Jade Varden Official Blog

 Every book has a setting . Some might be incredibly specific -- a certain house on a certain street inside a certain town in a little hamlet in Scotland. Other settings might be a bit broader. Tony Hillerman, for example, writes exclusively within the Native American reservation spreading across the four corners. This region covers four different states, a huge are filled with canyons, cliffs, mountains and people. No matter where your book is set, it never hurts if readers can picture that setting. Readers want to know where it is, what it looks like and what else is nearby. The best way to show them all of that is to give them a map.  And making maps isn't easy. If it was, we'd all do it. I'm a Writer, Not a Cartographer Like writing isn't already hard enough, right? But sometimes, even the best and most descriptive authors need to add a few visual aids to hep their readers out. If your setting plays a big role in your book, a map is probably the perfec...

Accept and except are spelled differently, but they're pronounced the same. That makes them difficult to write with, a problem that's further complicated by the fact that they have so many different meanings and forms of use. But if you put one in the wrong place in your book, you're going to greatly confuse your readers and totally change your own plots.  Accept Accept basically means to take or to agree . The word can also be used to show a response or an answer ( Sally accepted Luke's invitation to have lunch ). Synonyms for accept include gain, obtain, welcome and acquire. You can also accept a burden or a responsibility, maybe even unwillingly ( I accept blame for all my wrongdoings). It's used in a lot of different ways, and that's what makes it so hard to use properly. In spoken English, accept sounds like another word with a lot of definitions: except . Except Basically, except just means but . A fancier definition for the wo...

"If I could describe this book in one word, it would be EXCITING." "I was left surprised, shocked, and blown away!" The Tower (Deck of Lies, #2) has been reviewed at Little Book Star . Read the review before you get your copy from Amazon, B&N, Smashwords or Kobo. The Tower is also available in paperback!

 I discuss book marketing in my newest interview at Verdict Book Reviews. Go check it out, and feel free to use the comments section to share your own thoughts on book marketing!

Teachers all across the United States whip out The Legend of Sleepy Hollow towards the end of the every October and read the rich, poetic language aloud to the class. It's hard to understand; that why my teachers also showed an animated version of the story. I'm pretty sure the Disney version starred Goofy. The more famous film version of the story, Sleepy Hollow , is even more farfetched than the cartoon.  The Story To be technical, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow isn't a book. It's a short story, and it's so old that you can read the whole thing for free any time (public domain). It was written by Washing Irving, and first published in 1820. Irving is well-known for another short story, Rip Van Winkle . Though Irving wrote them both in England, Sleepy Hollow is considered to be American fiction because it's set in what would become New York state. It takes place in a Dutch settlement named Tarry Town, in an area called Sleepy Hollow. The hero...

"The story seems straightforward, but then it curves and twists so [it] continually surprises." "I really enjoyed going down the rabbit hole with Rain as she discovers secret after secret." The Tower has been reviewed at Quirky Girls Read ! Go and read the whole thing before you buy your copy of the book, and see if you can find the truth in the Deck of Lies.

Clearly, I have strong feelings about the importance of good grammar, proper punctuation and well-crafted writing. But am I wasting my time, and yours, by blogging about it? In a world where word processing software highlights misspellings, underlines bad grammar and comes with a built-in thesaurus, besides, just where exactly do people like me fit in? Why do you need me, if you've got software that does it all for you?   Oh, You Need Me You can't even compose a tweet without getting spelling help nowadays, and every time I screw up during a blog post a helpful red line pops up to guide me. I don't even have to hit backspace and re-type the word; I can just right-click my mouse and magically fix the problem. That's the wonder of technology, and it's easy to grow incredibly complacent (lazy) when it comes to good writing. What's the point of knowing all this grammar garbage when any half-decent software program will do the job on its own?  Because...

I've made it clear that I'm a big fan of staying organized during the writing process. I create outlines, character sheets, the whole ball of wax. But sometimes, you need something more than the standard blank document to keep your plot organized and all your thoughts straight. I'm talking about the joy of templates.  Let's Hear it for Templates! I've advocated using templates to keep your manuscript properly formatted ; this will save you a ton of frustration and time when you convert your work into an ebook-ready format. But templates serve another important function: they can help you keep all your book notes organized.  Plots can get pretty complex, particularly if you've got a lot of characters interacting or a big event happening. I'm usually pretty straightforward when it comes to writing outlines for my stories; in the past, a blank Word document has always been good enough for me. But lately I've been working on a novel that's ...