In 2015, 18-year-old blogger Gweneth Batemen conducted a personal experiment: when men on social media complimented her on her appearance she would acknowledge that what they said was true. The men would usually revoke the compliment as if Batemen’s confirmation somehow voided the fact that she was physically attractive. Whether she was polite or snarky to the people in question,… Read more »
One of my favorite tools of writing is subtext. I don’t know how widely known or used it really is because I didn’t learn about it until my junior year of college. Subtext is a thread that runs through a writer’s work that punctuates major points and/or usually underscores the whole purpose of the story. To put it in laymen… Read more »
All writers agree that reviews are important. The number of reviews independent books and stories receive on vendor websites impacts where those books are seen and advertised. The more reviews, the higher the rank and broader the profile. There are many, many reviewers and sites offering a chance to earn a review. And it can be tough to gain a… Read more »
The picture above is me. My father is a fair-skinned black man and my mother is an EXTREMELY fair-skinned white woman, which is why I look the way I do. Due to my mixed heritage, I have a very complicated relationship with my unbelievably curly hair. When it grows, it doesn’t get long, it gets big. And by big… Read more »
Welcome All! For the first time, this HSSS is actually going to start with, She said… Quite often you hear the old adage that you should write what you know. If that were the truth, fiction genres like fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal romance and the like wouldn’t offer very many books to their audiences, now would they? But if you write… Read more »
No matter the medium, it seems like entertainment is playing a key role in society’s acceptance of LGBT+ people. It still has a long way to go, like the rest of the world, but one can’t deny that queer characters are showing up more frequently on our screens and in our books. From Cam and Mitch on Modern Family, to… Read more »
I was inspired to write this post by the Summer 2016 issue of the Journal of the Society of Authors (UK), which opened with these words from the editor, James McConnachie: ‘All authors live with fear.’ Did you know that to be an author is to live with fear? Perhaps for some writers that is not the case, but… Read more »
Although I’ve never personally emptied my bank account on self-publishing a book – not yet anyhow – I have to say that there has to be a line where expenses just can’t be cut: editing and/or proofreading. Sure, I know the cover is important, as are promotional activities and the like; however, if you spend your entire budget on those… Read more »
You’ve probably heard it from your writing buddies, seen it in how-to books, and read it in author interviews. It’s arguably the ultimate writing mantra, the number one way to improve your writing. What exactly am I talking about? The Show, Don’t Tell rule. High five to you if you guessed where I was headed! Show, Don’t Tell is one of the most popular expressions in any creative writing sphere, novel… Read more »
He Said Ashley brought this topic up and honestly, I never even thought about this till she mentioned it. I’m not sure where she comes up with this stuff but the more I thought about it the more I thought it was a good He Said/She Said topic. (Don’t tell her that as her head will just get bigger…. Read more »
The growth of Indie or Independent writers has increased dramatically over the years. There are different companies that will help the “Indie” author publish his or her work. The main difference between these companies is fees. Some have different packages for publishing with different fees, and others allow the author to publish digital books for free, and then retain a… Read more »
When I started my first book, my fear of the unknown kicked in before I finished page one. My mind raced to all of the things I had to do. Turn my story idea into a plot. Develop characters. Pick names for them and places to take them. Come up with twists and turns to keep my readers intrigued. Oh…. Read more »
She said… So, as someone who has never written a book – yet – I sometimes don’t realize how important all the different components can be. However, I think my author partner will agree that the most important part of the sale of an actual book is the cover. When I peruse the sections of Amazon, or an actual brick… Read more »
It was after school, and I was half-heartedly stretching for drill team practice when the girl beside me, Hannah, said, “Don’t you think you’re being mean to Jodi?” I had never really talked to Hannah before, but she had recently become friends with my best friend, Jodi. And apparently my best friend had been sharing some less-than-flattering things about me…. Read more »
He said… As Ashley, and most of my friends will tell you, I’m different. I have always viewed things in a different light, taken a different approach or looked for ways to use things that one might normally ignore. Thus, one of the things that always surprise me when I read a book, especially a Kindle book, is how ignored… Read more »