Jade Varden Official Blog

They say that being successful as an indie author requires spending a lot more time on promotion than on actual writing. But if you're just throwing stuff out there at random, you're not doing a whole lot of good. First, you've got to figure out where your target audience is. Then, you've got to actually target them.  Ready, Aim, Fire It's a lot like playing basketball. If you close your eyes and start chucking balls in the general direction of the basket, sure a few of them will go in. But if you open your eyes and actually aim at the center of the target, it's likely that you'll land even more of them. Targeted marketing just makes sense, and it will save you time that you can spend on actual writing. Define your age group. The first step in targeted marketing is defining the age group that would be most interested in your books. This is really easy for some genres, like children's and YA. You already know who you're writing for . Whe...

The Internet has totally blurred, if not altogether obliterated, the lines of good punctuation. Now, people are using punctuation to make little faces at the end of the sentences. This is not the use for which punctuation was originally intended, and it's darn confusing. Maybe that's why it's so difficult to know when to use brackets in fiction writing. It's almost never okay for authors to do so...even when you're writing about what happens on the Internet.  Thou Shalt Not Use Brackets Brackets are not a parenthesis...they're the more twisted cousin. While parentheses have gently curving lines, brackets have hard edges. That's to remind you that they're used only in the most extreme of circumstances. In fiction, they're used almost ever. In other types of writing, brackets can be used for a handful of different reasons.  Math: In some complicated mathematical problems, brackets are used to show specific number groups or funct...

"Really sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages as more and more twists arise." "Such a great follow up to the first book in the series!" Eastern Sunset Reads recently reviewed The Tower (Deck of Lies, #2). Read the whole thing to find out what the reviewer liked (and didn't like) about the book.

Pick out the criminal in this lineup: Which one do you think is the guilty party? Maybe this long-haired guy in the center? How about this Amish-looking fellow in the end? Maybe the guy with the short hair is trying to fool everyone, and he's the real perpetrator. From where I'm sitting, they all look like wrongdoers to me.  But I'm actually the one who's wrong.  This is a photo of the Beatles, not potential criminals. But when you look at the picture the right way, they look like they're up to no good. This is how a red herring works.  Gone Fishing It's not a fish when it's used in fiction. In fiction, a red herring is a person who looks absolutely guilty. You know they're the one who committed the murder, or stole the painting, or cheated on so-and-so, or whatever. But what you don't know is that you're seeing the character through a distorted lens, and a clever author is actually fooling you into thinking that perso...

Many advice-givers, like me, will tell writers that every single word you put on the page should drive the plot forward, or otherwise give the reader important information. But that's not entirely true. When it comes to the MacGuffin and writing...well, anything goes.  The MacGuffin remains a very controversial plot device, and some writers hate it. So today we settle the argument: is the MacGuffin good or bad? Good Enough for Me At this point, you may be wondering what the heck a MacGuffin is, anyway. This is a plot device that moves the story and gets characters where they need to be, but actually has nothing to do with the eventual outcome. MacGuffins usually appear, serve their purpose and promptly fade away. You see the MacGuffin more in movies than in books, but a plot device like this can always span mediums. One of the most famous storytellers of all time is notorious for using MacGuffins in his plots. Looking for a few good examples of this technique in ...

Be honest: how often do you look at the Amazon bestseller list? How many times have you wished you were the one who wrote The Hunger Games ? It's not a problem...unless you let it dictate what you're going to write next. Being Popular Everybody wants to be popular in whatever situation they happen to be in. You want to a lot of friends at school, at work, on Facebook...popularity contests pretty much never end. For authors, they're a way of living. If you're a self-published author, it's a full-time job. You have to work to gain readers, you need to hustle to sell books and you've got to constantly promote.  And while you're working your typing fingers to the bone, another Stephenie Meyer or Susanne Collins is cranking out an uber-successful series that absolutely everyone is talking about. It's only natural for thoughts to begin to creep into your head. It's only natural to start thinking that maybe you ought to alter your own writ...

Visit one of my favorite blogs, Reading...Dreaming , and find out how to get Justice (Deck of Lies, #1) free. The sooner you start exploring the lies, the sooner you'll discover all the dirty little secrets. 

"The perfect finale for one of the best YA series I ever read." "A story about friendship, family, love, life changing decisions, the consequences of our actions and mostly about Life and all its comings and goings." Friend of the blog and avid reader Ruty, the blogger behind Reading...Dreaming recently reviewed Judgment (Deck of Lies, #4). Visit her blog to read the review and find out how you can get started on the series for free!