As I reread, revise and edit The Last Scion, the ground-laying novel and world builder for the Darkling series, I have found 27 unnecessary passages. From infancy through 6000 years of Ahmavia's and the Darkling's birth, culture and life--lots of things happened historically. I wanted to embed the Darklings into stone history was written with, and while some of it I'll keep in a summary form, I see it's too much to bog the reader down. In essence, it's not essential to the story, the furtheri...
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Characters. Antagonists and protagonists, supporting and unimportant--we all have them. But how do we get them? How do we name them? The all seem to have their own unique personalities with minds of their own who hijack scenes and steal the plotline from you. They live inside us like some sort of latent personality disorder and are all distinct individuals. How do they get there?

Who is our inspiration for our characters? For me, they all seem to possess elements of people I know. I think it's...

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I learn something new about the writing industry, the craft itself or about myself almost every day. From the business aspect, to learning the wisdom of others in the process, feedback on manuscripts (and, because I'm not an English Major--all kinds of grammar and structure goodies), to my own limitations and abilities to help me grow. Using social networking like Twitter has helped me connect with others like me, those whose successes I can't wait to realize, and industry professionals who g...

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And what it takes to freelance

At one of those all-important writer's conferences, a keynote speaker mentioned the importance of building a forum for oneself. To create a foundation in the industry--such as writing articles, becoming a contributing writer for subject magazines (online or printed media)--something to begin building readership and a base for credentials. When I asked about blogging, I think I got the stink eye from more than one industry expert in there. Not that there's anythin...
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All together I have over a dozen pieces that are either finished or in various states of concept, revision, rewrite, or some other scrutiny. For now, what I have posted are the works I'm most proud of--and what's ready to go right now. I have the bad habit of getting bogged down in over-analyzing my manuscripts. I also have the bad habit of not trusting my abilities to convey what's happening in the thoughts of a character or the design of a scene. I guess you can also attribute it to my lack...
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