Okay so it looks like I fell off the planet. Promise - I'm still here. The last four years have been ... hard. There's no other word for it. Everything is fine. I'm fine, but I've been the caregiver of my mom who has Dementia. Between her needs, work, etc I seem to have lost control of my time. I am still writing and am trying hard to get back to my blog.

In case you weren't aware Phaze and HSWF which where under the Mundania Umbrella have closed. I was smart enough to get my titles back before all this happened. I'm happy to say the three books I sold to HSWF have been picked up by Melange Books and are available through their Satin Books imprint. I have even sold a new title to them called Magical Quest due out in 2022

I have also been lucky enough to find a publisher for my Vespian Way series. I'm now with Blushing Books under the name of Bethany Drake. I have five titles out with them right now and am close to submitting two more. There's Desire's Destiny, Desire's Duty and Desire's Promise. Then there is two in my werewolf series, Tears of the Queen and Legend of the Tears. I have just finished the rough draft of the third book in the series and have plans for a fourth one the moment I submit it.

I'll probably still be sporadic here on the blog. Unless I win the lottery and can hire someone to help me I can't avoid it, but know I'm still here still working hard in the background and am hoping to do better at keeping my blog alive.

Barb:)



Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Writing Down the Bones: Story Construction and Evaluation of the Romance Novel

I'm so sorry I didn't post last Tuesday. I had the craziest thing happen and couldn't get on line, but I'm back and ready to bring you the next installment of the handout I've been working on.

As a reminder this comes from a handout by Janice Bennett on writing the popular novel. This section is on chapters. I might have changed a few words here and there but overall these are Janice's words.

1.) Do the scenes (approximately three scenes per chapter*) fit together as a unit?

* this isn't something that authors stick too but if you're a new author learning the art of writing this is a very good place to start with then as you grow as a writer you will find the right rhythm for your stories and the amount of scenes you want in each chapter.

2.) Does the chapter end on a strong dramatic moment? If possible, is it a page turning hook?

3.) Does the tension rise gradually throughout the chapter?  Do your scenes in the chapter build in importance and emotional impact?

Next week I'll be doing the section on resolution.

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