When talking about story depth, predominantly, you’re talking about how the author has handled themes in a work. I’ve had a number of writing students who embrace the ideas of planning out character and plot, but totally shy away from discussing theme. The story events are what they are – entertaining, exciting, fun. So why […]
I decided to do a writing challenge on Instagram, where you were supposed to explore different aspects of your writing practice/writing life. I though the results were interesting, especially the way the prompts built on each other. I know not everyone is on Instagram, so I compiled the Insta segments into one long diary-style post. […]
It can take courage to be yourself on the page. If you are writing “primly” or “correctly,” that can feel safe. Who can find fault with a voice that sounds carefully generic? But the story written generically isn’t going to come out very exciting, is it? More likely, your entire book will sound stilted or […]
Here it is, the night before my first cozy mystery comes out. This was a fun one to write, and it got me thinking about how story is story, no matter what the genre. Because story always comes down to people, and human nature is the same, whether writing someone who comes from the area […]
I have known Diane Kelly for years. She volunteers to help with literacy and for getting young writers off to a good start. And in addition to being an animal lover, she’s also a prolific mystery writer. Be sure to check out her award-winning Death & Taxes, Paw Enforcement, House Flipper, and Busted mystery series. […]
I’ve designed parts of multiple alien languages for my Chocoverse books. It’s one of the most fun parts of worldbuilding. I love building lexicons and language rules, and thinking about how prefixes and suffixes can affect a basic word’s meaning. Depending on how much of the language will actually be used in a book or […]
Here’s where to find me doing the virtual book tour thing. I will be adding to this post over the next few months, as I am doing a TON of guest posts and interviews relating to the Bean to Bar Mysteries. But I wanted to get everything in one spot, as the links go live. — […]
I’m excited to show you all the book trailer for Grand Openings Can Be Murder. It is the first book in my cozy mystery series starring Felicity Koerber, a Bean to Bar Chocolate maker who becomes an amateur sleuth when one of her employees is murdered. This book will be released February 2.
Bear with me. I know most of you are writing for adults, but I want to talk in term of kid’s cartoons for a minute. When it comes to aesthetics, there’s nothing that makes the concept easier to understand than animation meant for developing minds. The 2019 Dora the Explorer movie played hard into the […]
Earlier this year, Glenn from Chocotastery interviewed me for the Stay Home With Chocolate Festival, and we discussed how chocolate from different craft makers had influenced the creation of the Chocoverse books. I appreciated how knowledgeable Glenn is about flavor – and I got to hear about his inventory of all the different chocolate bars […]
