Romance vs Thriller — Are They So Different?

Tracey Richardson Leave a comment

You might say the antithesis to the romance genre is suspense/thriller. You know, people getting killed versus people falling in love. What could be more polar than that?

I suggest they’re not as different as they may seem, which is why, as a romance writer, I make sure I read a few thrillers and suspense novels each year. They help me to remember how important pacing is, that plot matters, that getting the reader eagerly turning the page matters, that good dialogue is vital.

Character development often takes a back seat in thrillers and suspense novels because plot is king. This is usually the reverse in romance novels. But a really good thriller writer will find a way to develop their characters without bogging down their novel. And good romance writers figure out how to keep the plot interesting, how to pepper believable and heart thumping conflict throughout the story while maintaining character development. Read more

A Writer’s Confession

Seana Moorhead 2 Comments

I confess.

I failed at my goal. In my last blog, I discussed how I had started a new habit of writing for 15 minutes every day.  I did it faithfully for about four weeks and then I missed a day, then a second day. I felt miserable and reminded myself to restart but it didn’t happen. Another month went by and I did not write once.  A failure. And it seemed like such a good idea!

I have long admired those people who tackle a huge project by taking small steps every day.  It seems like such a sensible method to complete a big project – whether it is renovating a room, weeding a garden or writing a novel.  But I fail at this method every time I try.  Instead, I lurch from binge tackling of a project to long periods of stagnation until I pop into another binge round.

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Excuses For Not Writing?

Kelly Babcock Leave a comment
computer and microphone
What excuse could be good enough to keep me from writing?

Mine are the best.

I’m not bragging, they just are.

Okay, I’m bragging a little … a lot? Maybe.

We do find reasons not to write “today” or “right now” and we tell ourselves those reasons are valid. And if they aren’t, well, they’re one offs, they won’t happen again. Or if they do we’ll know better than to use them next time, we’ll think up other excuses instead.

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Dear Diary…

Bernice Connell Leave a comment

Two diaries belonging to my mother were unearthed from an old cedar chest that has held the last of her things since her passing eleven years ago. I was thrilled at the prospect of reading them. The earliest one was a Christmas gift from her mother in 1950. My mom would have been 18 years old.

The first entry in her new diary was New Year’s Day, 1951 and noted a family supper and a skating party in Dundalk. She and my father had become engaged a couple of weeks earlier so she’d added that news as well.

I pounced on these treasures like a scavenger, excited for any new morsels of information and insights to family history. Flipping through the pages, it quickly became apparent that the notes consisted solely of facts. The diaries were largely a record of births, deaths (including the death of King George VI in 1952), weddings and who’d been ill and prayed for at church. Read more

A Writer Caught in a Whirlwind of Authors

Lori Twining 2 Comments

It has been exactly one week, since I returned from an eight-day stay in New York City for the Thrillerfest Writing Conference. While there, I not only had cocktails with famous authors, but I listened to them pour their hearts out trying to help aspiring writers make it through the solitude trenches to publication. My notebook is filled with over 60 pages of NEW hand-written information that I didn’t receive the past two years I have attended. How is it, I still have so much to learn?

Most of the information given at Thrillerfest is top secret to the writers who attend the conference, but just in case you are writing a thriller, suspense, mystery or crime novel, here are a few tidbits I can share with you: Read more

Comma Conundrum

Diane Ferguson Leave a comment

Having just celebrated a birthday, it’s hard not to forget I’m getting older—maybe even, “over the hill”. And I’m doing okay with that. I have no urge to be young again even though I have great memories. While I don’t need to keep up with the latest trends in fashion, I do need to keep up with writing trends. I don’t want my writing to seem out-dated.  If age gives us one thing, surely it’s a bit of life wisdom we might impart on our fellow humans, or at least an interesting perspective. Read more

Summertime And The Livin’ Is…Easy?

Tracey Richardson Leave a comment

I hear constantly from fellow writers that they have trouble carving out time to write. Or they have the time, but they’re often swamped by writer’s block.

I seem to be the opposite. I have lots of time (in theory at least) to write and I rarely have writer’s block (too many years of being a writer, both as a newspaper journalist and as a published author, have mostly inoculated me against this).

At the moment, I’m trying to give myself a writing break, mostly because the timing is perfect. I handed in my latest manuscript to my publisher in late May and there’s no rush to start another novel. I busied myself this spring with a sizable freelance writing project and other paid work. Summer is here now and, well, that’s the perfect time to kick back and enjoy, right? Read more