Jade Varden Official Blog

"I very much enjoyed the story. It’s humorous, there’s a mystery to be solved...The story moves quickly and a LOT of stuff happens." The lovely ladies at Quirky Girls Read have recently posted an in-depth review of Justice (Deck of Lies, Book 1).  Go to their site to read the full review, and find out just what it is I'm writing about, anyway.

The Tower (Deck of Lies, Book 2) comes out this week! Get a head start and get the first two chapters free at my official site .

When I got an early review copy of Sherri Fulmer Moorer's Anywhere But Here , all I knew about the book was that it's a YA story. This is not accurate by any means, but I'm happy to say I wasn't too disappointed to find myself caught up in a contemporary tale about the cutthroat corporate world -- and a fantasy novel filled with dream castles and dragons. Surprisingly, the two halves of the story come together well to create a cohesive whole, blending elements of female-centric fiction, romance and fantasy. But if you don't know what to expect, you may find this ride pretty confusing indeed -- even off-putting, at times. Anywhere But Here introduces readers to a heroine on the brink of a new life, and on the brink of breakdown. Graduating from college and embarking on a new path should be an exciting time, but Jana finds her entire world crumbling to dust instead. The reader will truly feel Jana's confusion as the fabric of her life turns to tatters all ar...

Now that you've established the setting for your story, you can draw from a rich well of knowledge to make every scene authentic. But if your plot doesn't follow a logical course, readers aren't going to care about the rich backgrounds you paint with your words. For the plot to feel authentic, you're going to have to do your homework. Yes, it's time for even more research. Get it done before you start putting words down on the page. Plot Points If it's in your plot, you should research it. This is especially important for writers in the historical and mystery genres. If, for instance, a devastating act of nature wreaks havoc with your characters try to link it to an actual event and study that event. Look at similar events and their effects, and how the problems were handled. If your plot includes a horrific fire, do some research into firefighting procedures to describe the scene in vivid detail. Medical conditions, the effects of stress on the body, wh...

Creativity isn't a spigot that you can turn off and on. Even the most brilliant creative minds need inspiration before the ideas can flow freely. Some need to put themselves in a specific environment or mindset, or both, before they can let go and create. Once you get into that zone where everything is flowing perfectly, the last thing you want to do is stop, look something up and then get started again. But you should anyway. Because if you aren't taking the time to do your research, you're only doing half the work. Details, Details, Details So what's it matter if you put your characters in the middle of a "famous landmark" that doesn't actually exist, or talk about the beautiful oak trees found in a tropical forest? What if you've got them eating unspecified meadow mushrooms and berries from the shrubbery, if the plot is exciting and the intrigue is abundant? Who really cares about that crap anyway? Your readers do, and if you make a mista...

So, you've finished a book. You carefully wrote an outline, craftily developed your characters, sweated out the formatting to make every page perfect. If you don't get yourself a copyright through proper and legal channels, you don't want to self-publish that story. If you do, I can download it, put my name on it and sell it as my own -- legally. If you think slapping a copyright symbol and writing a disclaimer is enough to protect your rights, you might be wrong. Getting a copyright is pretty easy...but it's not that easy. What is a Copyright?  You can't have one unless you know what it is. When you own the copyright to a work -- usually a piece of music, a book, artwork or a film -- you and you alone are allowed to sell, distribute and duplicate that work. This means that if someone else wants to sell and/or distribute your work, they've got to go through you first. Copyrighting your book legally marks you as the owner, and it's something you...

Better late than never! The trailer for Justice is finally finished -- just in time for me to need a second trailer for The Tower. Begin exploring the Deck of Lies now!

When does a manuscript cross the line between short story and novel? How long are most books in your genre? When is it a good idea to step outside the box and break the rules? Length is a huge issue in writing books -- make sure you give it the proper respect. Measuring Length One hundred pages, eighty thousand words, two thousand lines of text -- the first step in measuring length is using the right yardstick. Lots of writers know exactly how many pages they've written in how many chapters; some can even tell you the amount of days that pass in their story, or maybe how long (to the minute) the book took to write. It's all well and good to know your page count, average chapter length and all those other fun statistics, but when it comes to determining book length there's only one measurement: word count. Thanks to modern-day computers, a great many writers can simply choose an option and find out exactly how many words are in their manuscript (it's under Tool...

by Brittany Behrman Learning the basics of writing, Writing 101 , is the first step in getting published. However, once you’ve established that you have the talent and knowhow to push forward toward making it big, how do you support yourself in the meantime? You could find a job in an unrelated field, which may distract you from your writing and delay your success, or you can work towards refining the skills it takes to finish a great manuscript and make money doing so! The first step in starting your writing career, whether you aim to work full-time or freelance, is building your experience and developing your portfolio to attract potential employers. I’ve put together a list of the five ways that I worked towards positioning myself above some of the steep competition in the industry and starting a career in writing to escape an in-the-meantime job. I am excited for the opportunity to share my experience here with  Jade Varden’s Official Blog ’s readers! I hope that b...

I expected Pedro Alvarez's Dragon Fire to be chock-full of fantasy cliches, but the story took several turns I never saw coming. At its heart, Dragon Fire is a love story about the bonds between a kingdom and her people. Adventure, romance, mysticism, prophecies, magic, swordplay -- it's all here. The story has healthy doses of all the elements that make for a thrilling fantasy tale, but it still manages to be completely original. The characters jump off the page (or the eReader), rich and real, each growing and changing in their own ways throughout the book. The book is perfectly formatted and beautifully written, but that's not why it's so easy to read. The story builds and flows, and it pulled me along with it. From the dramatic beginning to the epic conclusion, Dragon Fire is a fantastic read. I look forward to reading many more books from this talented author.

Formatting is a big deal in self-publishing, and it's the one thing many indie authors let fall by the wayside. Doesn't every reader have the right to expect the books they read to look like all the other books they've read? If you're going to write, you're going to need to start thinking about your format from the very first word. Otherwise, you're just making more work for yourself to create a story that's ready for publishing. Standard Formats AP, MLA, APA -- there are a lot of different formats out there when it comes to article writing, and book writing is no different. Poems always have a certain format, and so does prose. Unless it truly adds something valuable to your work, you should always conform to the standard formats for the type of work you are producing. To do otherwise may alienate and infuriate readers, which is the very last thing any writer wants. Writing prose is pretty easy, format-wise, because basically there are only two yo...

I wasn't planning to read all of The Trio: A Collection of Completely Unrelated Short Stories in one sitting, but I just couldn't put the Kindle down until I'd read every word. The first story grabbed me right away, and instantly I became a depressed alcoholic with a lifetime of sadness to endure.That's just the beginning of the emotional ride Alyse Bingham creates with her Trio .   Each one of the three stories in the collection is completely different. Each provides insight into the main characters, just briefly enough to leave me wishing for much more. Bingham's Trio is well-written, well formatted and well edited. Technically it's beautiful, but the book is easy and enjoyable to read not simply because the writer knows where to put her commas. The stories are truly heartfelt and filled with emotion, forcing me into having a strong response every time. I can't wait to read more of Bingham's works in the future. One trio of stories just isn...

I admit it: I don't usually read fairy tales, children's books or any of the above. But David L. Dawson's Hansel and Gretel 2: The Reckoning is a quick read, and I've started to become obsessed with fairy tales again thanks to Once Upon a Time . I'm glad I decided to download the Kindle version of this short story, because it turns out you're never too old for a good fairy tale sequel. The sequel to the age-old, well-known story reveals a different side to those sweet-faced, breadcrumb-leaving youths of my youth. If you've ever suspected that there's something weird about a gingerbread house in the woods, or wondered how two little kids managed to overpower a woman fortified on fresh child meat, you'll probably enjoy this short story, too. Dawson's story is refreshing, and somehow it feels both modern and classic at the same time. It's time someone started to reveal the real story behind all those wonderful old tales -- because reall...

 Read an excerpt from Justice at Indie Snippets! One Lie Can Destroy All Truths #YA #Mystery

Character development, plot, point of view, all these things help to create a book...but at the end of the story, they're all supporting players. The backbone of any book, of every book, is the technical aspect -- and this is what many indie authors neglect. Let's Talk Tech Writers are creative types, with big imaginations. They spin stories, weave plots and invent characters that become as real as the people in our own families. The writer is like an artist painting on a canvas. They're thinking about which colors to use, where to draw the lines, how to add shadows and nuances to certain elements of the big picture. And with all that going on, it's probably easy for the painter to shop thinking about the canvas that's being painted upon. But the writer can't ever forget all those technical details that matter so much -- the canvas on which the words are written. Clean it up . All it takes is one misplaced comma for a reader to get taken out of the stor...

What's it like to be a writer? Read my thoughts about it at a recent guest post I did for Aside From Writing .

We Write Worlds: "Justice" by Jade Varden Visit the link to read an excerpt of Justice as published by We Write Worlds!  

Justice is now available at Smashwords in several different formats. Keep checking back for the upcoming coupon event to learn how you can get it for free!

The good folks at We Write Worlds interviewed me recently, and so far their questions have been the most unique. I really had to think about my responses for this one. Read the full interview to hear what I had to say about reading, writing and my personal experiences.

Author Melanie Cusick-Jones surprised me with a full review of Book 1: Justice today. In it, she calls the book "a well written YA mystery - good pace and enough action to keep you reading." Read the full review at Goodreads before you buy your copy of Justice at the Kindle Store!