By Zenia deHaven Just as the organist struck the first chord for “Here Comes the Bride,” the electricity in the chapel coughed and died. This bride and groom were uncharacteristically relaxed on their wedding day. They were not the kind of people to micromanage every dilemma they could get their soon-to-be-wedded hands on. Mistakes happen. Life happens. That said, they did not expect that a fallen power line four blocks east would fry the electricity Read more
By Patrick Edinger Lloyd Alexander, author of more than forty titles, was a product of World War II. During his service, he was stationed in Wales which led him to write many stories inspired by Welsh culture. Of them, the high fantasy pentology the Chronicles of Prydain may be the most notable with memorable characters like the Assistant-Pig-Keeper Taran and his companions Gurgi, Elonwy, and Fflewddur Fflam. As the story unfolds in a grand adventure, Read more
By Theodore Boronkay Many authors try to incorporate multiple perspectives into their writing in place of the singular point of view (POV) of the protagonist. There are advantages to doing so, including gaining a clearer and more heterogeneous view of the fictional setting and being able to peer into the minds of more than one character. However, one of the most taxing challenges of employing multiple perspectives in a novel is the POV switch: that Read more
By Inanna Carter For me, the hardest part about writing a book is realizing just how much there is to write. Word count is becoming more important in traditional publishing every year, and whether you outline carefully before typing a single word or write freely as the ideas come along, if your completed manuscript ends up too short or too long it could be difficult for you to get (again, traditionally) published. Save the Cat! Read more
By Zenia deHaven How It Started I’m an avid reader. Always have been and always will be. However, avid reading easily leads to the accumulation of a lot of books. Now, some would say that isn’t a problem. And to a degree, it isn’t. Collecting novels and finding unique and aesthetically pleasing ways to arrange their spines across bookshelves is a pastime. For those who annotate or highlight as they read, each book is a Read more