Author of lush, romantic fantasy novels.
Beta swaps and critiques are the lifesblood of networking with other authors, and there's a lot to be said for getting beta reads on your own work. But there are a lot of benefits to offering critiques for other writers as well. 1. It can improve your own writing. There's a lot of focus on … Continue reading 4 Reasons You Should Be Betaing for Other Authors
Welcome to a new blog post series on tidbits of grammar trivia and terminology. We'll cover some interesting things you may not have learned in school, or might have forgotten since then. Today, gerunds! So what's a gerund? It's a tricky little beastie, a word that's based on a verb and looks like a verb, … Continue reading Grammar Quick Bites: Gerunds
First, a disclaimer: I'm in no way affiliated with the Character Trait Thesaurus books I'll be using in this article, and I haven't been compensated for endorsing them. I just really love using them as a resource. Character development. There are worksheets galore on the internet, varying from ones that ask about a character's favorite … Continue reading Using Key Traits to Create Complex Characters
Today we're going to talk about another frequent writing issue, usually appearing in early drafts. I think it's more common in newer writers, but it's easy for this problem to sneak up on even experienced writers. So what's the problem? Everyone is too nice. In the story, I mean. Secondary characters provide unflinching moral support … Continue reading The Problem with Nice
Revision. Some writers love it, some hate it. I fall into the first camp. Give me a rough manuscript over a blank page any day. But I have a very visual brain and I tend to get overwhelmed by large tasks pretty easily, so my setup is mostly designed to break everything down into bite-sized … Continue reading My Writing and Revision Process
Amy Avery / Avery Ames 