Jade Varden Official Blog

I remember the first time I cracked open "Flowers in the Attic" by V.C. Andrews. I'm one of those readers who always starts right at the beginning and looks at every page. I begin with the dedication, I read every author's note, and I'll even skim over the Table of Contents before I get started. But when I found a page before the story that was an exactly copy of a page inside the story, I didn't know what to make of it. It was the first time I ever saw an in-book preview page, and it totally blew my mind. So now I'm wondering: do you put these pages in your books? The Preview Does anyone remember the preview page of "Flowers in the Attic," by the way? It's this amazing intense scene with the evil Grandmother, and everyone's calling each other by their names and they're all in this small room together and it's totally confusing but it's also terribly exciting. That page accomplishes exactly what a book exc...

"We begin the most amazing ride with Brenna."  "I have read several mermaid books. This one is nothing like any of them. The rules have changed."  "Song of the Sea" has been reviewed at Happy Tails and Tales. Read the review to find out which rating the reviewer gave me! Get a peek at "Song of the Sea," and find out where you can get a copy.

"Varden balances the teenage voice without having it shallow or stereotypical, but she also manages to capture the tone and experiences of being fifteen and discovering love, losing a parent, and trying to work out a place in the world." "There is suspense and surprises, and tiny moments of joy that make this a fantastic fantasy adventure and one that will manage to warm and break your heart at the same time." The newest review for "Song of the Sea" is up at Lost in a Good Book ! Read the whole review to find out what's happening under the waves.  Visit the Free Book Stuff area to get downloads and samples for "Song of the Sea." Don't forget to get your copy of "Song of the Sea" at Amazon !

When you're writing a book, the simple period and comma aren't always enough. Sometimes, you have to start using somewhat fancier punctuation -- like colons, semicolons and ellipsis. Today's TBT Writing 101 will help you remember how to use them perfectly.  Perfect punctuation is important in every book, because (trust me) some reviewer is going to notice the first colon you put in the wrong place. Learn how to use colons and semicolons the right way, and you can do a lot more with your sentences. Read all about it in this throwback Writing 101 .

No matter how you might feel about the books, you know you wouldn't mind writing something with Twilight -like popularity. You wouldn't mind having a popular series like The Hunger Games , probably, just like most authors. Writing a series is great. It allows you spend some time in a certain world, gives you the chance to really develop your characters and could even become a hugely successful movie franchise. But writing a series can also turn into a trap. This is the good side and the really ugly side of a neverending series of books. This is the Series That Doesn't End Sometimes, a book series can become much bigger than the author ever expected. The character in the series, the series itself, becomes much bigger than the author. Like, way bigger. Some book series don't end. Like, ever.

My struggles with my current manuscript have been well documented. I tried to push my way through writer's block, discovered that I needed to change the story, erased a ton of stuff...and then, I promptly got stuck again. But recently, I discovered the problem and ended up unlocking an ongoing problem I have with my writing. Maybe you've got the same one. Ask yourself a question: do you update your outline?  Writing Inside the Lines I start every book with a lot of ideas about how I'm going to write it. I sit and plan out every single chapter, not in great detail but in some detail, and then I start to write. And inevitably, all that stuff I planned ends up changing. Characters end up being different people than I imagined, events unfold in ways I didn't expect, new things happen that I never planned for. I go with it, of course, because good things can happen this way. But I don't go back and update the outline ...and that ended up causing me some big...

For me, it almost always follows the same pattern. At the beginning of the book, I’m excited. I’m writing everything the way it’s supposed to written, it’s all flowing well. Then, I get to some intense scene. And I start to wonder. Should that character be killed? Should that scene be here? Should these two kiss right now? There’s a lot of danger in doubting yourself, and I know. It happens to me all the time. Self Doubt I ask a lot of questions. It's how I come up with a lot of my ideas, but sometimes it take a turn for the dark side. Sometimes, I start asking myself questions after I've already started working on a project. I'll get to asking questions, and instead of writing I'm fooling around with my outline and erasing paragraphs and doing new research. This is what self doubt does to me. Self doubt is different for everyone, but it almost always has the same effect: it keeps you from writing well. 

If you get tense over your tenses when you're writing, today's Throwback Thursday post was made for you. It's don't-be-so-tense-about-tense Thursday, and I'm celebrating with this Writing 101 all about it. Relax. Tense isn't so hard when you know more about it.

Beta readers. Reviewers. Your good friend. That writers group you joined. A lot of people are going to give you a lot of opinions about your book. They'll ask questions and tell you what they think. And as the author, you've got to remember that everyone's opinion is subjective. Everybody's Got Something to Say Except for Me and My Monkey It's a fine line for any author to walk. You need the opinions of readers, because you're writing for the readers. But you also need to stick to your guns when it comes to telling the story that you want to tell. In other words, you can't always follow the advice that your beta readers , friends and reviewers give you. Sometimes, you have to write what you're going to write anyway -- and leave it that way.

Getting finished with the first draft is a hurdle, and it's a good one, but it's just the first one. Real writing is a whole lot of re-writing. You'll end up changing lots of stuff about your first draft...maybe even most of it.  Rewrites  In other words, you're going to have to write everything twice -- more or less, anyway. You'll have to tweak and perfect, change and edit. You'll have to go over everything and possibly alter all of it before you come up with a finished product that you can use. Writing is rewriting ...and sometimes, it's awful.

You know how they say you're only as good as your last book? They say it because it's true. Some people throw books away when they're done reading them. I delete mine right off the Kindle. You may not like it, but as an author you are disposable...to at least some of the readers, all of the time. Getting Trashed The life of an author can be painful,. If you send out letters to agents and publishers pitching your book, you will be rejected by some of them. If you self-publish and you court the book bloggers, you will get reviews that hurt your feelings. If you make yourself available to fans through social media, you will be leaving yourself open to ridicule and attacks. But few things hurt quite as bad as simply being totally, completely ignored.

Choosing a title can be one of the hardest parts of writing a book, and I should know. I had finished a book almost in entirety before I managed to figure out what the title was supposed to be. I struggle with it every time, but not all authors do. Today's guest author has found a creative way to avoid titling her own book, in fact: she's turned it into a promotional tool. Book Titles and You Guest author Roselyn Jewell is staging a unique contest to figure out her book's title. See my thoughts on writing book titles , and maybe you can help Roselyn come up with hers. Now here's Roselyn: Hi everyone, My name is Roselyn Jewell and I have recently made my first foray into the YA genre! Previously I’ve written almost entirely romance novels, but I came up with what I think is a great idea for a YA series and I’ve finished the first book in the series, which will be offered as an e-book in early March. In preparation for this, from now till March 1st, I’m ...

The dash is one of the most under-valued pieces of punctuation, and one of the most improperly-used. Learn to master the art of the dash, and you can avoid all your complicated punctuation problems. Ignore this lesson, and you'll find yourself mired in a morass of commas from which there is no escape. Dashing off Good Punctuation A dash functions as a super comma, and that's why all writers should love it. When you already have a lot of punctuation to deal with in a sentence, the dash can be employed to break up the sentence to make it readable (and grammatically correct) again. Learn how to use the dash, and it will be your friend.

When was the last time you cracked open an epic poem and began to read it? Do you casually browse through "Beowulf" when the mood strikes, or thumb through "The Canterbury Tales?" Probably no, because that stuff is way old. And it's got me wondering whether or not anyone will even be reading books  100 yeas from now.  Who's Actually Read Virginia Woolf? In the year 1915, Virginia Woolf published "The Voyage Out." Have you ever read it? She's a well-known author, or she was, and enjoyed a highly successful career before she walked into the ocean one day. The point is, she was a successful working writer in her own time and you recognize her name. But have you read her books? Did you read this one, published 100 years ago? Did you read any of them ever? Would it make a difference if I told you that you can read her books for free?

I always say -- correction, I used to always say -- that you should give in to inspiration when it strikes. I did, after all. But now I'm wondering if I was really inspired, or if I was trying to avoid writing something else. Avoiding It It all started when I finished my book " Hope's Rebellion ." I had known for some time that I was going to start working on a project called "What Happened to Mary Celeste?" I roughed out the first few chapters, and then I got stuck. I started working on buying a cover for the book. After all, I knew the title already, and I would need a cover. But then I started to work on the trailer, too. I would need a trailer, right? Sure I would. Soon enough, however, that was finished as well. I was still in the exact same place with the manuscript. That's when I started writing a different book altogether. I was inspired. Correction. I thought I was inspired.

Today we're joined by author M.J. Austin for a guest post on using Wattpad for marketing. You have published your book and it is online, but you aren’t getting any sales. What’s wrong here? Most likely, it is simply because nobody knows your book is "out there." It can be extremely difficult to get your book out there, especially if you are being self-published. That’s not to say that when you have a traditional publisher that it is super easy. Many publishers today require you to do your own marketing.  There is a multitude of options when it comes to marketing your book. You could do a blog tour or focus on social media, but those aren’t the only options. What is Wattpad? Wattpad is a critiquing style platform that allows authors to upload either portions or the full copy of their books for others in the community to read and comment on. Amanda Hocking, a very successful YA author has used this platform to uploaded samples of her books for users to...

During the Middle Ages, storytellers were members of the royal court. They knew all the juiciest gossip, they were present at all the big events, and they traveled around telling their tales to large audiences. Today's storytellers sit somewhere with a laptop, typing quietly. Which sounds more fun? A Troubadour's Life for Me The storyteller was always a welcome sight in medieval Europe. You may have found them in a market place, but you were sure to find them at court. Every king and queen of note had storytellers at court, a place where the royals granted various favors to their favorites and everyone danced, dined and drank for almost any reason whatsoever. 

The minute I started thinking of one of my books as "my masterpiece," I should have known I was in serious trouble. Not just because it's arrogant, which clearly it is, but because it's the start of an unhealthy obsession. It's something that happens to lots of artists and storytellers, and I'm here to warn you that it could happen to you. Obsession As an artist, it's very easy to become obsessed. So easy, in fact, you may not even realize that it's happening to you. There's a way to find out.Obsessed artists generally have a single trait in common. If you have it, too, then you might be obsessed.

If you can't make the history work, if things feel off, if the timeline you envisioned just isn't working out, quit trying to make it work and rewrite it already. If it isn't working right now, it isn't going to start working five chapters from now. And I should know. I found this out the hard way. Writing, Again Rewrites are really the worst. No freelance writer wants to rewrite something they already wrote, and no author ever wants to go back and change a story that's already down on paper. But sometimes, what you've written just isn't working with the rest of what you still need to write. Stories can be tricky like that. And before they trick you into writing 100 pages too many, go back and rewrite.

Many writers are using pen names to develop a dedicated author personality and presence online. But how careful are you being about the name you're selecting? Read my Writing 101 post for more info about using pen names this Throwback Thursday, and remember why it's so important to choose a great one.