I didn’t enter SYTYCW this year and now I am suffering from a severe case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). To distract myself from possibly slipping up and quickly whipping in a last minute entry (I think the deadline is up anyway) I thought I’d do a post on….. dun dun dunnnn…. THE VIRGIN … Continue reading “Writing A Virgin (Hero)”
Category: conflict
The Big Seckrit
You know the big secret? The one that our hero hides because he doesn’t want anyone else to know? Or the one that the heroine never talks about and is afraid someone will find out? Like, the hero used to steal cars and one time, when he was chased by the cops, he hit someone … Continue reading “The Big Seckrit”
Dr Jax Helps Out
Was going to do a long and involved post today but since my youngest daughter broke her leg yesterday (jumping off a bunkbed trying to touch a light!), I am at her beck and call instead! Still, thought I’d mention that I was talking to Dr Jax over the weekend and asked him if he … Continue reading “Dr Jax Helps Out”
Character Lightbulbs!
Yeah, I’m finding I’m having lots of lightbulb moments with my chess ms. In fact, I’m beginning to think that my chess story is becoming a bit of a watershed ms. I am learning so much with this one. I knew at the beginning of the year that it was proving to be quite a … Continue reading “Character Lightbulbs!”
Character Traits vs Conflict
Janet asked me an interesting question about my last blog post and since I’m scraping around trying to find things to blog about, I thought I’d actually give my answer as a post. This comes with the usual caveat that my answer is my thoughts about the subject, thoughts that could be totally erroneous, sadly … Continue reading “Character Traits vs Conflict”
Heroines Do My Head In
Ah crap, nearly another week has gone by. I do have an excuse though. I have been…drum roll….writing! What you say? Jackie Ashenden actually writing? Unheard of! Yeah, yeah, I’m being sarcastic. I never really stop writing to it’s no surprise. But lately I have been turning off the net to concentrate wholly on what … Continue reading “Heroines Do My Head In”
The Trouble with Riva
Ahem. You know what I said a couple of days ago about the need to keep conflict simple? Well guess what I did?? *shakes fist at ms* Sigh. Figured out that I have too many things going on for my heroine. I have two major problems with her and really, I should just have one … Continue reading “The Trouble with Riva”
First Drafts Suck
Why? Well, here are some reasons my draft sucks: 1. The story is boring.2. The conflict is confused.3. The characters are irritating. As you can tell, I’m at the ‘they’re never going to want any more of this story so what’s the point in writing it’ stage. Sigh. I always get to this point in … Continue reading “First Drafts Suck”
How Dorothy Dunnett Ruined Me for Writing Category Romance
**Spoiler Alert! If you plan on reading these books and like surprises then stop reading now. Right now. This instant! ** **I mean it.*** **Well, okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.*** I like subtlety. My very favourite historical romance in all the world – The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett, that I first … Continue reading “How Dorothy Dunnett Ruined Me for Writing Category Romance”
The Dance of the Seven Veils
Aren’t you guys fabulous? I got some great comments about the whole digging deep deal last post – really set off lots of lightbulbs for me, especially with the WIP I’m going to be subbing next. So big cheers and thanks to you all for commenting! Anyway, that digging deep post really set me thinking … Continue reading “The Dance of the Seven Veils”