Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The New Adult Genre-- what is it?

New Adult emerged when young adult readers wanted protagonists to represent their ages of eighteen through twenty-eight.  They're discovering who they are and figuring out the best way to become independent.  They fall in love, but their relationships can't swallow them up.  Sophisticated New Adult readers are cognitively demanding. Stories are darker, antiheroes go up again immoral governments, but goals are not ambiguous.  Readers want realism and demand multiple plot threads to stay engaged. Information is deliberately withheld in order to increase tension.  I am enjoying the rewards of writing for a smart culture.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Carey Abbot designed my book cover for INTERVENUS: A BRAND NEW ADDRESS!

For my New Adult Interracial romance, I needed a custom cover.  Otherwise I would have chosen one from her amazing half-priced pre-made covers.  What a bargain! See them here at:
My book will be released in May by moi.  Here's a sneak peek at Carey's cover--


Monday, March 17, 2014

Do you keep a notebook?

If you’re a writer, chances are you’re a trenchant observer and interpreter of society and culture. We tell ourselves stories in order to live life to the fullest. Our notes reflect our slant on what we experience.


Let’s say there’s a woman coming down the stairway into a hotel’s bar one late afternoon. She wears a dirty crepe-de-Chine infinity scarf. The bartender mops the floor where she’s sitting on a bar stool and tells her he heard she separated from George. As a reader you know she’s a regular. At the other end of the bar is a younger woman talking, not to the man beside her but to a cat lying in the triangle of sunlight cast through the open door. She’s wearing a trendy skirt, but the hem is coming down. As a writer, you make up a story. This young woman is leaving the man beside her. All she can see ahead are the viscous summer sidewalks and the 3 a.m. calls which will make her lie awake and then sleep only with the help of sleeping pills. She touches the loose hem and wishes she had a safety pin. Use the double meaning. Wishing she could fix things, she smells the disinfectant the bartender uses on surfaces. She can’t find words to say when the man beside her leaves, but she makes friends with the woman wearing the dirty scarf. She can’t talk to the man she loves but loneliness drives her to make friends with a stranger.


Isn’t it fun to rearrange things for our characters?

Friday, March 14, 2014

If you are a writer, have you tried Scrivener? I'm finishing the third week of Gwen Hernandez' amazing month-long class.  Gwen makes it so easy! If you don't know about Scrivener, it's a software product geared to keep track of EVERYTHING, and this makes finishing a book faster.

#BookQW word is DRINK-- excerpt from Unholy Alliance, a #Tirgearr Publishing #RomanticSuspense --

Book quote Wednesday's word is drink.   Here's how we play it-- find the word in an excerpt.  Below in Unholy Alliance , the...