X-posted from my blog.

One of my favorite procrastination websites is TV Tropes Dot Org, a wiki which catalogues popular tropes used in movies, TV shows, manga, and literature. Talking to a friend the other day, I realized that there are some tropes I love- not because they're always done well so much as because there are some character types ( Read more... )

*Cross-posted from my blog, where I've been talking about some of the thoughts and ideas that came up at Romantic Times last week*

One really interesting RT panel was devoted to defining the (often blurry) line between urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Jackie Kessler (who, by the way, just sold an awesome-sounding YA that you can read about ( Read more... )

When I first started writing, I didn't plan at all. I sat down with a character's name and a supernatural power or situation, and I figured out little things like "conflict" and "action" as I went along. The ending was as much a surprise to me as to readers, but it often ended up foreshadowed by something that happened in the first third of the ( Read more... )

Cross-posted from my LJ at Melissa's request...

Last summer, I got some good news about my books The Squad: Perfect Cover and The Squad: Killer Spirit (both YA books released last week). Little did I know at the time that it would take SEVEN MONTHS for the deal to be absolutely, finally, just-signed-on-the-dotted-line official. But now it is, ( Read more... )

Jumping on the bandwagon- top ten signs a book was written by me1. Chances are, the world needs saving ( Read more... )

The other day, I was thinking about the fact that fantasy elements can be introduced into pretty much any "kind" of book. In many ways, the urban fantasy (or maybe I should just say "supernatural," since that might cover slightly more ground) market seems to parallel the mainstream one. You can have paranormal romance. There's no shortage of ( Read more... )

My first book just came out in July. It's a young adult fantasy/chick lit hybrid about a teenage aura seer who moves to a new school and has to use her Sight to solve a potentially lethal supernatural mystery, all while trying to fit in amongst the most extreme clique scene known to man. Here's the back cover blurb:

GOLDEN by Jennifer Lynn ( Read more... )

The other day, I was actually talking to someone about the fact that I'm a religious person (Christian) who writes supernaturally themed stories, and he asked me if I thought my beliefs were integrated into the supernatural bases of the story. This is what I ended up saying in reply ( Read more... )

A while back, I promised a dissertation on why I think vampires are hot, and I'm finally making good on it, but first, a few words about Fur and Fey and their own unique brands of hotness ( Read more... )

Melissa asked: How do you pick the sort of creature/being you utilize? For me, the "species" I use and the mythology of the powers in a given book have to fit in some way with whatever non-mystical concept I'm playing around with. Usually, I try to match up mystical and ordinary concepts that I think go well together. For my first book, which ( Read more... )