Articles

What has taught you more? The classics or imperfect writing?

In my latest Substack post, The Biggest Writing Lessons Are Learned from Reading Bad Books, I discuss how more can be learned from the bad than the good.

Highlights:

• Samples of bad narrative and dialogue
• A list of the top classics taught in schools
• Many don’t believe the classics reflect modern demographics
• Changing curriculum is easier said than done

Join me over on Substack, and let me know what you think.

Who? What does he want, and what does he deserve? In this excerpt from my historical fiction, women’s fiction novel, Those Left Behind, we explore sibling relationships.

This scene takes place near the beginning of the story when Freddie must come to terms with his sister Hettie’s wedding. The brother and sister are close, and Freddie’s melancholy over his sister moving out of the house overshadows what should be the happiest day of her life. Freddie’s statement “Her happiness means more than...

Matthew stopped by Confessions of an Indie Author to discuss his book, Sweet Evil.

“I believe writing from experience is essential,” he says. “I observe life and attempt to incorporate events, or dialogue to encapsulate the reader in my world. I am a panster writer. I write without planning. What you see is me.”

Join us over on Substack to read the full interview.

In my latest Substack post, I explore what life was like for the average person in the 1850s.

Highlights:

• Slaves escaped north into Canada from the American South
• Canada was still a collection of sparsely populated colonies
• New technologies were making communication faster and providing women with some freedom
• Railroads made travel easier
• The crinoline was at the height of fashion

Join me over on Substack, and let me know what you think.

I created Claire Appleton to test the limits of survival in the early 19th century wilderness.. In Journey of Hope her and her husband’s decisions change everything. Today, I’m asking her the questions readers might be too polite — or too afraid — to ask.

Here’s a closer look inside the pages.

Tina stopped by Confessions of an Indie Author to discuss her latest release, The Forgotten Lore.

“I wanted to use the atmosphere of the place to add to my story of lost treasures and ghostly presences,” she says. “I love to try to evoke a feeling of warmth, with found family and colorful descriptions of the settings of each story.”

Join us over on Substack to read the full interview.

In my latest Substack post, Series or Standalone Novel: Which is Better?, I explore this very topic.

Highlights:

• There are varying opinions online
• Each option has pros and cons
• Cliffhangers rarely work

What happens when two sisters who aren’t permitted to date break the rules? They have no one to confide in but each other. In this excerpt from my steamy women’s fiction novel, Sexual Awakening, main character Cassie seeks advice regarding her pushy boyfriend.

In this passage, Cassie receives advice regarding her boyfriend and also learns a lesson on respect. Like many young women, though, will she listen or will consequences be damned?

I hope this scene gives you a meaningful glimpse into...

Leon stopped by Confessions of an Indie Author to discuss his science fiction books.

“I'm currently working on book three of my Orion Arm Alliance series,” he says, “which I hope to publish in the spring. Book one, Euphrates Vanished, was meant to be a humorous story called "How Sci-fi Saved my Life" but I found it becoming to difficult to maintain the momentum so I kept a few elements and wrote it as a sci-fi mystery adventure. I knew I was going to write a series, but with many of the...

Ever wonder what life was like in the 1820s?

In my latest Substack post, Creating the World Featured in Journey of Hope, I explain what life for the average person was like.

Highlights:

• Daily life was a struggle of endurance.
• Claire was born into a sparsely populated colony.
• Many Loyalists fled north after the American Revolution.
• The Battle of Lundy’s Lane is the bloodiest of the War of 1812.
• Fashion was often decades behind in the colonies.

Join me over on Substack, and let me know what you...

As the author of The Rock Star’s Wife series, I spent a lot of time inside Cassandra “Cassie” Economos’ head — but today, I’m giving her the floor. Known for her observations of the people around her and her love of music, Cassie has agreed to answer a few questions about her life at the beginning of the series. Let’s see what she tells us.

Here’s a closer look inside the pages.

Barbara stopped by Confessions of an Indie Author to discuss her book, Spells for Surviving a Haunted Childhood.

“I was inspired by my trauma therapist to write down my life story,” she says, “and that's exactly what Spells for Surviving a Haunted Childhood is. I chose to write my story in an effort to help others who have also walked a dark and lonely path. The “spells” laced through the series are meditative building blocks, meant to guide the reader towards awareness and help build...

Does your dialogue make readers yawn or, worse, roll their eyes?

In my latest Substack post, Strategies for Writing Dialogue that Won’t Bore Readers, I explain how to write dialogue that engages readers.

Highlights:

• Examples of dialogue that doesn’t add anything to a story
• Redundant dialogue tags

Join me over on Substack, and let me know what you think.

What decision? What cost? Who is making it? In this excerpt from my historical fiction, women’s fiction novel, Angel of Mercy, a series of events are set into motion that affect main character Hettie and her husband Geoffrey’s lives forever.

A bit of background: In the summer of 1914, the Great War begins. The Dominion of Canada is independent in everything but foreign affairs. This means that when the United Kingdom declares war, Canada automatically also is at war. As newspapers fill with...

An exclusive interview with Helen Garraway

Author Helen Garraway stopped by Confessions of an Indie Author to discuss her series fantasy Sentinal as well as other fantasy books.

“When I'm in the throws of writing a book, and the ideas are flowing,” Helen says, “then I don't want to stop. I have taken a week off work, just so I can write and get the ideas out of my head because I can't concentrate on anything else. It's all I think about. I often write scenes out of order and slot them into the...

How do you handle fictionalized versions of sensitive topics?

In my latest Substack post, What the House Remembered: Addressing Family Dysfunction in Fiction, I explore how I tackled family issues in my novels.

Highlights:

• Most of my characters have parent issues
• Dysfunctional families are defined
• The different dysfunctional family roles explained

Join me over on Substack, and let me know what you think.

Creating Hettie Steward for the Echoes of the Great War Trilogy meant stepping into a world shaped by conflict. Today, I’m sitting down with her to talk about her life on the brink of the Great War. Some questions may be uncomfortable — but that’s part of the story.

Here’s a closer look inside the pages.

An exclusive interview with Lisa McLemore.

Lisa stopped by Confessions of an Indie Author to discuss her poetry.

“I wanted to write a book,” she says, “that combined poetry with stream-of-consciousness with dried flowers with short stories with hermit crab essays with photography and with memoir (and more!) To incorporate 3D things, it will probably be a one off or two off copy that I will sell or give away. What I’m after is absolute freedom to tell the story I want to tell through collected...

Are you an author trying to make it on volume?

In my latest Substack post, Why More Books Isn’t Always Better, I explore how the industry’s instance on produce, produce, produce isn’t healthy.

Highlights:

• Just how many books does it take to replace the average yearly salary in the United States?
• How many books do you need to publish to reach that goal?
• Burn out is real.

Join me over on Substack, and let me know what you think.

Are you an author seeking business advice on how to grow?

In my latest Substack post, Most Indie Author Advice Is Misleading (Even When It’s True), I explain how common advice works in theory but not so well in practice.

Highlights:

• Many methods rely on having high traffic to your website
• Many methods are outdated

Join me over on Substack, and let me know what you think.