Why Kit and Susan Have Terrible ParentsBoth Susan and Kit have self-absorbed, ineffectual mothers and deadbeat dads. This isn't because I've based it on my own family (my parents are pretty great) but for the same reason that Disney princesses so oft...

Loving Mysteries, Hating CliffhangersAny story is made more interesting by what you leave out, but leaving too much out is a cheapshot. Finding the right balance can be tricky. On one end of the spectrum, you have a 4000 word prologue where someone t...

I'm Thankful for Libraries TooI'm thankful that Bob the Builder isn't based on real life, because sentient construction machinery with the emotional range of toddlers would be terrifying. I'm thankful I didn't have a lot of money when I was a teenage...

Welcome to the Bunker(We got fun and games)There's a beach in Delaware that has, among its other historical artifacts from WW2, the remnants of old army bunkers. I visited recently and was reminded that it was the inspiration for one of the settings...

Sometimes I'm not in the mood for tortureI love Halloween and enjoy the decorations people put up around their houses, but my tastes run more toward the autumn leaves and pumpkins than to grisly corpses. Horror seemed much easier to handle when I was...

Characters Who ChangeI just finished listening to the Dryad's Blade Audiobook and I'd forgotten how attractive Fain was in that book. In Dryad's Blade, Fain's role is as a budding romantic interest. Later on in the series, his role and his relationsh...

Amateur Sleuths Avoiding CopsThe problem with murder and kidnapping is that the law always wants to get involved. To be fair, this isn't a problem in real life, only for novelists who want to have our amateur sleuths figure things out.A common soluti...

Cross Genre FunCrafting a story is all about what you focus on.For example, let's say you want to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood. For a suspense thriller, you start with the little girl walking through the woods, just a glimmer of tension,...

A Block of MarbleI've been struggling with writer's block lately. It's always alarming when you're a writer who can't write. Not that I'm not writing, of course, I write tons of stuff every day, but when I sit down to figure out where the current nov...

Audiobook Released!The audiobook version of Witch's Jewel is approved by ACX, and is available! The narrator has already started book two, which should be out later this autumn.Witch's JewelNow in audiobook!I'm still figuring out how to market this a...