Most writers will have heard the phrase "cast of thousands." Sometimes it's positive, describing a richly populated world that feels like it has all the human variation of real life. Sometimes it's a criticism of an overpopulated, confusing story that seems to have more characters than it needs. We're often told to simplify - combine characters, ( Read more... )

So I'm reading another YA paranormal romance. I'm frequently disappointed by these, mostly for reasons that fall under the "romantic interest is a jerk" and/or "protagonist is a dopey pushover" categories, but I am convinced that these problems are not inherent to the genre. Just, you know, frequent pitfalls. Plus, this one is an Alice in ( Read more... )

. . . Who knew ( Read more... )