Not If, But When: Persistence is Key in the Writing Game

About six years ago I became serious about pursuing my dream of a writing career. I’d written a book with my sister years earlier and had coasted on that accomplishment for the next ten years—calling myself a writer, but doing very little writing. And then I saw an ad in Writer’s Digest for Thrillerfest. I…

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Guest Post on Jungle Red Writers – How Do Two Sisters Write Together?

As co-authors, we’re often asked the “how” of writing together. People are curious about our process. Fortunately, both of us are solidly in the middle of the pantser/plotter road. We begin by talking about the central idea of our book then narrow that down into a solid premise. Before we type the first word, we…

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Writing a Three-Dimensional Villain

While cooking up the storyline for The Last Mrs. Parrish, some of the most fun we had was bringing Amber Patterson, our antagonist, to life. Actors often talk about how exciting it is to play the villain — it’s also exciting to create a villain for the page. ♥ Only a few paragraphs in, it’s…

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