In my last post, I compared literary and commercial fiction and detailed their differences, giving examples of novels that fall into either category. This week, I will focus on commercial fiction and the categories or content genres of books that fall under this category….

Knowing the difference between literary and commercial fiction is important for an author, whether they are planning to be traditionally published or self-published. An author needs to know how to describe their book to literary agents and publishers and how to market it to readers.

Yesterday, I realized what genre is and why it’s important to understand genre as a writer. Well, perhaps not quite, but close. It wasn’t until recently that I investigated the meaning of the word genre and its significance, and it has radically changed the way I approach literature both as a writer and a reader….

This week, we will look at the obligatory scenes of a horror story, once again using Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie, Psycho, as our example for these scenes….

It’s Halloween again, and in the spirit of the season, we will look at the spookiest of all literary genres: Horror….

Even when I try not to incorporate real-life elements or stories in my fiction, I've found that it ends up happening anyway. The reason for this is simple: as writers, we naturally draw upon our personal experiences and emotions in creating characters and plots. How could we not? That’s where a great amount of inspiration comes from….

I had the opportunity to attend two virtual (online) conferences this summer. They were the first writer’s conferences I had ever attended, and despite not being around other writers in person, I found them exciting and informative….

When I was about eight years old, I wrote poetry whenever I felt sad, afraid, or unloved, which was most of the time. I still have those poems saved in a scrapbook. However, the first real short stories (which evolved into novella and novel lengths quickly) that I wrote were fanfiction. That’s how I cut my teeth in writing, and I wrote almost exclusively fanfiction from the time I was twelve or fourteen years old until I was about forty-one years old. The subject matter flipped from science fiction to modern medical drama, but my obsession for writing it remained as intense….

As a writer who is serious about her craft and has written several full manuscripts and short stories, I’ve found myself faced with having to do a fair amount of research for the stories I’ve created. Researching the topics you write about is essential. A writer can look foolish if they write about something they are completely ignorant about and get their facts and details wrong. This is especially true if you write science fiction, crime fiction, or historical fiction. Readers are knowledgeable and savvy and don’t always forgive an author for being too lazy to research their subject matter. So, it’s best to do your research…