How am I going to get around fancasting, I thought to myself when I saw this topic months ago. Surely I will think of something clever. Fancasting is the fun daydreaming that some writers do where they mentally cast a certain actor or actress as their characters in a maybe someday movie. Fancasting can be a convenient way to solidify what your character looks like, or what kind of mannerisms they might…
This week we have the choice to talk about what we love about our debut novels or what we love about writing in general. I’ve already gone on at length about why I love writing, but I’ve rarely confronted what I love about my own book – at least not in such a blatant and forthright way. Since it’s just a little over a month until publication now, this would…
This book. This gorgeous book. This gorgeous and painful and always-too-timely book. I was lucky and got to read an advanced copy of The Atlas of Reds and Blues way back in October on my plane to Sirens and it’s stuck with me all that time, in snippets and phrases and impressions, all lingering like a really good book should, making me pause, stop, think and see the world in a slightly different light….
This week we’re talking about self-promotion and boy, do I have some words to say about this. Granted, most of them are “aaaaah!” and “please anything but” and “oh god why,” but what better way to start this week than at the absolute bottom? I’ve mentioned my anxiety a few times on this blog already, so it should come as no surprise that self-promo and everything related to it fills…
I’m going to admit it outright: I’m kinda the worst at comp titles. Comp titles aka comparable titles are the titles of books or even (sometimes) movies or TV shows that, taken together, help to better explain and sell your book. I can give a dozen different pieces of advice – look for specific aspects to highlight, go for feel, make it recent, make it this meets that – but…
A year ago, if you’d asked me my wildest dreams about my debut year, I would’ve gotten starry eyed and mentioned B&N’s most anticipated lists, LGBTQ awards, fanfiction, and fanart. Interviews and large convention invites. My favorite authors recognizing me. Then, if you’d pressed, I might have whispered things like the Hugo awards or what do you know about the Campbell? After a year of really being in publishing and…
There are so many amazing books coming out in 2019 I can barely handle it. I’ve posted on my own blog about all the fantasy and sci-fi coming out from debuts and I more recently put together a Twitter thread highlighting all the queer/QUILTBAG adult debut novels out this year: https://twitter.com/KA_Doore/status/1081211445356957698Click through for the whole list. So let’s just say I’m more than a little excite and that there’s a…
Most New Years, I have a tidy little list of resolutions – not too many, of course – and I make a valiant effort of keeping up with them. Sometimes I veer wildly off track within the month, sometimes within the week. But my type A Virgo heart needs resolutions and goals and a thoroughly mapped road to travel, even if by next week it’ll all be moot. It’s the…
I read a total of 30 books this year, which for some is a lot, and for others is hardly worth mentioning. For me, with a dayjob, a toddler, edits, copy edits, and a whole book to write, it was kind of astounding. I don’t have a lot of time to just sit and read – so I don’t. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and – when the weather’s nice…
Just the other day, I filled half a page with a brand new story idea, one that interweaves sacrifice and loyalty, action and inaction, what we owe ourselves vs what we owe each other, with a little – or rather a lot – of magic on top. Last week I wrote two short stories out of the blue and the week before that I figured out how to fix a…
