Jade Varden Official Blog

Irregardless is a hot-button word among grammarians, and that makes it confusing for writers. Is it a word, or isn't it? Should you be using it in your writing, or shouldn't you? It all depends on where you stand on this debate. Many wordsmiths either totally love it, or completely hate it. It's a Word! If you look up irregardless in the dictionary, you're going to find it. The Oxford English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary both have a listing for this word, which would seem to legitimize it. However, in both cases the word is listed as "nonstandard," and the Heritage actually defines the word as regardless .  Doesn't that mean irregardless isn't a word? That all depends on how you view it. Because the word has been accepted into the dictionary and because it has found its way into the common vernacular and because it has a definite meaning (regardless), many passionately argue that irregardless is most certainly a word.  ...

I'm going to share a personal story...a love story. It's about me and a book. I started writing it around 7 years ago, after I'd been sort of half-thinking about it for several years. I worked on that book for over 2 years. Before I knew it, I had a massive file filled with research notes, pictures of maps all over my desktop, and an epic manuscript of over 300,000 words (that's massive).  And love. I was filled with love for that book, which I started to think of (around chapter 9) as "my masterpiece." Some of you may not be aware of the true danger I was in at that point. It's for you that I have to share this advice: don't fall in love with your work. It could ruin you.  Being in Love What's so bad about falling in love with one's work? Doesn't loving your books make your writing better? You know what, maybe it does. Maybe that epic manuscript is the best thing I've ever written or will ever write -- but that isn't t...

I've blogged about the importance of creating a 3-dimensional main character before, but there are lots of other people who populate the pages of a book. Many writers develop a connection to their main characters, the hero or heroine who must go through all the trials and tribulations before they reach their happy ending...or tragic conclusion. But you should spend some time thinking about the supporting cast in your book, too, and make all of them as real as possible. Who Am I? With each and every character you create, take the time to think a little bit about who they are. I create a character sheet for all my books, with a brief bio for everybody who's going to appear. The bio tells me what the character's complete name is, what their nicknames are if they've got any, what they look like (and, in the case of the Deck of Lies series, which designers they prefer). But beyond this, there are other important details that writers need to include for many of th...

"I really enjoyed reading this book...it only got better towards the end." Another reader sounded off on Justice recently at Total Teen Fiction . Go read the full review to see what she liked, and didn't like, about the beginning of the Deck of Lies. She's not the only one reading about lies, murder and family secrets this week. A new post on another book blog suggests that one reader may already be embroiled in a weekend Deck of Lies reading marathon. Visit Sarah Elizabeth's Bookshelf to see what she had to say about the beginning of Justice!

Some writers are so afraid of being rejected or judged in any way, they won't even let others see their work. This was the case for one American woman who would go on to become one of the most celebrated poets of all time. It's only through a quirk of fate that any of us know she existed -- upon her death, she instructed that all of her writings should be burned to ash.  Lucky for us, that's not what happened.  Emily Dickinson lived in Massachusetts, and in her 56 years on Earth she barely saw any of the world. In fact, she barely saw what was going on outside her own room. This is where she spent most of her time, usually wearing white clothing, scribbling away furiously at her poems and her letters. Though she was a homebody who reportedly did not like to greet guests who came to the family house, she was a prolific letter-writer who maintained many close friendships through correspondence.  But most of her time was spent writing poetry, usually on the to...

Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been selected as the Indie Book of the Week by the good folks at Bibliofreak . Visit the site and click on the cover of Justice to read all the Amazon reviews and get your Kindle copy of the book!

I went to the biggest middle school in my city, a monster of a 3-story building with annexes, outside buildings and yes, even an elevator. I went to this from a school housing maybe three classes per grade. The whole school building was one floor, and shaped like a big circle, so no student could possibly get lost. That middle school looked massive to me...until I went to high school for a while. Perspective changes everything, and the same can be said when you're talking about editing. You can't make your books perfect unless you change your editing approach, and change your perspective. Changing Your Perspective I've blogged about the logistics of editing before, so you already know how to edit your ebooks. But you're not going to catch all the mistakes (and everybody makes mistakes) unless you change your perspective. What does that mean? It means if you're only reading your book on your computer screen, you're not editing properly.  Chang...

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the best-known children's stories ever written, and almost 150 years later it still delights children and adults today. This book has been put on film many, many times since film was first invented, but today we're only going to discuss a single adaptation: the best one. The Book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most enduring and beloved stories of all time, and it was written by a very boring math professor. Commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland , the book was written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, a pen name used by a professor who also published several ponderous volumes about math. Because of all the strangeness depicted in Wonderland, Carroll is credited with vastly influencing the entire fantasy genre.  You probably know how the story goes: a little girl named Alice is sitting outside with her sister, and she's terribly bored until a white rabbit hops past. Alice chases the creature and fo...