Jade Varden Official Blog

by Margaret Yang Asking someone to beta read a novel is terrifying. We ask—beg—people to take the work of our hearts and attack it with a machete. If done well, the pages come back with so much red ink on them it looks like someone mopped up after a goat sacrifice. And yet, we do it. We seek out new betas and bribe the ones we already have with coffee and chocolate. We know it’s going to hurt, but we need the lessons our beta readers will teach us. We beg for critiques because we know the only way to make a manuscript strong is to first let someone tear it apart. As scary as receiving a critique is, it’s even scarier to give one. A beta reader never knows how a writer will take her suggestions. Will she find it helpful, or have I wasted my time? Will she understand my points, or have I made things worse? And most importantly, will she kill the messenger? I once lost a friendship over a critique. Every time I beta read, I’m afraid I will lose another one. In a relat...

"I loved the way Varden made the trial interesting and engaging to read with elements of cleverly placed humor...You would be silly to miss out on reading this book!" "Like always with Varden's work, the writing flows effortlessly to create an interesting, intriguing and well developed plot that is easy for the audience to understand...I would not only high recommend this book but the whole series as a must read!" Judgment (Deck of Lies, #4) has been reviewed at Lost to Books . There are spoilers if you haven't read the first three books, but if you have feel free to enjoy the entire review!

"I LOVED LOVED LOVED this entire series! BUT I love the ending best of all!!" "It is everything I could have asked for (had I known what to ask for) in an ending!!"  Theresa at Keepin' Up with the Joneses has reviewed Judgment. It's got spoilers! If you've read the Deck of Lies, go check it out.

Since its original release in 1983, A Christmas Story has become one of the best-loved and most popular holiday films of all time. Most people don't even know that it's actually based on a book of short stories, written by a guy who actually lived it.   The Book Jean Shepherd published In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash in 1966. It's a semi-autobiographical collection of humorous short stories, and many of them were used to inspire the full-length feature film A Christmas Story . In the book, Shepherd writes about his hometown in Indiana, his friend Flick, and the longing he had to own a real Red Ryder BB gun. And in the book, Ralphie is all grown up. He has returned to his hometown, where he finds Flick at the bar he inherited from his father. They talk about the "good old days" together, and this is where we get most of the stories that unfold in the book.  The book goes far behind a single holiday season, and in fact there's one story...

Some words are commonly misspelled by writers. Personally, I can't seem to wrap my head around "lieutenant." Some word pairs are mixed up. I can never keep "affect" and "effect" straight, myself. But some words are just used the wrong way...all the time. Ironic , and all its versions, is one of those words. Defining Irony There's a movie that I love, a romantic comedy with Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke, named Reality Bites . I love the film because it's true, it does, and Ben Stiller brings a ton of comedic value to the flick. There's a scene in the movie where Ryder's character is put on the spot, and asked to define irony. She makes a few attempts and then cries out that she can't define it, but "I know it when I see it!"  But she probably doesn't. Many people can't define irony, and many writers can't use the word the right way, either. It's a very hard concept to define, but not impossibl...

If you aren't using hashtags, you're not marketing as strongly as you could be. If you think they're too juvenile or just there to waste space, think again. You're a self-published author. When it comes to marketing, nothing is beneath you.  Why You Need Hashtags Twitter hashtags function as internal links. You can use the search bar near the top of the page to search for any hashtag phrase, any time, and see who has written tweets using that phrase. This is a great way to find people who like the same movies, books and music as you. It's also a great way to connect with your reading audience. There's really just one simple reason why you need to use hashtags: everyone else is using them. Once you start, it'll be easier for readers to find you.  The Hashtags You Need But there's an etiquette that comes with using hashtags. You can't write a tweet promoting your book, for instance, and then tack a random hashtag to the end of the mess...

Who is a deceptively simple word. It sits there with its three letters, taunting and teasing you. But give in to its siren song of sweetness, and you're going to make all sorts of grammatical errors. There are so many different versions of the word who , you practically need a degree just to keep them sorted. One of the easiest errors to make in writing is mixing up who's and whose . I'm probably going to do it in this post, it's so easy. But together, maybe we can get it straightened out.  Whose Word is it, Anyway? Whose is the possessive form of who . This is confusing, because usually who's would show possession. If I grab ahold of Joseph and grip around his bicep, I'm holding Joseph's arm. The apostrophe and the s show the possession.  That's not how it works with who . The word is irregular, so it becomes whose instead. It's also confusing because either word can properly start a sentence. Let's look at some examples: ...

You have never met a perfect person. Even that fashionable girl with all the right accessories, or that Adonis who buys a latte every morning and somehow still has washboard abs, is flawed. All human beings are flawed. That's why the characters you create on the page have to be flawed, too. Nobody's Perfect Some flaws are pretty common, and relatively small. Your character might bite their nails, or forget to put their keys somewhere safe. Maybe they lose their phone a lot, I don't know. If you're writing a well-crafted character , you're writing one that has flaws. But many authors take this one step further. Many authors use an important plot device to move their stories forward. Many writers create characters with a fatal flaw.  Fatally Flawed There's a school of belief that says we all have at least one terrible flaw, something that keeps us from being happy or achieving our goals or just moving forward in life. A fatal flaw is ...