genre / 45 posts found
Dolen Perkins-Valdez: On History’s Untold Stories
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the ALA. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Dolen Perkins-Valdez Photo by Norman E. Jones In this post, Dolen discusses how a personal curiosity evolved into a fervent need to share in her new historical fiction novel, Take My Hand, her hope for other writers, and more! Name: Dolen Perkins-ValdezLiterary agent: Stephanie Cabot, Susanna Lea AssociatesBook title: Take […]
Using Real-Life Details to Ground Your Thriller Novel
If you are a writer or even an aspiring writer, you’ve almost certainly heard the phrase, “Write what you know.” And while I’m here to support that phrase, I’d also like to wallop it upside the head so it can stop being misinterpreted and overthought. (10 Myths of Writing About Crime) “Write what you know” is way too freaking broad, and it results in aspiring authors delving into extended detail of specific workplaces or unique life actions that people simply don’t want to read about. I don’t think “write what you know” should apply to your job. Very few readers […]
6 Practical Tips for Writing Great Historical Fiction
In 2019, the New York Times Style Magazine declared that we are living in a “golden age” of historical fiction. Whatever the reason for this—be it our need to escape a horribly uncertain present or our fear of what the future might bring—as the author of six World War II-influenced novels, I am very happy that people want their fiction immersed in the past. (Entertaining With the Past: How To Write Engaging Historical Fiction) It is a genre, however, which can trip up the unwary writer: We are not, after all, describing times in which we have lived. With that […]
Carole Lawrence: On the Vast Canvas of New York City History
Carole Lawrence is an award-winning novelist, poet, composer, and playwright. In addition to Edinburgh Twilight, Edinburgh Dusk, and Edinburgh Midnight in the Ian Hamilton Mysteries series, she has authored novellas, short stories, and poems―many of them translated internationally. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee for poetry and has won the Euphoria Poetry Prize, the Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Award, the Maxim Mazumdar playwriting prize, the Jerry Jazz Musician award for short fiction, and the Chronogram Literary Fiction Award. Her plays and musicals have been produced in several countries, as well as on NPR; her physics play, Strings, nominated […]
F.T. Lukens: On When the Writing Flows
F.T. Lukens is the author of In Deeper Waters and five young adult novels published through Interlude Press. Their book The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic was a 2017 Cybils Award finalist in YA Speculative Fiction, the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Gold Winner for YA fiction, the Bisexual Book Award for Speculative Fiction, and on ALA’s 2019 Rainbow Book List. F.T. lives in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats. Visit them at ft-lukens.com. Find them on Twitter and Instagram. F.T. Lukens In this post, F.T. discusses the process of […]
Gilly Macmillan: On the Thrill of Letter Writing
Gilly Macmillan is the internationally bestselling author of several critically acclaimed, fan favorites, including What She Knew, The Perfect Girl, The Nanny, To Tell You the Truth, and more. She lives in Bristol, England. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Gilly Macmillan Photo by Celine Nieszawer Leextra In this post, Gilly discusses how a movie from the 1940s inspired her new thriller novel, The Long Weekend, how she navigated writing and researching a novel during a pandemic, and more! Name: Gilly MacmillanLiterary agent: Helen HellerBook title: The Long WeekendPublisher: William MorrowRelease date: March 29, 2022Genre/category: ThrillerPrevious titles: What She […]
3 Tips on How To Make Murder Funny in Fiction
How do you make murder funny? In fiction, that is. When I first started writing, I wrote mostly twisty, dark thrillers that involved a healthy (or unhealthy, depending how you look at it) body count. I had a lot of fun writing these thrillers, and I think that was part of the problem, because my critique partners came back with the same feedback over and over again. “Your characters are way too flippant about something as serious as murder,” they told me. (On Mining Humor From Family Dynamics in Your Writing) I tried to make my characters behave in a […]
How To Write a Character Driven by an Obsession
When setting out to write a piece of fiction, it’s likely you’ve been told to give your protagonist a singular desire. While this is good advice, I would urge you to take it a step further—what happens when your protagonist’s perhaps modest desire becomes an all-consuming obsession? (Caitlin Barasch: On Curating Our Own Personal Stories) My debut novel, aptly titled A Novel Obsession, is about an aspiring novelist named Naomi who becomes obsessed with her boyfriend’s ex, Rosemary. The more Naomi learns about Rosemary, the more her curiosity consumes her, and before she knows it, her obsessive internet stalking morphs […]
The Rise of Closed-Door Romance
It’s almost ironic to talk about Closed-Door Romance on the heels of the second season drop of Netflix’s widely popular Bridgerton. In book and film form, Julia Quinn’s blockbuster series espouses romance for both the mental and physical senses. Heavy on the physical, if one engages between the pages of her familial threaded story and more viscerally pronounced on screen in moments of heightened passion. (3 Tips on How to Spark Romance in a Character Who Is Content With Being Single) Indeed, from the earliest iterations of romance from its peek-a-boo French Flaps highlighting a couple embracing to the shirtless […]
Christopher Ruocchio: On the Natural Growth in Writing a Series
Christopher Ruocchio could read almost before he could speak, and so when he realized he would never be an astronaut, he decided to be a novelist. He began writing when he was eight years old, and sold his first novel at twenty-two. He is also the Assistant Editor at Baen Books and a graduate of North Carolina State University. He is the author of the Sun Eater series, beginning with Empire of Silence. Find him on Facebook and Instagram. Christopher Ruocchio Photo by Paul Ruocchio In this post, Christopher discusses the process of writing his new science fiction novel, Kingdoms […]