When classical music and YA literature collide
Hey nerds! Okay, that sounded weirdly hostile. Let's try this again. Hey nerdy WordPressians! In honor of me coming out of hibernation during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I'm doing a special writing-themed post to provide encouragement to all you poor souls. Hopefully these bullet points will either give you validation or inspiration? 1. You … Continue reading You Know You’re a Serious Writer When…
Look, we've all been there before. You have this great idea for a book, but then you realize you have to make a plot to go with it...and you die a little on the inside. Maybe you do a simple Google search like "How to plot a novel", click on the first article, and die … Continue reading The Ultimate Guide to Plotting Your Novel Without Thinking
Are you staring hopelessly at your manuscript yet again? Are you stuck at a plot point, wishing your plot would float magically towards you on a silver platter? It's a common question on every writer's mind: How can I make my plot even better than it is? How can I create a plot in such … Continue reading 6 Ways to Create a Better Plot
Think about it. You're in the middle of reading a great book, a wonderful book. You love the plot and the setting and the writing - until suddenly, a character is introduced and you hate them. You detest the very sight of them. You skip the parts with them in it. When you talk about … Continue reading What Makes A Character Likable?
Blurbs are, in short, a sneak preview into a book, designed to entice the reader to pick it up. Done right, you get a somewhat mysterious passage that introduces the major conflict, main character(s), and setting - though not in great detail, mind you. Basically, it's the books chance to tell you why it's different … Continue reading How To Epically Fail at Writing a Fiction Book Blurb
About two months back, I did a post entitled 4 Overused Dystopian Tropes. Since it was definitely a blast to compile those tropes and share my unnervingly nerdy knowledge of dystopian literature with you folks, I decided to another one, this time with fantasy tropes. However, after I started making a list, I realized the … Continue reading 4 Overused Fantasy Tropes | Part 1
Do you ever wander down the fiction aisles of your library perusing the many dead tattooed trees and sigh in frustration as none entice you? Because they all seem to have been written following a specific set of instructions? Insert creepy stalker love interest here. Delete actual, accurate POC representation from Chapter 7. Include an … Continue reading 5 Things We Want More of in Books
Ah, the beauty of teenage love. So sweet, so pure, so everlasting...said no one ever. And yet, you'd be hard-pressed to find a YA book without any romance. Why is that? Simply because, if done right, romances add that extra spark to your fantasy/science fiction/historical/realistic/etc. fire and can even attract readers that would otherwise only … Continue reading The 6 Best Romance Tropes
Right now, you are shaking your head at the ridiculous title. Reading pet peeves? Ha! Reading is awesome! Why would I ever have any pet peeves? But as it turns out, you do. You do have that one thing you can't stand to find in books, that one thing the world would be better without, … Continue reading Top 7 Reader Pet Peeves
Let me paint you a picture. The year is 2020. Earth, once a hubbub of commotion, is now a barren wasteland thanks to perpetual war. Living in the middle of it all is a poverty-stricken teenager ready for change. There are a million ways this story can go. Maybe the teenager will uncover an evil … Continue reading 4 Overused Dystopian Tropes