I know Halloween was a couple of months ago, but I have a soft spot for gothic fiction year-round. This particular mix was heavily inspired by the sound and style of the Castlevania video game series. A selection of instrumental pieces, it's ideal for writing tales of haunted mansions, ghostly romances, and atmospheric stories of …
Month: December 2018
5 Tropes You Will Pry From My Cold, Dead Hands
Today’s Friday 5 is more of a short fluff piece: My favorite tropes. I don’t care how many times I see them, I still get giddy every frickin’ time. 1. Masquerades & Ballroom Dancing I mean, have you seen my website header? If I ever write a story that doesn’t include at least one ballroom …
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Dreams vs. Goals
It's that time of year again. Everyone is looking forward to 2019 and setting their goals. I've been noticing a pattern of goal-setting that's a recipe for disappointment, so I'm going to speak a little bit about dreams versus goals. Some points in this article can be applied to self-pub goal-setting, but the examples I …
Writing with Bipolar II
Content warning for mental illness, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. From the moment I decided to start a blog, I wanted to write this post, but it’s difficult to know where to start. We’ll start with a specific moment in my writing path. I’d just received my third manuscript critique that mentioned an inability to connect …
Music Monday: “The Fire Within”
Are you writing something REALLY DRAMATIC this week? I've got the perfect song to inspire you. How do you feel about some truly epic piano with string accompaniment? "The Fire Within" (by Jennifer Thomas feat. The Rogue Pianist) basically carried me through NaNoWriMo 2018, not gonna lie.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x7XNsCsCqg
5 Things About Craft I Learned in 2018
Introducing the Friday 5! Every Friday, I'll post a list of 5 writing-related things. This week, it's all about looking back on 2018. I hit this year hard when it came to writing craft studies. I devoured hundreds of hours of podcasts and checked out over a dozen books on writing. All these lessons were …
On Book Covers: Part 5
5. Be Unique! (But Not Too Unique) This one goes back to our discussion on genre.You want your cover to convey your book's genre, but you should also push a little bit farther and give those readers a reason to pick your book out of that sea of samey covers. I’ll give a standout cover …
On Book Covers: Part 4
4. Professionalism This is a pretty nebulous concept. In general, does it look like someone with thoughtfulness and skill designed this cover, or does it look like someone with no previous experience used a “make your cover” template? For those who are designing your own covers on a budget and don’t have access to fancy …
Music Monday: Dark Fairy Tale Inspiration
Introducing a new weekly feature: Music Monday! It's no secret that I always, always write to music. I also listen to music for inspiration, ideas, and to refill my creative well. Every Monday, I'll be sharing some of my favorite playlists and songs, in the hope that it'll inspire you as well. First up is …
On Book Covers: Part 3
Today's lesson is on how to make that cover pop. 3. Visual Impact The human eye is naturally drawn to three things: movement, high contrast, and bright color. For a book cover, motion is out, but we have two tools left at our disposal. Contrast and color.Contrast: This is merely the level of difference between …
