books

Can Stories Truly be Good or Bad?

As I’ve grown as a writer, one unexpected change in the way I view and critique other stories is that I no longer see stories on a scale of good to bad, but from finished to unfinished. There are rarely ‘bad’ stories, only stories that needed more work to reach their true potential: stories that needed faster […]

Our Bloody Pearl Funsies!

A lot of fun Our Bloody Pearl related things went down on tumblr and instagram over the last few months, so I thought I’d share some of them here! Some great art… Murielle and Simone by Phy-be Perle by Pan Dejean by xlehx And so much more… Cinnia put together a fantastic OBP fan-playlist on […]

What I learned while self-publishing.

I went through the process of self-publishing Our Bloody Pearl this summer. Even with all the guides in the world it turned out to be a very grueling experience. I’ll be doing it again with Quasi Stellar soon, but I also hope to traditionally publish The Warlord Contracts trilogy. First, let’s get this out of […]

Every scene furthers the plot.

Some writers confuse “you must further the plot with every scene” with “heavy plot handling must happen constantly.” (Which is a shame, because the latter is not only incorrect, but can make your character’s interactions stiff and boring.) It’s okay to let your characters joke. It’s okay if they get off track of the plot […]

Writing Your First Novel Right.

While I have a book published (siren! pirates! okay yeah enough with the marketing), I’m still editing the first novel I wrote. It’s okay if your first novel takes a long time. It’s okay if you have to rewrite it and rewrite it and then thoroughly edit it and then rewrite it again. It’s okay if you take long breaks from […]

Writing Relationships: Enemies to Lovers.

These types of relationships can be some of the most interesting and enjoyable, both to read and write, because they show us many sides of the same characters and the growth from a hatred to mixed feelings and finally to genuine love and acceptance is often heartwarming to experience. But relationships like also require finesse to […]

Making your angst hurt: the power of lighthearted scenes. 

I’m incredibly disappointed with the trend in stories (especially ‘edgy’ YA novels) to bombard the reader with traumatic situations, angry characters, and relationship drama without ever first giving them a reason to root for a better future. As a reader… I might care that the main siblings are fighting if they had first been shown […]