Fall in love with the unexpected

Book Tropes: I’m DEFINITELY Not Seducing You.

2022-05-12
SE White
Book Reviews, Recommendations, Romance Tropes, Top 10 Lists

Isn’t it the best when those mischievous feelings sneak up and, WHAM, catch our protagonist upside the head? It’s the literary equivalent to the ‘suddenly; squirrel!’ humor trick and I can’t get enough of watching it play out. Our characters are happily spatting [this is a theme I really like so I read a lot of enemies to lovers, get used to that trope showing up everywhere in my rec posts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ] all while one of them is insistent…

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Book Tropes: The Grovel in The Novel

2020-10-14
SE White
Book Reviews, Recommendations, Romance Tropes, Top 10 Lists

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a super specific, really niche trope. It’s like a food craving, where only that certain brand from that one store will do. In this case it’s a good old grovel. Not the little token apology with immediate making-out, ohhh no. I want the real down-and-dirty, sincere, I-fucked-up, oh-my-god-I-was-so-dumb, dawning realization. It doesn’t particularly matter to me which character (hero or heroine or all three heroes in a reverse harem) is doing the groveling. There…

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Breaking Down a Romance Plot

2023-03-15
SE White
Author Toolbox Blog Hop Post, Blogging, Plotters vs. Pantsers, Writing Process

For this post, let’s break down a well known romance plot to see where the story beats are going. This is an exercise I’d really recommend for authors of any genre. Take your favorite story, or movie, and break it down to see how they made everything work. You’ll be surprised how much it helps you break down your own story! And yes, this is the movie I’m turning into plot points, but it still translates to novel form. Beauty…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group and Envy

2023-03-01
SE White
Insecure Writer's Support Group Post, Recommendations, Top 10 Lists

The awesome co-hosts for this March 1 posting of the IWSG are Diedre Knight, Tonya Drecker, Bish Denham, Olga Godim (hi Olga!), and JQ Rose! And the (optional) question for today – Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy? The answer to this is, of course, YES. In fact, saying ‘a’ line or ‘a’ clever plot twist is rank untruth. It’s more like ‘so many’ amazing, emotional, or evocative lines and ‘multiple’ plot…

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Adding AllAuthor to Your Author Toolbox

2023-02-08
SE White
Author Toolbox Blog Hop Post, Blogging, Recommendations

Yes, there is BookBub.com. It’s right up there with the ginormous Goodreads as a top spot for recommendations and book lists. Pretty much every post or anecdote I’ve heard about BookBub emphasizes how amazing it is when it comes to promotion. I believe those posts, and I’m happy for those authors but . . . BookBub will promote you, and it will work, but it’s also common knowledge that it will cost you roughly an entire month’s worth of income. At least. If you’re…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group has you Covered

2023-02-01
SE White
Goals and Hopes, Insecure Writer's Support Group Post, My Books, Recommendations

Welcome to the first Insecure Writer’s Group post of the year for me. Somehow January scarpered, and here we are in the first post for February. If you’re thinking of joining the group yourself, let me reassure you that once a month posts really aren’t as difficult as I’m making it look. Come join us! This month the kind co-hosts keeping us all on track are Jacqui Murray, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, and Gwen Gardner! Our optional question for this month is…

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The Great Blogging Wrap-Up of 2022

2022-12-14
SE White
Blogging, Holiday Wishes, Recommendations, Romance Tropes, Top 10 Lists

Lets get to some numbery-maths for the year. I’m still at the point where I genuinely have a lot of fun breaking my blogging year down in stats. If you’re interested the 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017 breakdowns are linked. Just as a note: I’ve spent zero pennies on marketing of any kind since I started this blog in November 2016. Instead, I’ve focused on blog-hops and building relationships. That means super slow growth and also super low stress levels. (If slow is…

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The Insecure Writer’s Group and the Holiday Haze

2022-12-07
SE White
Blogging

It’s the first Wednesday in December, so you know what that means! A hastily written post full of little substance and much snark to get you through another month. Our co-hosts this month are  Joylene Nowell Butler, Chemist Ken, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine! And we absolutely owe them a thank-you visit and comment for adding this to their already full loads in December. The question for December 7th which I will happily answer is: It’s holiday time! Are the holidays a time…

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Autumn Favorites: Pumpkin Spice Horror Edition

2022-10-12
SE White
Blogging, Friday Favorites, Recommendations, Top 10 Lists

AKA my Favorite Fall Weather Reads Yes, I am one of those annoying people who love pumpkin spice and celebrate the season it shows up in everything. I admit this with zero shame, because pumpkin spice is the best. And you know what’s even better? Apples. And caramel. And caramel apples. And butternut squash, pecans, maple, cinnamon, cloves…basically every food item in autumn. I have learned how to make pumpkin spice (it’s super easy) so I can include the flavor…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Asks Why I Love Romance

2022-10-05
SE White
Insecure Writer's Support Group Post, Romance Tropes, Romance Writers of America, Top 10 Lists

To be fair, no one in the IWSG asked why I love romance. The actual specific question for this month was What do you consider the best characteristics of your favorite genre? But . . . I mean. Come on. We all knew SE was going to answer ‘romance! I freaking adore romance’ and come prepared with an entire listicle of what I consider the best characteristics of romance. With GIFs galore. The co-hosts keeping us on track for October…

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