night, I started outlining a new story. There are two POV characters. One is Beth, an English woman whose story occurs in 1981. The other is Sonia, an American woman (I haven’t figured out which city yet) living in the present day. I know basic details for each character. Beth – English, a primary…
Before Project Liberatio came out, I published a Five Authors You Need To Meet Right Now post, through which you met some talented authors who have been kind enough to support my work. With Project Ancora just weeks away from release, I want to introduce you to seven more such authors, who have critiqued, written…
My son and my mom are officially the same height. I’m taller than they are. But I digress. My son has always been above average on the growth curve. Now, having just turned twelve, he’s caught up to his grandmother. He’s tall. And she’s . . . less than tall. I may or may not…
Allison Maruska 