My lovely and delightful author friend Melissa McTernan was one of my early readers for Ballad for Jasmine Town, and said recently that she found herself still occasionally thinking about the book, months later. Which to me is such a high compliment! And it has led me to ponder: what is it that makes a story, be it book or show or film, stick in ( Read more... )

As a fandom-loving person, one of my favorite sites at which to go down rabbit holes (that saying itself being a fandom reference, of course) is TVTropes.org. Despite its name, it does not confine itself to TV shows, but encompasses all of popular culture: video games, literature, music, theatre, anime, you name it. It has accurate and often ( Read more... )

I was just talking with a writer friend about the difficulties of wrangling all the threads of a big novel, in its early stages-something we both have plenty of familiarity with. It got me looking back at my notes for Lava Red Feather Blue, which I struggled with for the first several months of trying to write it. And this note was the turning ( Read more... )

I've gone back to this post and added the following paragraph to the beginning. I'm posting it by itself here in the hopes that it sets the record straight and reaches more readers. Thank you keeping me honest and humble out there, truly.

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Just to clarify, All the Better Part of Me, the novel mentioned below about the 25-year-old bi man, is a ( Read more... )

First, a quick piece of writing news: I recently finished the first draft of Ballad for Jasmine Town, my next book! It takes place on Eidolonia, the island of fae and witches where Lava Red Feather Blue is set, but you won't need to have read Lava Red Feather Blue to understand it. Each book can be read as a standalone. The manuscript is currently ( Read more... )

Miscellaneous editing tips: a roundup

I think I’ll post these from time to time, as I find it fun, and someone out there might find them helpful. This batch consists of tips that I originally posted as tweets over the past year or so. ( My Twitter is here, if you want it.) These came from the year-long editing course I took, as well as the paid ( Read more... )

It's been too long since I've brought on another author for Q&A, and I'm pleased to be doing so again with Darlene Foster! I met Darlene (in an online sense) through our publisher in common, Central Avenue Publishing, and she's one of the most upbeat, easygoing, fun-loving writers I know. Her Amanda Travels series is a wonderful set of books for ( Read more... )

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I haven't posted here about the new book, have I? Here is its magnificent cover!


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Magic systems in fantasy! They are not all alike, as you know, but here's one of the ways to categorize them: a spectrum between "soft" and "hard" magic. Hard magic systems have defined rules on how they work, and the reader is told what they are-e.g., the four element types of bending in Avatar: the Last Airbender have certain basic limits, which ( Read more... )