Here it is, the night before the release of A Study in Chocolate. This makes eight novels – and there’s still an element of anticipation and excitement in the fact that tomorrow, a story I wrote goes into the hands of mystery fans. As always, I feel like I’ve had a chance to grow personally […]
Hola!!! I’m Botas, the corgi from the Chocoverse. Today I wanted to talk about second chances. I believe everyone should have one – especially dogs. Due to circumstances beyond my owners’ control, I wound up surrendered to a shelter – twice. And each time was the start of a new life. Not that I’ve forgotten […]
Here it is, very late the night before 70% Dark Intentions comes out. I’ve just finished editing some video for the launch party tomorrow, and I’m finally getting to my book-launch eve blog post. What did I learn this time around? For one thing, how warm and supportive people can be, when you are approaching […]
We are doing an IndiGoGo campaign for the third book in the Chocoverse series. I could really use your support, you guys! I’ve already written the manuscript, pero cover art and editing are expensive. There’s a support option that allows you to just get a book as a reward, and it is set for what […]
Blog Post – Poetic Technique for Prose Writers I love language. The sound of words. The way a pause can imply a character taking a breath. The way a strong image can stay with you for days. The fact that I as a writer can tell you how my character feels inside, and if I […]
I hope everyone survived NaNoWriMo. How’d you do? Even if you didn’t hit 50K, I hope you enjoyed the experience, especially if it was your first time. And you now have more words than you started the month with. The thing I love about NaNo is the need to meet a deadline, which forces you […]
When we’re talking fiction writing, what really is narrative? It’s everything that isn’t action and isn’t dialogue. Which means it’s the glue that holds it all together. More directly, narrative is how we help the reader interpret the action and the dialogue. We given them context on the history between two given characters – or […]
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King “It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” — Oscar Wilde “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any […]
This whole month, I want to talk about the relationship between writing and reading. I’ve talked to so many writers who say they don’t read inside their own genre because they’re afraid of copying someone else’s idea. (More on this later – I’m planning an entire post on genre as a conversation.) Or they don’t […]
In 1863 Gustov Freytag, first known as a playwright and later a novelist, published Die Technik des Dramas. (Released in English much later as Freytag’s Technique of the Drama: An Exposition of Dramatic Composition and Art.) While his novels reflected some of the ugliness and turbulence of the time in which he was writing, the […]
