7 Romance Tropes I Love to Hate (as an author)
Otherwise entitled: real people just don’t do that but man does it sell a book.
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Breaking Down a Romance Plot
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…
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Asks Why I Love Romance
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…
SE and the Teasing Book Taste
I mean ‘teasing’ in a very non-creepy, authory way. Don’t worry. I have a book coming out in September and you might like a small nibble. Just a tiny one, to see if it suits your palate. So sit back, relax, and enjoy your appetizer of The Sidekick and The Supervillain. Picture Michaela, innocently at work checking temperatures and taking blood pressure readings, when into her Urgent Care walks one of the biggest supervillains in Smallcity. He’s got robots everywhere,…
The Basics of Romance, for Your Author Toolbox
*Sings* Do you want to write a romance? If you do, you’re in good company. Millions of books printed and sold every year (and probably hundreds of millions of Ebooks downloaded. I haven’t done the research, but I’m feeling pretty confident with that guess.) Thousands of authors. HUGE part of the publishing market share. But . . . where to start? How is a romance different from any other fiction novel? What defines “romance”? At the basic level: A romance…
Book Tropes: We Stan Step Parents!
Today’s niche trope is all about choosing to love. To me, the decision to step up as a parent figure is the definition of heroic, because it hits close to my own personal experience. I have been a single mom and I have been lucky enough to find a second chance with the most amazing husband and stepfather in the entire world. He’s the best. No arguing. Also, he’s mine. But you can have these books which feature a love…
Release Day! Beneath Me, SE White
It’s release day for my first indie publishing attempt. I’m unsure if the correct procedure is to scream with excitement, cower under blankets, or accost random strangers and try to get them to read my work? All of those at once? Or maybe the Carlton dance. YES. The Carlton dance is perfect for this moment. Amazon doesn’t *list* books on their website until actual release day, and I’ve heard about long delays in those books showing up on the website…
Book Tropes: Award For Most Adorkable
Quick internet search tells me that a nerd is defined as; “a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, interested in obscure or not-popular things, and lacking social skills.” Basically? I am ALL OF THOSE THINGS. It’s like the internet knows my life!* *Dear NSA Agent skimming my blog: please do spend some quality time with my trope rec posts. I promise you will need reading material because my life is very boring and these books are more fun. Also…