Jade Varden Official Blog

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...