by: Staci Stallings If you took high school Chemistry, you may recall how in lab you were given assignments in which you took various chemicals, mixed them a certain way, and their bonding created a different substance. Theoretically you could take 2 hydrogen atoms and mix them with 1 oxygen atom, and the result would […]
Characters We Love to Hate… and #Giveaway
That guy. The one who’s been doing his own thing for the first five books in the series. Not exactly exemplary behavior, you know? He’s the brother of two previous heroes, but he’s not precisely hero material himself. That guy. What would it take to redeem him? To turn him into a character readers will […]
Writing Americanese with a British Brain
I’d just finished creating a book trailer for my upcoming release, Accept Me, uploaded it to YouTube, shared it on social media and my street team, and sat back proud of my accomplishment. A few hours later, I got a message from one of my team to let me know she was confused by one […]
The Challenging Art of Weaving a Story
by: Staci Stallings Every book is a challenge. Some are more challenging than others, and some are challenging in different ways than others. For example, when I wrote a book about a dancer, I had to do lots of research about dance. I had to learn terms and how to put specific movements into words […]
The Eyes Have It # Giveaway
When I try to imagine a handsome man, I come up with dark hair and green eyes every time. Like my husband and almost every other man I’ve thought was attractive. Blue eyes will do in a pinch, but only with brunette hair. I love the combo of inky brows and light eyes. I also […]
How Not to Write a Novel
I was lucky to grow up as the daughter of a writer. In high school, I attended writing conferences with Mom, and she helped me sell my first article to a national magazine at the age of sixteen. I studied journalism in college and read all kinds of how-to books. Because of Mom’s influence, I […]
Dressing Characters
by: Staci Stallings When readers think about the joy an author must feel when creating characters —the sheer exhilaration that here is a person under your complete control, that you can mold and form and make them do whatever you want (HAHA right!), I’m quite sure very few of them ever think about the issue […]
Plotting & Pantsing Explained + giveaway
Spend any time on social media with your favorite authors these days, and you’ll come across a number of terms the average reader doesn’t understand. Like any field, there’s a bit of lingo involved that can confuse a person on the outside looking in. Always a reader first, I enjoy sharing some of that insider […]
Christmas and Families
It’s the last Saturday before Christmas. Please take time to enjoy these few days before Christmas with your family and loved ones and friends. I do love Christmas. My husband and I have a tradition of shopping in a small mountain town, Blue Ridge, Georgia, the first or second Saturday in December. We find […]
Putting Christmas in a Book # Giveaway
Hey y’all. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m all about Christmas. But what happens when your editor asks if you can move your story from Spring to Christmas when you’re doing her editorial revisions in Sept? You do it. But I’ll be honest, it was hard to get in the Christmas mood when […]