Tonight is the night! Carleen Brice’s lauded debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey, was purchased by Lifetime Movie Network and has been transformed into a made-for-TV movie for the network called Sins of the Mother. [Read our interview with Carleen here.] Check out the trailer here, and be sure to tune in to the Lifetime [...]

One of the many approaches I’m trying in order to build an audience for my novel, The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles, is doing the whole novel as free podcasts, one per chapter, 26 in all. Here’s how I I’m going about it, and the tools I use. The first podcast in the series is at the [...]

This is my first post from Paris, where I’m lucky enough to be resident in the marvelous Cite Internationale des Arts, in the 4th arrondissement, a stone’s throw from the Seine, a short walk to Notre Dame. Even in the winter, Paris is an amazing, magical place for a writer (or frankly, anyone!) to be, [...]

Before I landed an agent and publishing deal, I read something on a well-regarded writerly website about similes. I think the advice went something like this: You shouldn’t have more than two similes in your entire story because they can be distracting. I did a quick check of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and [...]

Happy 2010! How are those New Year’s resolutions going?
Yeah, me too. I’m stuffing myself with caramel apple pie right now. I’ll go back to my newly resolved healthy eating plan tomorrow *crosses fingers*.
Mostly I think New Year’s resolutions are exercises in futility. But I make them anyway. For one week [...]

This month, as we are getting close to Christmas, I’d like to offer something a little different: a Christmas fable for readers of Writer Unboxed. And the very best of season’s greetings to everyone!
There was once a boy who was captured by robbers. Now these robbers were the most feared in the whole country. They [...]

(Yes, now you can have that Billy Ocean song in your head all day too.)
So the good news is that since I last blogged here on Writer Unboxed, I’ve started my next novel. Hurrah! The even better news is that this book – unlike my last – is flowing out of me at unprecedented paces. [...]

A food-inspired post in honor of the holiday…
So you work on a novel for, oh, let’s say six years, and you’re tired in a million ways. You’re wondering, Why would I ever, ever do this to myself again–besides the fact that you have to do it again, because you have a two-book contract. (You’re sure [...]

I’ve been re-reading recently one of my favourite fantasy novels, A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay, and it got me thinking about something that’s very important in good, satisfying fantasy novels like that one, but that’s often taken for granted. And that’s setting and atmosphere. Setting and atmosphere are always (at least to [...]

Our guest post today is by YA author Isabelle Merlin. For her line of romantic thrillers for teen girls, Merlin has used a variety of online interactive media such as websites, YouTubes, music downloads to engage her readers and make them a part of the story. Merlin agreed to guest post with WU to share [...]

I blogged last month about myths, legends and fairy tales: the wisdom they contain and how they can be a wellspring for all kinds of storytelling. This month I’ll talk about building my new novel, Heart’s Blood, from the structural framework of my favourite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast.
First up, I had no intention [...]

What is your favorite novel? By someone else, I mean. How many times have you reread it? Don’t you wish you could write a novel with that kind of magical appeal?
Why don’t you?
I’m serious.
Many manuscripts submitted to my agency are accompanied by covering e-mails that cite the influence of various great [...]