In my Fanfic “These Dreams,” Emma and Killian go on an adventure through their dreams – and everyone else’s. In this chapter, we catch up with them at sea. Continue reading
Novels vs Novellas And Why I Do Both
Adult romance is such a big, wide-open category.
You have everything from love stories with a steamy scene here and there to pounding, throbbing naked multi-player action that may or may not include fantastical beasts and battlefield implements.
Me, I write all kinds of stuff. I even have another pen name that I use for the more G and PG rated things like my YA fiction. And when it comes to steam, I’ve made no secret that I think story trumps sex anytime. That being said, sometimes you just want a good, dirty read and you don’t necessarily need the romance. That’s why I write both novels and novellas. Continue reading
Sky Woman Is A FREE Read On Fridays In The Month Of June!
Miranda “Miri” Reynolds is a fun-loving college student who suddenly finds herself transplanted to another planet, as part of a solution to a genetic bottleneck that’s been plaguing the planet for a century. These “Sky Women” are held in high esteem, and she finds herself being competed for by the three very sexy – and all very different – brothers of Falenua House. When a secret is revealed that puts Miri in jeopardy, the brothers band together, and Miri learns that pre-conceived notions about love and sex don’t mean a thing when you’re on the other side of the galaxy.
I’ll be promoting Sky Woman FREE every Friday in the month of June via Kindle Select, which means I’ll have to offer it there exclusively (I’ll be unpublishing from Smashwords during that period).
I’ve posted excerpts before, so you can read them here, or here, or here, or here.
Enjoy!
Finding Your Repetitive Phrases Is “A Bit” Of A Pain In The Ass
When I first started writing, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I use certain words as a crutch. All writers do this to a degree – we have a certain “style” of writing, a way we paint scenes or arrange words, a character trait or flaw that we give our protagonists or a repetitive theme (like VC Andrews and incest….wince). It’s not always a bad thing, until there’s too much of it.
Case in point: when I went back to edit my first book, I started noticing that I used the phrase “a bit” a whole awful lot. I mean, an AWFUL awful lot. She wasn’t just scared, she was “a bit scared.” He wasn’t just wary, he was “a bit wary.” It was all over the place! I finally decided (since I use Word when I write) to use the “find” feature and search out the phrase. In the first six chapters alone, I used the phrase “a bit” fourteen times! Ugh. Continue reading
Writers Tell Stories…And Sometimes They’re True #MemorialDay
My father is a purple heart veteran of the Viet Nam war. When I was younger, I’d sometimes ask him to tell me stories about the time he spent there, and about the friends he made – and lost.
He never wanted to tell me.
So many of those stories remain locked away, and I suspect they’ll go with him when breathes his last. I respect his privacy, because I know that sometimes, the stories locked inside us demand a terrible price when you revisit them, just as they demand a price for keeping them safely locked away.
Today, I remember the stories he did share, but I also remember the stories he never told.
Oh My God. So Perfectly Said By Anne Lamott #writing #amwriting
FanFic Friday! In Honor Of Ginny Goodwin’s Birthday – Here’s One Of My Favorite #FanFic Chapters!
Happy Birthday, Ginny Goodwin!
As you know, when I write Once Upon A Time FanFics, they tend to be Captain Swan centered, but I always make a point to feature the other characters of Storybrooke where I can. In The Big Moment from my series of one-off Fanfics “Captain’s Choice,” built around the canon of my Memory Keeper Series. In this chapter, Hook and Emma’s daughter Meriel is grown and expecting, and we see how hilariously hard it is for Snow to keep a secret.
I love writing for these characters, and that’s due in part to the excellent casting choices in this show. Ginny Goodwin is an exemplary Snow White, and I just cannot imagine anyone else who could rock the role like she does.
My Favorite Piece Of Writing Advice
I like to talk about writing because I’m a writer. And if you ask me, I LOVE to talk about my books! Oh, I can tell you all about the half-dozens mostly-formed plots in my head, the interlocking trilogies, the fascinating characters, the wild plot twists – I can paint you vivid pictures that will have you begging me for more.
But the issue here is: it’s all in my head until I put it somewhere else. Like paper. Or a computer screen. And that’s where it’ll stay until I do some other things that result in it getting published, like endless queries and twitter conversations and ambushing editors at conventions and signing up for writer’s pitch conferences so I can pitch. Or I can jump through a thousand less hoops and self-publish, but I have to find a great cover artist, edit the everloving crap out of my work, get some beta readers, edit it again, ask an editor to edit, re-work and edit again, and then publish it.
Then I have to promote it, because while I do have some loyal and ardent readers, I don’t have great throngs of them as of yet. So I have to weigh which promotional activities are going give me the most bang for my buck and I have to blog and Facebook and Tweet and Tumblr and Instagram all that stuff.
But it all starts with one fundamental truth: Continue reading
Finding Your Characters – You Can’t Write ‘Em If You Don’t Know ‘Em #writing #amwriting #books
I’ve mentioned before that I “cast” my novels in my head before I write them. This helps me stay on point and keep the characters true to themselves. So I might think they look like whatever celebrity but they have the personality of that guy from college that I always wish I had dated or maybe they’re like a mix between this tv show character’s personality and that movie star’s looks.
So I get that far, and then I have to start going deeper – what really makes them tick? This is where I start really fleshing them out. I found these guidelines on a forum board a long time ago – I Googled them to try to find a source but they’re all over the internet and for good cause. This is what they call the story circle – this will get you where you need to go: Continue reading
Cover Reveal For The Print Version Of “Someday In Dublin!” #amwriting #romance #amreading #NewAdult
Yes! It’s done!!!
Collen at Mystique Book Designs has once again taken my rough idea and polished it to a diamond finish. Here is the final cover design for the print version of Someday In Dublin.
Soon, I’ll be holding an actual paper copy in my hot little hands. I can’t wait!
Look for information here on the breaking date for print – coming soon!!!
Britt DeLaney 