Tropes DAMMIT! So What the Hell? Who cares about all this shit? I was asked this the other day in reference to why I have been focusing on genre tropes for the last several weeks. Here’s an example of why genre and trope matters. I was recently approached by a person who wrote a book. … Read more
We’ve been discussing genre fiction for the last several weeks with a focus on crime fiction. This week we focus on a subgenre of crime fiction called the Whodunnit. A Whodunnit is closely related to the private eye novel, which we discussed last week. Also called a murder mystery, the Whodunnit is primarily focused on … Read more
Characters The protagonist or main character of the private eye is usually someone with a strong moral center who wants justice for justice’s sake. Money is an aside. They are usually loners and work alone, though there is often a junior partner or sidekick that assists them and does the busy work. PIs are outsiders … Read more
This week I’d thought we’d focus on crime fiction. In case you are not familiar, crime fiction is that genre category that fictionalises crime on some level. If you are thinking about writing crime fiction here are some stats to help with your decision. We will discuss techniques on a later post. Miscellaneous goodies: In … Read more
e We’ve been talking about the romance genre over the last couple of weeks. Romance is the hottest selling genre of any the mass market fiction category, which means that if you are an established writer of romance, chances are you are doing very well for yourself. But how do you break into becoming a … Read more
As we saw last week, the romance genre is big business. If you want to break into the romance genre then it is a good idea to know the general tropes. You goal is to write a novel that will meet your readers’ expectations. Remember that romance readers are very knowledgeable. They are also a … Read more
We’re focusing on the romance genre this week. If you write urban fantasy or another genre, don’t be dismayed. Ideally, there are things you can glean for yourself even in a discussion about the romance genre. Miscellaneous goodies: In 2013, romance sales were $1.08 billion The audience for romance is 84% female, 16% male Romance … Read more
Sometimes I am a dumbass. I know you find it hard to believe, but it is true. Some of my professed dumbassedness is self-inflicted. I go against my gut, or more often, my schedule, and I get myself dug deep into some pit of Hell I don’t want to be in. This happens with good … Read more
Last week we considered the question of What If with regard to creating complex characters. I thought it would be good to push the Muse a bit more and continue with the What If conceptidea to help us brainstorm our book ideas. You can use What If to create characters and plot. You can also use What If to … Read more
Ideally, before you begin writing, you have the details of your novel worked out. But, before that, there is that flash of random inspiration of something that could, at some point, become a novel. Those flashes can come from anywhere. You could see a news story, and suddenly you have a dynamic plot that comes … Read more