Jade Varden Official Blog

"Damn engrossing." "It was simply superb!" Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) has been reviewed at Reading 24/7 . Go check it out before you get your copy of the book!

I once read a romance novel where every single chapter started with a quote from one of William Shakespeare's many works. To really drive the point home, one of the characters in the story was obsessed with the Bard; she, too, quoted him incessantly. Lots of books feature quotes at the start of chapters. I've also seen quotes from poems, songs and other books inside the text itself. Quoting is a great way to pay homage to someone else's work. It's also a great way to get yourself in serious trouble if you're a self-published author. Before you add quotes from songs, poems or other books to anything you're writing, make sure you're doing it without breaking copyright laws.   Copyright Laws I've blogged about using brand names and celebrity names in self-published books in the past, and using song lyrics and other quotes is pretty similar. What I'm saying here is, you can get sued. Since you're not the creator of those lyrics, that ...

 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.