The “Chosen One” trope refers to a plot in a novel, a movie, or a TV show in which some regular person finds out that s/he, and only s/he, can save the world or carry out some other grand task. Whether their role was foretold by ancient prophecy, determined by their bloodline, or what have you, s/he is destined to be the hero.
Category: Writing Matters
All writing genres have their own quirks, and the romance genre probably has more than most. I was thinking about things that a lot of romance writers have in common, and I thought it would be fun to share. If you’re a romance writer, see if any of these sound familiar! 1. You point out that some things are not
One of the things many indie authors love about self-publishing is the fact that they have control over my own book cover design. Although I have strong opinions about covers, I’m not a designer. I hired a professional to design my self-published book cover, and I’ll do that again in the future. Unless you have strong design skills, I think
Hi friends! Late last year, I taught an all-day blogging workshop, and people were especially interested in this particular bit of advice about how to get people to read your blog. Although I don’t usually share blogging tips, I know a lot of my regular readers ae also bloggers, so I thought I’d write a post about it. Some of you
In one of my early blog posts, I shared a playlist for writers working on a high fantasy or a medieval historical novel. I wanted to make another one! The last playlist had a definite European flavor. This one is slightly more multicultural, and longer — a little over two hours of music for writing inspiration. A commenter on this blog, Annabel, suggested some of these.
Hey there! Today I wanted to share with you the word documents (besides the manuscript itself) that I always maintain when I’m writing a novel or novella. I don’t know if this will help if you’re trying to figure out how to write a novel faster, but I do think it’s a good way to keep things organized! If you
A lot of writers have never come across the term “head-hopping” or its definition. I was one of those writers when I completed my first novel (which is unpublished, and will probably remain that way forever.) That’s why I thought I’d take some time to explain it here. Head-hopping is something that typically happens in stories written in



