THE EDITOR DEVIL

From Corporate Editor to Indie-published Historical Women's Fiction Author

2013-04-18T12:40:00.002-07:00

UPDATE: Lisa is giving away her book to one lucky winner who leaves a comment...winners chosen randomly of course, but be sure to leave your email address :) Today we have a guest interview with award-winning author, Lisa Costantino, who's recently published her debut women's historical fiction book, Maiden's Veil. As an editor and an author, Lisa faced the challenge of striving for

Top 10 Marketing No’s-No’s for Authors

2013-04-15T13:41:00.002-07:00

Today's guest post comes from the formidable marketing team of C. Morgan Kennedy and Therese Patrick, who offer great tips and tricks on building your brand and book promotion at http://www.authormarketing101.com/. When they taught at the Emerald City Writers Conference last year, they offered a truly effective workshop on building a author marketing plan, from web site to attending cons to

More Lessons from Indie Publishing

2013-02-05T15:37:00.001-08:00

Since this is my birthday week (Wed, FEB 6 is my bday), I decided to share what I've learned in the last year since publishing four books as an indie author. 1) Getting READY to be published definitely took a village. I couldn't be where I am without my husband, who's supporting us financially, and my critique group partners, who helped whip my books into shape and whipped me when I got out of

Find Joy & Balance for Christmas

2012-12-25T00:22:00.001-08:00

Today we have a special guest for Christmas Day... my friend and writing critique partner, Kim Hornsby, who is one of the most effervescent, fun, creative, determined and inspiring people I know. She's been an art teacher in elementary schools, a singer who opened for famous muscians, an actress, a dive instructor, and a loyal and true friend to me for several years! Kim's also a working mom

Welcome to a Birthday Bash!

2012-12-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, Amber Kallyn, and thanks for making us apart of your giveaway extravaganza and this great chain of authors (see list below). Take it away, Amber... Welcome to Amber Kallyn’s Birthday Bash. We’ve got some great giveaways for you to win! I love the holidays, but not necessarily having my birthday fall smack dab in the middle of them, LOL. But this year, I’d like to do

Combining Dreams & Research to Write Historical Fiction

2012-12-01T21:07:00.000-08:00

Please welcome Anna Brentwood, who is sharing with us her the path toward her dream-inspired 1920's historical novel with lots of gangsters, action and details of a long-lost era. Take it away, Anna.... MAKING HER DREAMS A REALITY ‘The Songbird with Sapphire Eyes’ came to me in a sequence of three very detailed and realistic dreams, so in a sense, I didn’t choose the story or the time period

Writing Historical vs. Contemporary Fiction

2012-11-04T12:12:00.002-08:00

Today we're honored to host award-winning author of contemporary western fiction, Paty Jager, who'll be sharing insights on writing historical vs. contemporary fiction. Please comment on Paty's post for a chance to win a prize and to show your thanks. Take it away, Paty.... Thank you for having me here today, Christine. Giveaway This is the first day of a two week blog tour. I love to

Creating Sexy Alpha Heroes in/out of Uniform

2012-10-01T13:25:00.001-07:00

Today I'm discussing how to create a SEXY ALPHA HERO in uniform at http://sharonhamiltonauthor.blogspot.com/2012/10/christine-fairchild-sexyu-hero-out-of.html. Or, in the case of my Romantic Suspense character, Sam, a sexy hero OUT of uniform. So visit author Sharon Hamilton's blog and leave a comment for a chance to win An Eye For Danger and my Editor Devil Guides. She's the author of military

Self-Publishing, a Work in Progress

2012-09-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

Please welcome our guest blogger, Claudia Alexander, Ph.D., who studies the planets and flies spacecraft by day at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. By night she re-imagines the universe. She has served as a project leader on historic space missions to Jupiter (Galileo), Saturn (Cassini), and comets (Rosetta). She has written a number of steampunk short stories and a full-length elf-punk novel.

Writing for Different Persuasions

2012-09-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

Today's guest blog, which offers fabulous tips and tricks on writing menages, both from the sexual and romance perspective, comes from author D. Renee Bagby (http://dreneebagby.com), who also writes under the name Zenobia Renquist (http://zenobiarenquist.com). Her book, Eris (Eternal Truths Series, book 1) is available in print and ebook on Amazon, Bookstrand and Barnes & Noble. Please show your

Learn to Separate Your Inner Author from Editor & Win $25 Amazon Gift Card!

2012-08-25T22:20:00.001-07:00

Come learn how to separate your inner Author Angel from your inner Editor Devil in my guest blog/interview at Romance Author Hotspot . Feeling lucky? Leave a comment on their site (http://wp.me/p15z8j-v9) and you could WIN A $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD plus free books (my Editor Devil Guides & my new Romantic Suspense). The giveway ends Monday night, so hurry!!! Better yet, ALL READERS ARE

Lessons from Self Publishing My Novel

2012-07-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

If you wonder why I've been so inactive with blogging lately, then that makes two of us. I knew WRITING a book was intense. I knew CRITIQUING, EDITING and PROOFING a book was intense. But running that final leg of the race right to publish your debut novel, well... that part was new to me. Let's just say I'm glad to come up for air. My husband is also glad I'm cooking dinners again. So, you

Writing Through Crisis

2012-06-30T15:40:00.003-07:00

Today's GUEST BLOG comes from Susan Winters, who works, writes and dances salsa in Reno, Nevada. She gives great coaching and writing advice, so feel free to ask questions here or visit her blog. Susan's novella, Mixed Blessings is now available from Amazon. For more musings and interviews check out her blog http://createontheside.wordpress.com/ ********************** A crisis often

3 Rules of Scene Building

2012-05-16T11:09:00.001-07:00

[Excerpted from my Sensational Scenes class at www.SavvyAuthors.com ] Nobody likes to be bound by rules. As The Editor Devil, I especially hate rules. But the rules of scene building help you better meet the goals of storytelling. Here are a few that will keep you moving the story forward not backward, show not tell, and entertain not bore your reader. Rule #1: Each scene in your manuscript

ENCORE POST: Create Characterization through Dialogue

2012-05-08T14:29:00.002-07:00

[Here is an encore post, based on an excerpt from my Editor Devil's Guide to Dialogue book...] Characterization is the painting of a character in a story through narrative, dialogue and action. Done well, the character will come to life on the page as if they are a real person.Done poorly, and the author has succeeded in creating cardboard. And the reader will never forget it.As Noah Lukeman

Delineate Characters through Dialogue

2012-04-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from "The Editor Devil's Guide to Dialogue"... How a character speaks tells us who they are. Hence, no two characters should sound alike in your story. Dialogue is the writer’s chance to give the character a unique voice, so it’s imperative that the characters speak uniquely. This means the tone of the words (think the temperament of the character—angry people would sound crisp while

Let Characters Charm Your Readers

2012-04-10T15:47:00.003-07:00

One trick to making your characters pop off the page is to charm the reader. This doesn't mean your male hero speaks like a stereotypical Romeo. Or your heroine acts like a helpless dame looking for her prince in shining armor. Charming the reader is more down to earth, more home-grown than this. Most of us love complicated heroes/heroines who've had a dark past, or at least been through a

NEW Character Developement Book Now On Amazon

2012-04-05T13:42:00.001-07:00

Please bear with me as I squirm and giggle. I'm so excited to announce that my new book "The EditorDevil's Guide to CHARACTERS" (http://amzn.com/B007PTQKXA) is finally up and available on Amazon for Kindle. This book is geared toward fiction writers who want to create fascinating characters—characters readers want to take home for dinner. Whether you want to create the next James Bond or

Use Foreshadowing in Dialogue to Establish Believability

2012-04-03T15:25:00.005-07:00

Here's an excerpt from my recent book, "The Editor Devil's Guide to DIALOGUE": Foreshadowing is a great tool in dialogue to establish believability. The reader sometimes needs help to swallow whatever truth is coming. By dosing information in small amounts along the way, such as through foreshadowing dialogue, the reader can “work up to” the truth. For example: An old lady who kills her

My Dialogue Book Now on Kindle!

2012-03-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I published "The Editor Devil's Guide to Dialogue: top tips and tricks for fiction writers" as an eBook on Kindle. This is a compilation of the dialogue class I taught online, so all my top advice is packed into this eBook. "Likes" and "tags" on the book's Amazon page are appreciated! Just click the Like button next to the book title, or scroll down and select the tags that best fit

My First Book On Kindle

2012-02-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce I published my first book to Kindle. No, it was not my romantic suspense but my book honoring my working dog, Bo, who died of cancer over Christmas (see "Bo Doesn't Know" http://www.amazon.com/Bo-Doesnt-Know-ebook/dp/B007A53PKK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329712144&sr=8-1). This book was a total work of love, a photo story about his time living with cancer and the silly

2012-02-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well, if you've wondered why I've been so silent, I can answer you in one word: PUPPY. *One of us (obviously not you!) forgot that puppies are like babies for the first few weeks--up every 3 hours and ready to be entertained and fed. Needless to say, sleep deprivation has taken its toll. I'm doing dumb things like putting my keys in the silverware drawer. Hey, they're shiny and silver, right?

Vote for My Book Cover

2012-01-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

I am putting my book covers to a vote. Here are two potential book covers for my romantic suspense. NOTE: these are mockups, so the images have not been purchased yet and therefore have watermarks and quality issues. And I'll change out the guy image, so the gun is more evident. But the color/layout will be the same. Also, this is going to be a series, so the other book titles are "A Taste for

Hope is A Puppy

2012-01-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

Our first week without Bo was not easy. My eyes are tired. I've cried every day since his diagnosis, every night since his death. And my home feels empty, alone. Like love is missing. Because it is. A third of my family is gone. Keeping myself busy isn't enough to fast-forward the grieving process. I've been finishing the book on Bo, working on photographs, prepping to teach my dialogue class

Dogs Dont' Cry

2011-12-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

I've been very absent from blogging, mostly due to deadlines, vacation, and now my working dog, Bo, who was diagnosed with cancer. Please follow his story at EveryoneLovesBo.blogspot.com. We are raising money to pay for his surgeries, so I'll be posting items for sale here and on his blog site, and I'll be publishing stories on Kindle about lives he's touched. Here's the first entry on his blog