There is a saying that goes, “Write what you know.” As much as that’s helpful, that would be a very short-lived career. I am an army wife, the ex-wife of a drug addict, a cook, a mother, a special needs mother, and…that’s what I know. All of my characters who are anything but those things, […]
Retelling the (Fairy) Tale
Ah, fairy tales. Like so much classic literature, fairy tales form the basis for many contemporary stories. In recent years, retellings have even become so popular they’ve become their own subgenre in fiction. And it makes sense. The originals are clean and usually end happily. Good triumphs over evil. The impossible becomes possible. Romance. Magic. […]
Strong Heroes in Romances
I am an Army brat. My dad was an Army Airborne Ranger my entire life. He retired when my daughter was 2. I grew up on military bases, surrounded by mostly infantry men. My husband is currently in the National Guard and was with the 101st Airborne in the first Gulf War, and with the […]
I Forgot I Fell in Love with You
Here’s a romance trope you don’t read every day: amnesia. Or maybe we’ve read it a hundred times, and just don’t remember! Okay, bad joke. In the amnesia trope, the couple has already met, fallen in love, and sometimes even married before the story starts. But then something happens, and one or the other of […]
Food in Romantic Fiction
Ah, food. One of my favorite subjects. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll get a taste for just how much I love food in all its forms. Cooking, baking, eating, sharing, and even reading about it. It’s our fuel for life. We fuel our bodies, our spirits, and our relationships over food. Today, I’d […]
Why Christmas in July? by Deb Kastner
As I settle in to write the first story in my next six book contract for Harlequin Love Inspired (Yay, I was officially offered six books for the tentatively titled series A New Leash on Love!) I groan at the hundred degree heat and sigh. We have two fans running turbo on us but it’s […]
New Chapter and a Giveaway by Deb Kastner
With Her Forgotten Cowboy, my September release from Harlequin Love Inspired, I’ll be saying goodbye to a fictional Texas town, Serendipity, which I’ve inhabited through three miniseries and a novella for a total of 17 books. Naturally, I’m feeling bittersweet. I know this town and its people intimately, especially the boisterous old redhead Jo Spencer, […]
Convenient… or Not So Much?
You know what’s a tricky trope to write? Marriage of convenience in a contemporary setting! I mean, what makes two otherwise rational and engaging characters decide to get married in this day and age without love? Historical settings are rife with good reasons to do this. Women needed protection back then, whether from rogue men […]
Tropes are not Trite, They’re a Fact of Life
The word trope has also come to be used for describing commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés in creative works. -Wikipedia When I first learned about tropes, I thought they were something to avoid at all cost. Then I noticed many titles in genres that I write for mention tropes. I […]
Grieving – and Moving On – in Romance & #Giveaway
We all know grieving is a part of life. It’s not a fun part, but it happens to all of us. In fact, the only way to avoid grieving is to never love anyone or anything. My next release is about two people who know plenty about loss. The heroine has been widowed for 14 […]