Hello, Campers! It’s finally spring. What that means in Colorado is: dress in layers. It could be snowing in the morning and, by noon, the sun is out and you’re in short sleeves. Last month we looked at the Midpoint Mirror Moment. Now it’s on to the Crisis. In a romance, this is usually where…
Tag: Genre
Science Fiction’s Future Past
Sci-fi’s best ideas are in the past. Wait! Before you barrage me with indignant objections, I’m going to claim this idea is way less impertinent—or defeatist—than it sounds. Where do sci-fi plot concepts come from? From everywhere, you say, my sources of inspiration are varied and without bound! Okay, sure, the kernels have many sources,…
Writing Romance: The Midpoint
Woohoo!! We’ve come to the Midpoint!!! Sorry, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Where are my manners? Hello, Campers. Glad you’re here. Would you like a cup of coffee? Tea? Now – woohoo – we’ve come to the midpoint!!! I have recently fallen in love, so to speak, with the midpoint. I’ll explain later. In the…
Writing Romance: A Word About Sex
Hello Campers, Last month I promised to take a side trip here and discuss – ahem – sex. Is sex necessary in a romance novel? That’s a huge question. Before I move into the real discussion, I’ll point out that my romances do not have sex in them. That is a personal decision I made,…
Mambo No. 5
It’s not so much a rule as a repeated observation. While the plural of anecdote isn’t data, there comes a point where something happens often enough that one has to believe there’s something other than divine intervention at work. The observation is that many authors don’t begin to get traction until they’ve published five novels….