Jade Varden Official Blog

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!

Todd Tystad's Seven Moments in Time is a sweet short story collection that I finished in a single reading. Each little vignette is exactly what the title promises it will be: a single moment. Every one of the 7 stories briefly illuminate the lives of a lovable cast of characters, each of whom is poignantly revealed and introduced before our moment with them is over. Each tale left me wanting more, and at the end I ached for some solid conclusion. But my anger at Todd Tystad lasted only a moment when I realized that author's true brilliance: engaging me in each story. I found myself imagining the end of each tale, thinking about each character, wondering about each event that was described. That made Seven Moments feel personal, and even more real. The formatting is beautiful and each story flows well, compelling me to read more and more and more. I was sad when I got to the end, and look forward to re-visiting this book in the future. I'll definitely r...

Every book is driven by at least one main character, a singular hero or heroine who propels the plot. Often, the main character has to face a challenge or foe, obstacles they must overcome in order to get to the happy (or tragic) ending. But if that character doesn't reach out and grab your audience, readers may not stick with your story all the way to its end. The main character is the driving force of your book, so make it great. Characteristics Who is this person? What motivates them? What are their hopes and dreams? If you don't know, your readers don't know. Readers want a character they can identify with, a three-dimensional character who has their own independent thoughts, wishes and yes, even problems. Identify and know the characteristics of your main characters, who they are as a person. Nervous habits, likes and dislikes, opinions -- these are the things that make a person real, and the same stuff makes characters real to readers. No one is...

The good folks at Book Bags and Cat Naps , one of my favorite book blogs, will be running a brand-new ad for Justice all week long!  BB&CN is full of reviews, excerpts and author interviews that help me figure out what to read next. Check it out on their site and tell me what you think.

Lisa Shafer's Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire is a wholly wonderful story. You never quite know what you're going to get with an indie book, but I confess that I was drawn into the tale right away. Confessions is technically perfect and mistake-free, which makes it even easier to be completely mesmerized by the plot -- and I was. Eric, the titular half-vampire, is a perfectly non-heroic hero. He's got all the problems that come with being in middle school (like trying to figure out what a girl really means with those confusing text messages and finding ways to hide stuff from his too-clever mom), but he's also got a pesky little genetic problem: he's a half-vampire. In Lisa's world, vampires don't live in creepy castles and hunt for victims by night -- they wait for cloudy evenings and matter-of-factly drink blood to stay healthy. Eric goes to school, does his homework and plays piano -- mostly ragtime and other peppy pieces. Lisa S...

Every writer has their own little tricks, and I'm going to share one of mine. Every book has a main character, and sometimes more than one, but there's a whole host of supporting cast members who appear within the pages. Whether you're mentioning a character only once or more than a dozen different times in your book, you need to include them on the character sheet. It's not talked about as often as the outline, but it's probably just as important. What is the Character Sheet? I can't tell you how many times I've been in the middle of writing, only to have to stop and ask myself, "wait, what color were his eyes again?" I learned to create character sheets for all my books the hard way -- I found myself repeatedly combing through pages I'd written to find a last name, a physical description, some characteristic I assigned in the past and forgot in the present. A character sheet keeps all that mess straight, so you ha...

Editing is a hot topic of discussion among writers, and my personal religion. To put it mildly, I believe in the power of editing. No book is complete without it. But at the same time, editing your own work can be a very difficult, very painful procedure. Think of it as a necessary evil all writers must face. Editing for Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation Editing serves a main function for any piece of writing: it makes it readable. In today's day of visible spellcheck and auto-correct, it's easy to simply write along without worry about spelling each and every word the right way. Who has time to worry about putting i before e and doubling the l when changing the tense? It's a lot to think about, especially when you're trying to create interesting characters and weave them together in a believable, enjoyable story. It's okay to just focus on your writing, and get that done...but after that, it's time for the really hard work. You shou...

I've been spending time on the Goodreads forums lately, and one topic really struck me as I was reading along: the book outline. It's a hot topic on the forums, and every writer seems to have their own style of using (or not using) an outline to keep their plots straight and their books organized. So today's Writing 101 lesson will be the outline -- how to use it, when not to use it and what to do when your writing doesn't match it at all. Outline Basis Everyone arranges their outlines differently, and it's not always the method of organization that matters (but I do know that pets and Post-Its aren't a good mix). Some writers organize outlines by chapters, some by events. I write mine by days and dates; maybe you've noticed I'm always very clear about which day of the week it is in the DOL series. Again, it doesn't matter how the outline is organized, only that it is organized. An outline isn't a huge chunk of text, it's ...