Five tips to writing great description

Five tips to writing great description

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the...
Starting Right

Starting Right

It’s been a while since I’ve written about how to start a novel but since I’m working with a new coaching client who is going through this right now, I thought it couldn’t hurt to share what I’m doing with her. How you begin a novel very...
Why should I care? Why should you?

Why should I care? Why should you?

Rachel Toalson wrote a wonderful blog post for Writer UnBoxed. It’s about getting to the heart of your story — why you wrote it and why readers will remember it long after they finished reading it. Sometimes it’s really hard finding the heart of your story. If you...
Writing Across Genres

Writing Across Genres

Does your mystery novel have a romance in it? Does your speculative fiction have a mystery element? Does your romance take place on another planet? It seems that there’s a lot of cross-genre writing going on. I attribute this to indie- publishing. Traditional...
Historical Accuracy is Fiction

Historical Accuracy is Fiction

There was recently a discussion on the Regency Fiction Writers’ forum concerning historical accuracy. For a group whose courses mostly teach accurate historical detail (everything from architecture to dancing to cookery), there were a number of authors who commented...