Modern Love: Why Contemporary Romance Remains the Leading Subgenre
February 1, 2023
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Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back. This simple formula for writing a romance is timeless, but Contemporary Romance puts a modern
Category: Genre Tropes
The Secret to Unlocking the Action-Adventure Genre
January 1, 2023
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Ever popular, the Action-Adventure story is the original hero’s journey: a protagonist who must go on a quest to a new world and fight demons—both
How Spicy Romance Authors Turn up the Heat for Readers
December 1, 2022
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Afternoon delight, knocking boots, dancing in the sheets, the horizontal tango—no matter what you want to call it, we all know the lingo. And for
What It Takes to Make Your Next Book a Holiday Hit
November 1, 2022
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This issue falls as autumn begins, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. But writers invariably set Christmas-themed books amid images of pine trees laden with
Poetry by the Book: What to Consider Before Self-Publishing Your Collection
October 1, 2022
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Angie Martin As a gorgeous art form that has survived the centuries and that readers around the globe admire and revere, poetry can be more
Help Your Superhero Novel Soar to New Heights: Tropes to Know
September 1, 2022
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Jenn Mitchell From the golden age of comics to modern-day Marvel movies, countless caped crusaders and super villains have kept our pulses pounding with their
Breaking Down the Difference Between New Adult and Young Adult Fiction
August 1, 2022
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We all know what a “young adult” is—after all, we’ve all been one. But as it turns out, we’ve all been “new adults” as well,
Fairy Tale Retellings Breathe New Life into Childhood Classics
July 1, 2022
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Remember those first stories we heard as children? “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Three Billy Goats Gruff,” “Snow White,” “Cinderella,” and so
Season of the Witch: A Closer Look at Paranormal Women’s Fiction
June 1, 2022
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A Quick Genre Breakdown The easiest definition of Paranormal Women’s Fiction, or PWF as it’s often referred to, is women’s fiction with paranormal elements. More
The Women of GameLit: Making Their Mark on a Male-Dominated Genre
May 1, 2022
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According to a 2021 article in Forbes, women accounted for nearly 41 percent of the gamer population in the United States and up to 45
Living the Romantasy: Genre Tropes in Romantic Fantasy
April 1, 2022
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Romantic Fantasy (AKA Romantasy) is a subgenre of Fantasy that pairs a strong romantic subplot with a Fantasy main plot. The focus can skew toward
Genre Tropes: Military Science Fiction
March 1, 2022
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Military SF infuses speculative technologies and interplanetary conflicts into the Military genre. The result is better guns, bigger battles, higher stakes, and a platform for
Getting Cozy with Mysteries
February 1, 2022
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In her book Writing the Cozy Mystery, Nancy J. Cohen defines a cozy as a “whodunit featuring an amateur sleuth, a distinctive setting and a
What is Women’s Fiction?
January 1, 2022
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Merri Maywether In a sentence, Women’s Fiction is written by women for women. It isn’t that the genre is exclusive; men can and have read
Getting Inside Your Readers’ Minds
December 1, 2021
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The Psyche of a Psychological Thriller Angie Martin We’ve all heard of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, and Shutter Island, among others. We
Delving into Story
November 1, 2021
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Writing for Middle Grade Middle Grade, an age-based story category, exists across multiple genres. Whether fiction or nonfiction, fantastic or realistic, historical or contemporary, these
Stake Your Claim as a ‘Horrifying’ Success: How Writers of Chilling Tales Can Give Readers Nightmares
October 1, 2021
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With the resurgence of horror as a popular genre in the last several years, the world is seeing a plethora of writers try their hand
Space Opera
September 1, 2021
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All Your Favorite Stories…in Space Space Opera is a popular genre among authors and readers who enjoy Sci-Fi themed stories with an epic scope, splashy
Corruption, Rebellion, and Romance: Writing YA Dystopia
August 1, 2021
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What do you do when the world ends? Rebuild it. Some people confuse Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian stories, but they have distinct requirements. Young Adult Dystopian
The Perfect Recipe for Small Town Romance Success
July 1, 2021
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A pinch of this and a dash of that makes for sweetly satisfied readers Small Town Romance is one of those tried-and-true genres that withstands
Understanding Urban Fantasy: Essential Genre Tropes To Know
June 1, 2021
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What makes a book an urban fantasy and not merely contemporary fantasy? It comes down to genre tropes. Every genre has its specific set of
De-Mystery-fying Tropes
May 1, 2021
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A mystery is a crime or puzzle that must be solved by the end of the story. It is critical to reader expectation and satisfaction
Guest Author Tammi Labrecque: Four Simple Steps for Rolling out the Welcome Mat to Your Mailing List
A quick glance in my crystal ball tells me you’re reading this in February, but—because of the crazy scheduling required to produce a magazine like
The Art of Story-Selling: Use Your Storytelling Powers to Finesse Your Email Marketing
How to Structure Your Emails and Use Your Storytelling Powers to Sell More Books Our brains are wired for stories. And as an author, you
Ten Tips: Twitter
Twitter is a unique social media platform built on brevity, requiring users to limit posts to only 280 characters at a time. But a writer
