• New Writer Tips

    Don’t miss free access to Self Publishing Advice Conference Oct 29-30, 2022 #SelfPubCon #Writing

    Free Access for ALLi Members

    The Self Publishing Advice Conference offers two full days (10:00 AM - 10:00 PM) of information and insights for indie authors. Speakers include Joanna Penn, Mark Dawson, Nick Stephenson, Joel Friedlander, Jane Friedman, Mark Lefebvre, Mark Coker, Michael Anderle, Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathering Rusch, Robin Cutler, Carla King, and my favorite -- David Gaughran.

    The Conference cost is $499, but is free to members of the Alliance of Independent Authors - ALLi. ALLi is a professional business membership organization that advices, campaigns for, and empowers self-publishing authors. The mission of this non-profit organization is ethics and excellence in self-publishing, and the provide authors with trusted advice, supportive guidance, and a range of resources. Benefits include contract advice, guidebooks, discounts and deals, vetted services, and much more.

    Membership levels in ALLi:

    Associate ($89USD)

    You are preparing your first book for self-publication. You could also be a student of creative writing, multimedia, or publishing with an interest in author-publishing.

    Advisory team – all questions answered
    Free author advice guides
    Private moderated member’s forum
    Selected discounts for author services
    Affiliate earnings program
    Approved Services directory
    Online advice conference
    Daily blog, twice-weekly podcast
    Associate member website badge

    Author ($119USD)

    If you’ve published one book or more, or are just about to upload your first book, this is the membership for you. This could be a full-length (50,000+ words) book for adults, a number/series of shorter books, or a children’s or poetry book."

    Advisory team – all questions answered
    Free author advice guides
    Private moderated member’s forum
    All discounts for author services
    Affiliate earnings program
    Approved Services directory
    Online advice conference
    Daily blog, twice-weekly podcast
    Author member website badge
    Public author-publisher profile
    Book listing
    Contract vetting
    General legal advice
    Blogging opportunities
    Speaker opportunities
    Interview opportunities

    Authorpreneur ($149USD)

    Authorpreneurs earn their living from self-publishing and associated business. This membership is assessed – you will need to show evidence of 50,000 book sales in the past two years and/or KU or business equivalent.

    Advisory team – all questions answered
    Free author advice guides
    Private moderated member’s forum
    All discounts for author services
    Affiliate earnings program
    Approved Services directory
    Online advice conference
    Daily blog, twice-weekly podcast
    Public author-publisher profile
    Book listing
    Contract vetting
    General legal advice
    Blogging opportunities
    Speaker opportunities
    Interview opportunities
    Authorpreneur member website badge
    Business development advice
    Dedicated literary agent
    Rights and contract consultancy
    Business, tax, legal, and contract advice and resources

    As a member of ALLi, I have seen the benefits already. When you join, you can join their affiliate program and help other authors gain the same benefits. Here are two links to join ALLi. This one has my affiliate link - https://selfpublishingadviceconference.com/?wpam_id=10337 and this one does not. Using my link won't cost you any more or less than this one. https://selfpublishingadviceconference.com

  • Non-Fiction,  Two Tips

    Pick up cool tips from Cheryl StJohn author of Writing With Emotion Tension and Conflict @_cherylstjohn_ #RLFblog #NonFiction #WritingTips #WritingCommunity

    Pick up cool tips from Cheryl StJohn author of Writing With Emotion Tension and Conflict @_cherylstjohn_ #RLFblog #NonFiction #WritingTips #WritingCommunityFor years Cheryl StJohn gave workshops and wrote articles on the importance of inherent conflict in a novel. One day she decided to put all she’d learned and taught into book form and proposed it to her dream publisher.

    Cheryl, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Thanks for sharing two tips with us today, but first, please tell us about Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict.

    Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict by Cheryl StJohn

    Genre non-fiction, writing

    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): G

    Today’s highly competitive fiction market requires writers to imbue their novels with that special something – an element that captures readers’ hearts and minds. In Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict, writers will learn vital techniques for writing emotion into their characters, plots and dialogue in order to instill that special something into every page.

    “A must-have compilation of rock-sound advice from a writer who knows what she’s talking about. A book you’ll want to inhale whole and then return to time and time again to improve your craft and go deeper in order to write YOUR story. Not only does this book embrace some of the most complex elements of story construction in a clear, easy to digest format, it acts as inspiration for the writer. Sentence upon sentence of outstanding advice!”

    – Mary Buckham, author of the Amazon best-selling Writing Active Settings series for writers.

    Tips for Writing Conflict

    Create characters with built-in conflict.

    Build it in as you personify them and give them diversity. Use their past, their needs and their fears. Use their strengths and their weaknesses against them.

    Their backstory, combined with characterization, will be motivation for everything they do. It will shape their goals and define the way they react to situations. Weak superficial motivations lead to weak superficial conflict, resulting in weak superficial characters.

    Knowing who they are and what experiences they’ve had makes your character’s goals and reactions motivated and believable. It is imperative to keep your character’s history in mind as you unfold the story. You can do this by method writing. Become the character and feel what he would feel, react the way he would if you had experienced the same things.

    Conflict must be personalized to the character. If you don’t know your story people and motivate them, you won’t have a strong conflict. A vague or general motivating force produces a vague and general plot. Being specific will increase the emotional intensity of your story.

    TIPS:

    When plotting or editing, ask yourself these questions to make sure you’ve built a solid story:

    What is at stake and is it important to the character?

    How could this situation get worse?

    Could this conflict be easily resolved if the characters talked it over?

    Did you come up with unpredictable circumstances?

    Does your character react according to his background/motivation?

    What could happen to make the character change?

    Did the conflict create tension for one or more characters?

    Does the conflict force the character into action?

    Did you use scenes and viewpoint changes for tension and pacing?

    Are your characters a cast of diversified personalities who react to each other?

    What does the conflict make your character learn about himself?

    Where to buy Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict

    Publisher https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/633914/writing-with-emotion-tension-and-conflict-by-cheryl-stjohn/
    Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599637588
    Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/writing-with-emotion-tension-and-conflict-cheryl-st-john/1114185427?ean=9781599637587
    Walmart https://www.walmart.com/ip/Writing-with-Emotion-Tension-and-Conflict-Techniques-for-Crafting-an-Expressive-and-Compelling-Novel-Paperback-9781599637587/23076241
    Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/writing-with-emotion-tension-and-conflict-1
    Target https://www.target.com/p/writing-with-emotion-tension-and-conflict-by-cheryl-st-john-paperback/-/A-85136970

    Cheryl St John on Social Media

    Cheryl is the author of more than fifty historical and contemporary romances. Her stories have earned numerous awards and are published in over a dozen languages. In describing her stories of second chances and redemption, readers and reviewers use words like, “emotional punch, hometown feel, core values, believable characters and real-life situations.” Her bestselling non-fiction books, Writing With Emotion, Tension & Conflict and Write Smart, Write Happy by Writers Digest Books are available in print and digital.
    Website http://www.cherylstjohn.net/
    Twitter https://twitter.com/_CherylStJohn_
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CherylStJ
    Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/cheryl_stjohn/
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cherylstjohn/
    Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24516.Cheryl_St_John
    BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cheryl-st-john
    Amazon Author Page https://tinyurl.com/y6js92y8
    Get to know Cheryl St John better by signing up for her email newsletter.
    http://eepurl.com/bqCji9
    Aspen Gold Series Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/n9n7p3

     

  • New Writer Tips,  Paranormal

    The Werewolves and Me: To Break a Warrior King’s Curse by Kryssie Fortune @kryssiefortune #RLFblog #PNR

    The Werewolves and Me: To Break a Warrior King's Curse by Kryssie Fortune @kryssiefortune #RLFblog #PNRGuest post by Kryssie Fortune
    “Write what you know,” people say.
    “It makes your writing come alive,” they say.
    But I write about werewolves, vampires, former military men, and regency heroines. I don’t know any of them personally.
    So, for my Scattered Siblings series, I cheated.
    In my book, To Wed a Werewolf, the beta wolf, Giles, whose lies come home to roost is getting married. My son had just had an upmarket wedding at a five-star hotel. That went straight into my book – only with a werewolf bride and groom.
    My second Scattered Siblings book, To Break a Warrior King’s Curse – formerly Curse of the Fae King – explains why the siblings are scattered and what the Fae’s Warrior King is doing about it. Then there’s my heroine, Meena. She lives in Whitby, the homeland of British Goths. I know the place well. Every place mentioned until Meena and Leonidas end up in the otherworld is visitable and beautiful. Also, my heroine’s a witch. Well… I’m no witch, but I have pagan leanings and Wicca fascinates me. The bit about it being too cold to work sky clad came straight from a talk I heard at the British Pagan conference a few years back.
    In To Mate a Werewolf, Ellie, my heroine is a cook who tempts the werewolf alpha with her cakes. If I’m not writing, I’m baking. Add in that I’ve coached athletics and my daughter ran the London marathon, then it’s no surprise Ellie likes to run. I felt like I knew Ellie before I put pen to paper.
    Another of my heroines, Viola in To Seduce an Omega has crippled knee. While I am no cripple, I’ve had trouble with my right knee for years. Adding her pain into the story came easy to me.
    I’m Sagittarius, which means I get itchy feet. A few years back, I did a tour of the historical sites in Greece that I thought I’d only ever get to read about. Of course, there was fodder there for another story. In Seduced by the Vampire, Claimed by the Werewolf my vampire is a former Spartan. My werewolf is a former Macedonian prince, and although it’s never mentioned in the book, I had him pegged as a forefather of Alexander the Great. He certainly has the same coloring.
    While I didn’t know many witches, werewolves, fae, or vampires, I can still put reality into my fantasy novel.

    To Break a Warrior King’s Curse by Kryssie Fortune

    Leonidas can fight anything except dark magic.
    He inherited his father’s curse along with the Fae throne. Thanks to a rogue witch, if he doesn’t bed a different woman every month, he’ll turn feral. A man can only stand so much meaningless sex. No wonder he hates witches.
    When he meets Meena, he intends to seduce her, not love her.
    Meena’s a witch who never developed any powers.
    Banished to the mundane world, she masquerades as human. When she accidentally bonds with an escaped war dragon, Leonidas comes to reclaim it. His enemies strip him of his powers, and his month’s almost up.
    What happens when he discovers she’s a witch? And how will this warrior king cope when his curse kicks in and forces him into another woman’s bed.
    Please note this book was previously sold with the title Curse of the Fae King.
    Amazon USA https://www.amazon.com/Break-Warrior-Kings-Scattered-Siblings-ebook/dp/B079JTG5B9/
    Amazon Uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/Break-Warrior-Kings-Scattered-Siblings-ebook/dp/B079JTG5B9
    Amazon Canada https://www.amazon.ca/Break-Warrior-Kings-Scattered-Siblings-ebook/dp/B079JTG5B9/
    Amazon Australia https://www.amazon.com.au/Break-Warrior-Kings-Scattered-Siblings-ebook/dp/B079JTG5B9/

    Kryssie Fortune Social Media

    Kryssie reads everything and anything, from literary fiction to sizzling romance. Her earliest memory is going to the library with her mother. She can’t have been more than two at the time. Reading, especially when a book’s hot and explicit, is more than a guilty pleasure. It’s an obsession.
    Kryssie loves to visit historic sites, from Hadrian’s Wall to Regency Bath. The first book she fell in love with was Georgette Heyer’s The Unkown Ajax. After that, she devoured every regency book she could. After a while, they went out of fashion, but part of Kryssie’s psyche lives in Regency London. She longs to dance quadrilles and flirt behind fans. Of course, Kryssie’s heroines do far more than flirt.
    Kryssie lives in Bridlington on the Yorkshire coast –about thirty miles from Whitby, where Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. She enjoys gardening, travel, and socializing with her author friends. You’d be surprised how many erotic romance authors live in the North of England.
    Website http://kryssiefortune.wixsite.com/kryssie
    Blog http://kryssiefortune.blogspot.co.uk/
    Twitter https://twitter.com/KryssieFortune
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KryssieFortune
    Pinterest http://bit.ly/1OGFnjc
    Goodreads http://bit.ly/2kxqabJ
    Amazon Author Page http://amzn.to/2hA0ZVO

  • Contemporary

    About Writing – Nonfiction by Suz deMello @suzdemello #RLFblog #writertips

    Genre: nonfiction, creative writing craft
    Author Name Suz deMello
    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): G
    Both of Suz deMello’s acclaimed writing manuals, now in one handy
    volume. Useful for any writer from aspiring to advanced…plotting, characterization
    and conflict, point of view, scene and sequel and more! Now available in large print.
    About Writing: Your Essential Writing Guide by Suz deMello Both
    of Suz deMello’s famed writing manuals, now in one handy paperback. A perfect gift
    for any writer! Also available in large print, Here’s what folks said about one
    of the included books, Plotting And Planning: Sue has written a concise manual that
    is valuable for both beginning and seasoned writers. Going to write a book? Read
    this first! –Bestselling suspense author Kylie Brant Suz deMello’s Plotting And
    Planning is a concise, informative, and entertaining look at writing a novel. –Paranormal
    author Silver James Regarding the other book that’s in About Writing: Not only did
    Write This Not That! reach #2 on Amazon’s writing reference list, but it also garnered
    many five star reviews: Five stars…good advice and fun to read. –Jo Frye Five
    stars… Kudos to the author for a well-written manual! –Book CraZ Five stars from
    me… This short guide covers the essentials and is useful for both new and experienced
    writers. –Author Catherine Cavendish

    Buy This Book

    Amazon http://tinyurl.com/deMelloAboutWriting
    (print book only at this time)

    Author Social Media

    Goodreads –Goodreads: http://bit.ly/SuzATGoodreads