Jade Varden Official Blog

The issue of race, or more specifically racism, is everywhere right now. Well, actually, it's always been here -- but there are times when it gets talked about and it's felt more keenly than other times. And in this particular moment in history, racism and race are being talked about everywhere. For writers, this begs the question do you talk about race in your books ? And when you do bring up race, are you doing it the right way? Amtec Photos / Flickr Race and Writing Have you ever read a book where all the main characters are described with specific features -- brown hair, blonde hair, green eyes -- but only one, or maybe two, characters are ever described with a specific skin tone color? This actually happens all the time in books...though you may not have really noticed it before.  When one character is singled out for being Black, or Hispanic, or by any color at all, it suddenly becomes glaring if none of the other characters are described by their skin ton...

Homonym pairs are bad enough. When you've got three words that sound alike but have different spellings and different meanings, you may want to just give up and forget that the words palette, palate and pallet exist at all. But they do. And even though it may be difficult to learn which one to use when, you still want to have these words in your writing toolkit...because your language can never be limited. Palette A palette is a range of colors. It's also that thing an artist uses when they're creating a painting, like Bob Ross and his famous big palette. Think of an artist and their palette when you think of this word. Think of all the colors on the palette. If you're writing about the colors of the rainbow or the way the sky looks during sunset, you're going to be using the artistic word palette to describe it. Palate Do you have a good palate for flavor? Have you ever eaten a fancy, multi-course meal and been given a dish to cleanse your pal...

You know how they say that every villain is the hero of his or her own story? Well, every single character in your stories is the main character of their own story. And as an author, you have to have a pretty good idea of what their story is like. You need to know every single character in your story. You have to know who they are and why they are who they are. So...how do you do it? Knowing Your Characters Authors have an intimate knowledge of their main characters. Their thoughts, their backstory, their hopes and dreams. But as an author, you should have this information for all of your characters. Every character in your story, no matter how minor, matters in their own story. You need to know what drives them and what makes them who they are. Otherwise, the actions your characters take and the words they say may not make any sense. It helps to create a character sheet to remember essential facts about each character in your story, like what their names are and what th...

They say that life, like writing, is full of shades of gray. Or...are they shades of grey? Why is this word spelled two different ways? What's the difference between the spellings? Are you sure you've been using the right one? It's time to settle the debate between gray and grey once and for all. Shades of Gray Grey There are many word pairs in the English language, words that sound the same or look the same but have different meanings. Do gray and grey fit into this group?  The simple answer is no , they don't. By any spelling, grey/gray means the same thing. This word, whether it has an e or an a , always refers to the color that's created when you mix black and white together. In any shading, gray is grey. The only exception to this rule is brand names. Earl Grey tea, for example, is always spelled with an e. Canada's national bird, the Gray Jay, is always spelled with an a.  So why do two spellings of the same word exist? Grey with an e i...

The moment you use the wrong word in your writing, you make yourself look like you have no idea what you're doing. The trouble is, it's really, really easy to use the wrong word. The English language is stuffed with word pairs that sound alike and may even be spelled similarly, but they have two different meanings. Knowing how to use these words properly is something every writer has to learn...because there are lots of readers who already know the difference. A or E? So when it comes to stationary and stationery, which word is the right word for the sentence you're trying to write? They sound exactly the same and they're spelled exactly the same, with just one letter's difference. But that one letter changes absolutely everything. Stationary with an A means that something is immobile and unmoving. A stationary object is sitting still. Think of it as pushing a heavy object. What sound might you make while you're doing that? Correct: "aaaaaa!!...

There are very few hard rules in writing, rules that cannot be bent or broken in any way. Many writers have taken great delight in breaking the so-called rules of good writing, to much success. But even in the art of writing, there is one thing you should never, ever do. Do you know what it is? Because I just broke that rule to make a very important point. No matter what, you should never repeat the same word twice. No, not even when it's separated by punctuation. It's never okay and it's always going to make you look like a bad writer. Getting Repetitive There are rules in writing. You must capitalize names and the first word of sentences. You must end sentences with some kind of punctuation. Every writer knows the basic rules. But there's another you must always follow because it always looks bad if you get it wrong. Don't repeat words. Never at any point should the same word appear back-to-back, not even when there's a period between them. We a...

Have you heard that the Earth is actually flat? How about the one where the government tried to train cats to be secret spies? Maybe you heard a story about the battleship that disappeared out of one harbor and reappeared, moments later, hundreds of miles away. There's just something compelling about wild conspiracy theories. And that means you can probably create some pretty compelling writing when you use conspiracy theories in your stories. Spinning a Yarn There's nothing people like more than a good story. But what makes a story good? Sometimes, it's something that's so far out there it's impossible to believe. And what's so wrong with that?  There's been a lot of good storytelling based on outlandish, outrageous conspiracy theories. So why can't you tell a really good story based around a conspiracy theory? Try going out on that limb and try writing a story built around a wild conspiracy theory. Maybe in your story, the theory is true....

With everything going on in the world today, it's pretty hard to think about writing a story. How do you write about happiness, love, good health and other positive factors when it seems like the world is totally falling apart? It's hard to put aside the fear and the worry. It's hard to ignore those terrible headlines and the numbers of deaths that just keep getting bigger and bigger.  So don't ignore it. Use it. If you're finding it difficult to work on your writing projects, put them aside for a little bit and start channeling all your feelings about coronavirus into a brand-new story. Writers find inspiration even in the worst scenarios and turn them into entertainment. After all...doesn't everyone deserve some entertainment right now? Get Inspired I once said that a writer's task is not to live life. It's to observe it happening to others. Right now is the absolute perfect time to write. You can't go anywhere. You can't see anyone...

If you haven't already heard of Grammarly, where have you been? This is a browser app that advertises heavily and has managed to spread through the online writing community like wildfire. So as an author...should you be using it? Built-In Grammar Help If I'm being honest, I'd make lots more mistakes if it wasn't for built-in spellchecking. Sometimes, I feel when I make a mistake and ignore it because I know the spellcheck will pick it up. But does that mean using apps and built-in help is always a good idea for writers? Take a look at the light side and the dark side of using Grammarly. The Grammarly extension catches much more than your standard auto spellchecker. It highlights many ore grammar errors than Google Drive, Word or any of the other popular word processing programs. It can even help you with punctuation. Once you've got the extension installed and enabled, you can simply forget about it and do all the writing you want. The extension will ca...

There are certain things that every fan knows about zombies, vampires and werewolves. You probably have some ideas about what elves are supposed to be. Everybody knows what a hobbit should look like. And if you imagine a dragon, it's probably going to breathe fire at some point. There are certain creatures and creations that have their own lore and mythology. But here's the thing: some writer made all that junk up. So if you're going to include a mythical creature or human-like thing in one of your books...who says you can't re-write all the rules? Sparkly Vampires There are certain accepted "facts" about mythical creatures and beings. For instance, everyone knows that sunlight kills vampires. But here's the deal: vampires are made up! Vampires were the invention of a writer. Doesn't that mean that new generations of writers can re-write those rules? After all, it has been done before. In the uber-popular "Twilight" series of...

"Kill your darlings" is common advice that people who don't write give to writers. What does this expression mean...and should you be following it? There's a lot of different advice out there for writers. Apparently, just about everybody knows how you should be writing your novels. "Kill your darlings" is one extremely common expression that's told to writers all the time. Basically, it means that you should kill off your favorite characters. Killing Characters The philosophy behind it is that the plot will make a bigger impact on readers when you kill off your favorites, because your favorite characters will be the audience's favorites, too.  It's true that the death of a character should create a visceral reaction in readers. You want them to feel it. You even want them to cry...at least a little. But when it comes to writing, nothing is ever as easy as a cute little motto or a pat piece of advice. Killing Them Softly Becau...