Category: Writing Advice

  • The Seven Rules of Great Storytelling

    Humans are forever telling stories. For instance, effective advertising is essentially a story that convinces us that a) we have an unmet need, and b) the product in question meets that need. We also tell stories as ways to develop and sustain relationships. Stories help us to find common ground with strangers. If I tell…

  • The Seven Tropes of Paranormal Romance

    I read a LOT of paranormal romance. I also write it. So I’m sitting here at the keyboard trying to boil it down into seven tropes: the seven things that aren’t so much over-used as instantly recognisable and definitive of the subgenre. Or to put it another way: what do I like to see in…

  • I’m Not Good Enough

    Something’s been bothering me for years. It is my reluctance, and the reluctance of so many authors I talk with, to commit to promoting our books (and ourselves). We’re told to by publishers, agents, fellow authors, even readers, but we resist. Oh, how we resist! It started (for me) with Carina Press back in 2010.…

  • Writing Paranormal Romance

    In 2016 I’m concentrating on my paranormal romance series, The Collegium, and have an ambitious publishing schedule up for all the world to see on the front page of this site. Focussing on one project, if multiple different stand-alone novels, builds its own momentum. I live and breathe paranormal romance, and this post falls out…

  • 2016 Publishing Predictions

    2016 Publishing Predictions

    I do this every year. I try to look into the future and guess which way the publishing industry is going to jump. Will the hot books be cosy mysteries or science fiction thrillers? So far, I’ve never been right. Gothic romances in space? So many possibilities. This year, I’ve promised myself to focus on…