Tag Archives | The Liar Society

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE! Rewards offered.

By on February 6, 2012 in social media

Heather Kelly WANTS you!

Enter a fun contest creating Wanted posters for your favorite books! Post them to your blog. Then link to the bloghop on Heather’s blog!

I believe there will be rewards.

Wanted: Futuristic sci-fi story about a teen girl with a secret power: the ability to mind jack or control minds. Dangerous. Proceed with caution.


Wanted: A fun, charming YA about a girl with a disastrous prom night and how she lived to tell the tale.


Wanted: A hilarious but moving YA mystery starring a spunky sleuth who lost her best friend and is out to find out why!


Wanted: YA short stories and excerpts filled with swoon-worthy male leads from Indelible Indie books.

Head on over to Heather’s and help promote your favorite books!

Comments { 29 }

And the winners are…. (And some thoughts on blogging.)

By on January 13, 2012 in social media

Wow! What a week. I had a ton of fun working my way through the blog hop and getting to know my fellow Indelible authors a little better.

Welcome to all the new followers on the blog, twitter, and through readers! And a big thank you to everyone who posted on their blogs and tweeted and supported us.

And now onto the winners!

The winner of THE LIAR SOCIETY is Denise Z.!

The winner of an Indelibles author’s ebook is Susan @ the Book Bag!

And if you haven’t checked the Indelibles blog, Chris Fenimore won the Kindle Fire. Yay!

And now let’s talk about blog reading trends. And you.

What makes you click through?

Are there certain hot topics that seem to take up most of your blog reading time?

I definitely read the blogs in my feed even if I don’t comment on them. But when I’m scanning Twitter, I go through phases.

At one point, I was reading all about query letters. Trust me, I don’t need to read another one as long as I live. There cannot be new info on those things that I don’t already know. (Now knowing and applying are completely different things.)

I’ve been through the story structure phase; and, of course, the result of all I learned and how I learned to apply it to my writing came out on the blog in the form of Plot Busters.

Last spring and summer, I was reading all about the pros and cons of traditional publishing and self-publishing and agents becoming publishers. I was fascinated! And that all came out on the blog this past summer.

So much is changing.

So much has changed.

But in a lot of ways, some aspects of writing have stayed the same.

Most recently, I’ve been reading about formatting, coding, and HTML. Oh and throw in marketing and promoting for good measure.

What about you? What have you been reading and does it influence what you blog about?

Comments { 24 }

Writing past our weaknesses and why we should do it.

By on March 23, 2011 in Writing

In my break down of the first chapter of FIRELIGHT, I talked about stretching the moment. And I realized two things: how powerful this can be and it has always been one of my weaknesses as a writer. Yep. I admit it.

As I write and as I go to “stretch a moment” doubt plagues me.

Will readers care enough about my character or should I go on to the next beat?
These details seem kind of trivial and I’m not supposed to have fluff in my work.
Don’t readers skim paragraphs like this?
I don’t want to lose the attention of a reader on the first page, I’d better move on.

That way of thinking is all wrong. And it comes down to lack of confidence, which is like poison in writing and spreads quickly through out the pages. The importance of a beat determines how many words you spend on it.

Why should a writer learn to “stretch a moment”?

  • Instead of killing suspense, it actually creates more.
  • Instead of boring a reader, it draws them into the character so they make a stronger connection.
  • It allows time to bring in sensory details and internal conflict.
  • It signals to the reader that this scene is important and they’ll want to read more.

A great example is the first chapter of THE LIAR SOCIETY by the Roecker sisters.

They open with a tremendous hook: Her email didn’t move or disappear or do any of the creepy things I’d expect an email from a ghost to do.

And then Lila milked this moment to absolute perfection. Their whole first chapter is filled with Kate’s reaction to this email, her physical responses and internal conflict. Kate pulls out the memory box and goes through mementos. She remembers. She laughs. She cries.

After this first chapter I felt connected. I cared. And I was 100% behind Kate when she decides to solve Grace’s supposed accidental death. Without this tender moment being stretched over the entire first chapter, I would not have cared as much. I now had a stake in Grace’s life and death.

What does this mean for me?

I’ll make a pass on my current wip just to stretch out the moments that are emotionally important. I’ll look at major plot points and also the turning point of each scene.

If I can face my giants – you can too!

What are your weaknesses? How do you write past them?

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