E.G. Stone's Blog

Determining Point of View for your story can be incredibly challenging. It depends on several factors and can change the path a story takes in ways that you can’t predict.

Are you writing a romance? A fantasy? Epic fantasy? Cozy fantasy? Do you want one character to be the main POV, or are you planning on multiple POV characters? The answer to any of these can be dependent on the answer to the rest, and one musn’t forget the expectations that readers will have for your book based on these questions.

The fact of the matter is that the character’s perspective is the heart and soul of a story. Who they are and how they see the world will cause them to interact with events in ways that are entirely different than other characters, which will in turn lead to a story that is uniquely theirs. That is beautiful, but it can also be daunting.

If you don’t know your character well enough to know how they will react to the various things thrown at them (literally or figuratively), then the story will stutter and finally fizzle out. Neither does the book need to focus on every aspect of a character’s backstory in order to portray how they see the world. That can be overwhelming and is often unnecessary.

And don’t even get me started on Third person versus first person perspective!

– Advice from the Editor, from the desk of Evelyn Grimald Stone, editor and author.

The post Point of View and Story first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

Being someone who is fond of both romance and fantasy, you should be unsurprised to learn that I’ve read a lot of romantasy. I’m pretty familiar with the tropes and I generally know where a story is going and what the characters are going to be like. This doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of it at all, but it does mean that I am rarely enthralled by a romantasy book these days. Or so I thought.

Illusion of Stars by Sarah Marie Page follows Isabel, a healer’s apprentice in the palace of the Sanokes island, where she spends her days tending to the queen’s feet and dealing with the mad king. When her friend is found murdered on the beach, though, everything changes. She is sent to be a guide to the Volgaard warriors who landed on their island in the hopes of determining the best spot to launch an invasion of a neighbouring country. Isabel is tasked with wooing the leader, Erik, son of their general and the man who might be responsible for her friend’s death. But the more time she spends with him, the less certain she is of anything. With her country’s independence at stake, Isabel must determine where her loyalties lie, and what, exactly, is the truth about her friend’s death.

This book blew me away, to be honest. From the start, the world that was woven was rich and deep, the characters doing everything but literally jumping off the page. The prose was descriptive and poetic, but it didn’t bog down the story the way some overly poetic pieces can. I could not stop thinking about this book and basically devoured it as quickly as real life would allow. An excellent book and I now am eagerly awaiting the next one!

The post Book Review: Illusion of Stars by Sarah Marie Page | Indie Ink Awards 2024 first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

This book was an intriguing adventure that took familiar tropes and twisted them on their heads. Enjoyable, certainly, though it did need another edit to sort out some of the minor plot holes and proofreading errors. Still, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in epic fantasy with a touch of romance.

This book follows Sol, who has lived hidden away in a coastal village her whole life. Until four Wielders come calling and tell her that she’s their lost princess and she needs to take the throne. Now Sol is thrust into a world of politics and scheming, where the terrifying Jinn that haunt their lands may not be as dangerous as the people in the palace. To get her kingdom back, Sol puts herself in the middle of a deadly competition. Only, she may be forced to fight against the one person who can help her save everyone.

I really enjoyed the world of this book. I think it was cleverly done and explained in such a way that was not at all overwhelming, but very integral to the story. It fit in well with the plot so that there were never any real questions about things. Well, except for those things the author wanted readers to question. 

The plot was cleverly done, taking familiar tropes like the “lost princess” and twisting them on their head just enough that they felt new and intriguing. And I think Sol was the perfect character for these situations. She’s tough, but not in the way that everyone expects her to be. She is kind and caring and has a heart too big for the world she now inhabits. Her Court, too, were fascinating characters with their own needs and wants and schemes to try and make everything better for everyone. 

I will say that there were a few plot holes. At least, they appeared as plot holes because they were brought up in this book and then never addressed; I am assuming that they will be addressed in the next book. I know that there is often a bit of overlap that has to happen with books in a series, so that not everything is dealt with in book one. However, for me, these particular holes were a bit…frustrating. Probably because they were brought up, made to seem significant, and then left by the wayside while other things happened, as if they hadn’t happened at all.

That and the unfortunately frequent spelling, grammar, or other proofreading mistakes, did reduce some of my enjoyment of this book. Not a huge amount—I still had a hard time putting it down—but I did notice them.

Overall, I would say that Of Stars and Lightning was quite good.

The post Book Review: Of Stars and Lightning by Melanie Mar | Indie Ink Awards 2024 first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

I read this book as a judge for the 2024 Indie Ink Awards.

I think part of the reason why I love cozy fantasy so much is that it epitomises everything I adore about living a quiet life. A nice, pleasant experience running a bookshop or cafe or bar or similar, friends who drop by for a chat or help with said bookshop, cafe, etc. At least one furry friend. Food and drinks. Low stakes with the occasional moment of drama mixed in. It’s everything I have decided I want in life, only with magic thrown in (actually I want that, too, but so far have been unsuccessful). So S.L. Rowland’s Cursed Cocktails was an absolutely delightful read for me.

This book follows Rhoren, an umbral elf and blood mage who is retiring from hunting highly dangerous creatures in the frozen north before his body gives out on him. After years of work, the toll of blood magic has left him with enough aches and pains to have him seeking out warmer climes. He settles in the port town of Eastborne, where he meets Kallum, a bartender at the Seaside Inn. Their shared love of cocktails brings them together and they start a bar in a building that might very well be cursed. But Rhoren has faced down behemoths. Surely a cursed building is nothing compared to that?

This book is a fairly standard cozy fantasy, which means I enjoyed it a lot. It reads very similarly to Legends and Lattes, but with different characters and a focus on cocktails rather than coffee and pastries. I think the plot of this story was just dramatic enough for readers to be engaged all the way through. The cozy elements definitely ruled, but there was drama, too. Of course, things ended well, but in a way that had me interested and excited at the same time. 

I am not really an alcohol person. I know enough to get by when people describe things, but I have no knowledge of what things actually taste like and any description of wines and ales is likely to go right over my head. It was a bit of a surprise to me, then, when I discovered I actually enjoyed all the descriptions of cocktails in this book and how they fit into the story and situation. I really like how they brought people together, not just Rhoren and Kallum, and helped shape the plot in subtle ways.

I also liked the chronic pain representation. It was present enough for people to grasp its effect on Rhoren and his life, but it wasn’t shoved in readers faces. As someone with chronic pain myself, I really appreciated the representation and how Rhoren still went about his life while acknowledging the pain and not giving in to it. 

Overall, I would say that Cursed Cocktails was a charming read with interesting characters, a fascinating selection of cocktails, and a story that was the perfect amount of dramatic while still leaving a reader with the warm fuzzies. Delightful.

The post Book Review: Cursed Cocktails by S.L. Rowland – Indie Ink Awards 2024 first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

I read this book as a judge for the 2024 Indie Ink Awards

I read a lot of fantasy (unsurprisingly) and so am familiar with the tropes. I am happy to read the same tropes over and over again, which is good since many popular fantasy novels—especially romantasy novels at this point in time—tend to use the same tropes. But my goodness, is it a delight to read a book that takes a familiar story to an entirely new realm. Beyond the Aching Door by Victoria Meir does exactly this, and I loved it.

This book follows Raegan Maeve Overhill, an investigative journalist in Philadelphia who has been called to investigate the impossible drowning of unhoused peoples. In the midst of her investigations, she discovers an aching familiarity and longing for a world that surely can’t exist: one of magic and wonder, the same one that is responsible for the disappearance of her father years ago. After summoning a kelpie who directs her to a Faerie known as the King, Raegan is pulled into this world of magic, but there’s something about the King that has Raegan questioning everything she ever know.

This book is definitely familiar in the sense that the tropes are commonly seen in modern romantasy. Woman meets Faerie king, they have a tumultuous yet intense relationship, he would do anything for her, etc. etc. Yet this book went above and beyond this familiar trope in absolutely the best way possible. The relationship between Raegan and the King is stunning in its evolution. When she says his name in the bath house (sorry to be vague, but spoilers), I gasped in delight. I love the weaving of folkloric tales and new magic into this story.

The prose is absolutely and without a doubt some of the most poetic I’ve read in the romantasy genre for a very long time. I loved the imagery and the way the world was described. I felt like I was falling into a world instead of merely existing within it and I would happily spend hours and days with this sort of prose creating an aching hole in my mind. That being said, because of the poetic nature of this prose, there were a few mundane things that were never quite explained fully. Nothing of importance, but just little things that would grant the reader a clearer sense of where they are in the world, what, exactly is happening to the characters (as opposed to what is going on in their heads). I would have liked to know more about the Protectorate, about Raegan’s supposed role in it, her job, her relationships, etc. Little things, and none of them were at all essential to the story, but it would have painted a clearer picture to fully explore this world. (This does improve by the end of the book, after certain…events, make things clearer, but not completely.)

I think this book is an absolutely marvellous addition to the fantasy world and I am more than eager to dive into the next book. An excellent read!

The post Indie Ink Awards Book Review: Beyond the Aching Door by Victoria Meir first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

If you’ve been paying attention to the fantasy genre recently, then you’ll be aware of cosy fantasy. It has gained increasing popularity over the last couple of years and everywhere I look, more stories are being released with the cosy description (or cozy, I guess, if you spell with US English). The hallmarks of the genre are low stakes, happy ending, and a feel-good storyline. (There is often a lot of food, but I think that’s related to the feel-good situation.) Cosy fantasy is highly successful, and no surprise.

However, the idea of cosy fiction—where the stakes aren’t high and the story makes you feel good rather than hanging at the edge of your seat, or anxious about what’s going to happen next, or deeply philosophical—has been around for far longer than fans of cosy fantasy would like to admit. It spans many genres and attracts readers of all ages.

The most well-known genre that sports cosy titles is probably romance. While the stories weren’t always labelled as cosy, a great portion of the romance genre has been built on feel-good stories where happily ever after is the entire goal. There are sub-genres of romance that are definitely not cosy (dark romance, romantic suspense, etc.) and a lot of romance novels deal with very heavy issues, but the stakes are usually quite low, the goal is to end everything on a happy note, and the feel-good nature of the stories are what brings readers back to the genre again and again and again. Romantic comedies in particular are known to be cosy, as readers expect very little in the way of anxiety or distress when reading. The books are meant to be fun.

Also popular in the cosy fiction realm are cosy mysteries. This particular sub-genre of mystery fiction has been around for quite a while. I would posit that the genre really began with the early, prolific mystery writers such as Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, and their contemporaries, who had detectives-who-were-not-the-police and whose stories were more on the lighthearted side. The genre evolved to have quite a few old ladies or bakery owners or bookstore owners with cats who solved mysteries, and the point of the stories was to be lighthearted and low stakes. (Well, as low stakes as one can get when dealing with a dead body within the fist chapter or so.) One does not expect to feel the suspense of a thriller from a cosy mystery. One expects to have a good time.

There are, of course, some genres that would not be conducive to cosy fiction. Horror, for one. Thrillers. Political fiction. The nature of some of these genres is to instil feelings in the reader that are quite literally the opposite of cosy, which is perfectly fine. They have their audience and the cosy fiction has theirs. Some people enjoy both, depending on the mood they’re in. 

I don’t think there’s much question as to why cosy fiction, cosy fantasy in particular, has been so popular lately. The world is an increasingly dark place. People deal with unprecedented levels of stress, and reading a book where things are absolutely, without a doubt, going to end well (usually with good food throughout the book), is a great way to destress. Frankly, I’m surprised that it took this long for the fantasy genre to come up with a name for this particular brand of feel-good story. 

I, for one, am quite pleased to have a dedicated sub-genre for lighthearted books to choose from when I need a bit of a pick me up. It makes searching through the options a much easier prospect and I can settle in with my tea and a blanket and read a good book that is going to brighten my day. (Well, I would do that if the weather weren’t trying to scorch my eyebrows off. Summer. Bah!) 

Do you enjoy cosy fiction? What are some of your favourite cosy stories?

The post Word Nerdery: The Rise of Cosy Fiction first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Word Nerdery post, as I’ve been on holiday and am considerably less productive in the summer (boo heat), so I thought I would go through the many, many subgenres of fantasy. If there are any that I’ve missed or miscategorised, do let me know!

Epic: This subgenre involves events that happen on an epic scale, usually affecting the entire world (or the character’s world). Examples include: David Green’s Empire of Ruin series; Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time

High: High fantasy used to be considered epic fantasy, but in recent times the definition has changed. It is primarily considered to be fantasy set in a secondary world, however some people define high fantasy as the relative amount of magic (high) and rules regarding that magic. An example of high fantasy might be Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, or (again) Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

Low: In contrast to high fantasy, low fantasy is usually set in the primary world (our world), or contains a lower relative amount of magic, depending on the definition. The Harry Potter series would be considered low fantasy by some because of it’s primary world setting.

Contemporary: Contemporary and urban fantasy are often confused. Both tend to take place in the real/primary world, but deal with magic in different ways. In contemporary fantasy, magic can be a less common occurrence, or even singular, in a world that is otherwise normal. For example, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab might be considered contemporary fantasy.

Urban: Similar to contemporary fantasy, this genre takes place in the real/primary world. It often deals with a hidden (or not so hidden) magical world of fairies, vampires, shifters, etc. and their interactions with humans. Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files books are urban fantasy.

Gaslamp: An urban-style fantasy that takes place in the equivalent of the Victorian era (though occasionally this extends back to the Regency era). This can take place in the primary/real world or in a secondary world. Examples of gaslamp fantasy include Genevieve Cogman’s The Invisible Library.

Lit/RPG: A subgenre that closely follows the rules of games, most often tabletop RPG games. The characters will level up and explore new aspects of the world as they face challenges. This subgenre has very specific rules about character growth/ability and often mirrors RPG games. An example of Lit/RPG fantasy is The Ashen Levels by CF Welburn.

Progression: This is fantasy where progression of characters is the primary focus. A lot of Lit/RPG books also fall into the realm of progression fantasy. The Harry Potter series can be considered progression fantasy since each book involves the characters learning new skills and becoming more magically advanced. (Though this is only a basic example.)

Dark: Dark and Grimdark are often lumped together, however they are actually quite distinct. Dark fantasy deals with dark elements, be they violence, psychological distress, death of characters, and more. Most of the characters may go on to be happy enough at the end, but there will be several that do not. 

Grimdark: Unlike in dark fantasy, the likelihood of most/some characters reaching a happy enough ending is very low. Grimdark fantasy exists in a world where right and wrong have little meaning, dark elements run rampant throughout the story, and even main characters aren’t safe from a distressing end.

Sword and Sorcery: This subgenre is often analogous to epic and high fantasy. Sword and Sorcery indicates that the primary technology is contiguous with that of swords, and there is a great deal of magic. Lord of the Rings would be considered Sword and Sorcery. It often takes place during medieval times (or equivalent in whatever world).

Cosy: A low-stakes fantasy story where the primary plot follows a character’s goal to do something small that affects only their lives (or a very few number of other people’s lives). Usually there is a discussion of food, friendship, and other things that make people’s lives better. Happy endings are guaranteed. The Adenashire books by J. Penner are cosy fantasy. 

Romantasy: Romantic fantasy, or romantasy, often has similar elements to high/epic/sword and sorcery fantasy, but romance takes a front seat. The fantasy elements are still key, but the romance is almost equal. A purely romantic story with minor fantasy elements is not considered romantasy, but fantasy romance, which technically falls into the romance genre, not the fantasy genre. An example of romantasy would be Carissa Broadbent’s The Serpent and the Wings of Night or just about any Sarah J Maas book.

PNR: Paranormal Romance or PNR is one of those genres that technically straddles the line between fantasy and romance. It is technically an urban fantasy with a magical world that exists within our own, however, romance is the primary plot point of this book and therefore it really falls into the romance category more than the fantasy category.

Historical: A fantasy set in historical times, whether in primary or secondary world. This can include sword and sorcery or medieval, but also extends to any other period of history. Jan Foster’s Naturae series is historical fantasy set in the primary world around the Tudor era.

Science Fantasy: A fantasy book that mixes elements of science fiction with fantasy. The technology may be present in the way of science fiction, however, much of it is also fuelled by magic or there are magical elements that cannot be explained by science. Kelly Blanchard Dale’s The Chronicles of Lorrek series has an entire country where technology is king in the midst of a realm of magic.

Noblebright: A counterpoint to grimdark fantasy, this style of fantasy focuses on the battle between good and evil, with good winning out in the end. It may have dark elements, but there is a guaranteed happy ending and the characters are often very much good people. Again, The Lord of the Rings falls into this category.

Magical Realism: This subgenre is similar to contemporary fantasy in that it combines the mundane, normal aspects of reality with the extraordinary magic of fantasy. The normal aspects of reality are superimposed onto the fantastical, and often there is no explanation for the fantasy elements. An example of magical realism would be Chocolat by Joanne Harris.

The post Word Nerdery: The Many Genres of Fantasy first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

If you’ve written a book or thought about writing a book, chances are you’ve heard the term “write to market”. This is a way of writing books that appeal to readers by writing a variation on what’s currently popular, i.e. “the market,” with an eye to creating your book specifically to market. That is, if you write what’s popular, people will read it and you’ll sell more books.

There is nothing inherently wrong with writing to market. For some authors, this is the way that they become successful. Instead of exploring new ground, delving into a potentially controversial topic or writing a book that may only have a niche audience at the moment, they are appealing to a wider audience. This can, and often does, prove to be a successful endeavour. And for those authors that can craft their books around these popular themes, they can create the books that readers want to see and are more likely to have a lucrative time writing books.

However, just because writing to market has a built-in audience (if you can market successfully, which is an entirely different kettle of fish, but that’s not the point of this article) does not make it the best way to write a book. Sometimes, authors who choose to do something different, unique, new, are the ones who are the more successful. They may not have a ready-made audience, but when they find their readers, those readers are rabid for their work because it fills a void for them.

I have personally found this to be the case with disability representation in fiction, as well as asexual (though not necessarily aromantic) romantic representation in books. Those two categories were perhaps in existence before, but not explicitly so, and often not with those characters taking centre stage. I find that I am almost always going to insta-buy a book with a disabled MC, or a story that has ace representation. (Also, I have an excessive fondness for books with dragons, but that’s a different matter entirely.) These books are still not widely popular, though they are gaining in recognition. That is to say, the market for such things is a lot smaller than a mainstream love story.

The thing is, though, that the market is everchanging. 

People want to see themselves in stories, and the more variety in those stories, the more people see themselves. Such is the case with BIPOC, neurodiverse, disabled, lgbtqa+ readers and authors. Even people who just have a difficult family life would like to see themselves in a story. Everyone has that unique thing that they want to see, and the more authors explore different themes, tropes, storylines, etc., the more likely it is that someone (or a lot of someones) will pick up a book that means something more to them than just a book they enjoyed.

The market also changes because people get bored. Easily.

Take the Marvel movies, for example. When they first came out, people were very interested in these stories. Cool special effects, superheroes, saving the world, a reimagining of some of the most popular comics from the heyday of comics, enough story to be satisfying with enough action to attract those who just like to see things go kerplooie, these movies were an instant hit. Then, they expanded. A new story, same characters. Or new characters adding to the story. It was great, entertaining, and people couldn’t get enough.

Until they’d had enough. 

Disney bought Marvel, then decided to squeeze every last drop of profit out of the franchise that they could. There were spinoffs of characters that no one cared about. The storylines became derivative. The new movies required people to have seen all the previous ones, no matter that the audience only wanted to watch the one movie about the one character. There were television shows exclusive to Disney+ that were somehow essential to the storyline. 

What had been new and exciting and interesting quickly became, “Oh, no, not another one.”

Profits on the Marvel franchise have plummeted. People no longer cared.

The market, in a word, moved on.

It’s the same with books. In the fantasy world, Sarah J. Maas took the market by storm. Suddenly, Fae and magic and mates and desperate, dark love stories were all the rage. People put out books with titles so similar (A Blank of X and Y) that it became a meme. Readers devoured anything even remotely similar to those SJ Maas books and authors of both the indie and traditional variety did exceptionally well by riding on the Maas coattails. 

I have noticed a shift, though, in the fantasy book world. SJ Maas is still very popular, as are Fae and mates and all that, but what else is currently popular? Dragons. Rebecca Yarros wrote Fourth Wing and suddenly the readers wanted books about dragons. Dragon riders. Dragon shifters. Magical dragons. Talking dragons. 

(Incidentally, Fourth Wing also had disability rep, but a book club discussion I attended confirmed that most people were more confused by that than pleased at the representation. Alas.)

Neither of these trends is bad, nor is riding on the coattails of popular authors. Academy magic books soared after Harry Potter. Tolkien still influences epic fantasy. George RR Martin…well, he’s kind of a hit or miss these days, given how many people are annoyed at the fact that his series is still incomplete. What matters, I think, is that people can tell the stories they want to tell. If that means putting them in the context of the current trend, great! If that means forging new trails, then that’s perfectly acceptable, too. 

In the indie world, books and themes and popular tropes move so much faster than the traditional world. Indie authors have more room to explore controversial topics and write about issues that are near-and-dear to their hearts. However, the traditional publishing world tends to drive most of the marketing trends of books because they have a larger read (mostly) than the indie world. Sometimes the indie authors will take the world by storm and be picked up by the traditional publishers, which then shifts the market a bit more. Generally, though, the traditional publishing world is a much slower beast, with authors publishing one, maybe two books a year. 

This means that popular trends as created by the trad world can last a little longer than a few months. They can last years, and that gives other authors a chance to explore that market and create something wonderful. 

For me? Well, I try to write stories that mean something to me. If they have popular elements, that’s perfectly fine. If not, well, I don’t mind much either. I don’t intentionally write to market, but invariably popular elements end up in most stories, simply because I read something and liked it, so wrote a variation on a theme.

Of course, marketing such books becomes slightly more difficult. As if it weren’t difficult enough. Oh, well! I’m stubborn enough to persist, and who knows? Maybe the market will shift and suddenly everything in my books, from disability rep to the fact that I can’t write a sex scene to save my life, will be popular. 

The post Word Nerdery: The Strange Phenomenon of Writing to Market first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

I recently read a fantasy book that was half Alice in Wonderland retelling and half standard “Faerie court/politics/trial by combat” sort of thing. It was a decent book, though the main character’s use of modern style language was so different from everyone else’s that it just threw me off. But the part of the book that had me absolutely refusing to recommend it, to never read the sequel, was the way it ended.

It was a cliffhanger.

Not a proper cliffhanger, but an “I’m going to stop right in the middle of the action to make you read the next book” cliffhanger. 

Now, you might be thinking, “Isn’t that the point of a cliffhanger?”

No. Well, yes. But also no. Because there is, actually, a right and wrong way to do a cliffhanger. And if they’re done right, they are spectacular and absolutely draws readers onwards. And if they’re done wrong, they end up like this particular book. Never to be named again.

As an editor, I’ve seen my share of bad cliffhangers, but I obviously can’t edit every book, so I thought I would share what makes a good cliffhanger, what makes a bad cliffhanger, and why it is that so many authors do it wrong.

A good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end (to simplify things, though of course this is far more complex in reality). Each story is a complete arc. The characters have completed their story, their goal, their development change, whatever. The story is complete. You might think that a cliffhanger doesn’t require a story to be complete, but you would be wrong. A cliffhanger works so well because the current arc is complete, the current challenge is overcome, and then something else happens. A new challenge. A new path that they didn’t expect.

All the work that our characters have put into saving the world or their town or whatever is potentially for naught because of this new development. 

It is the jumping off point of a new story. Same characters, new story. Essentially, you’re starting another book right at the end of the first, just giving the readers a hint of that inciting incident and then ending the book. The readers will want more, because these characters they’ve come to know and love now have a new challenge to face.

However, most authors—such as with the book I read—do not resolve the current story arc. They just stop right in the middle. In this particular story, the MC was in the second battle of the first trial and was seriously injured before the trial could begin (her opponent cheated). Then, the author started the battle and just…stopped. The fatal blow? No idea if it came. The trial (which was one of four or five) wasn’t even near completion because this was only the second battle out of three or four. The author just…stopped. The arc would have been complete if the author had finished the battle and then finished the trial. But right in the middle, despite the dramatic politics happening at the moment? That’s not a complete story. It just feels like the author was too lazy to finish the first book and instead wanted to force readers to buy a second to finish the story.

I see this a lot.

The second type of cliffhanger is so frustrating because there is no emotional payoff for the reader. They get invested in the characters and are waiting with bated breath for the drama to reach its climax and then…nothing. The arc is cut off right in the middle, which means the book is incomplete. There is no completion of goals, no hint of a new story to get invested in, just the annoyance of having to buy a second book to finish the first.

Frankly, it’s lazy writing. 

If an author can’t come up with a new scenario for the next book to continue the series, then there should not be a next book. It is perfectly acceptable to write standalones. Not every book needs a dramatic cliffhanger to pull into a next book. Yes, series tend to be more lucrative than standalones, but the successful ones are stories that are complete arcs within an overarching story arc. Not one singular arc that’s broken up. That is just choppy and you don’t get the development that comes with the various arcs mingling together and working off of one another.

Unfortunately, this type of cliffhanger is so common simply because it is more lucrative for authors to have a series. Standalones are notorious for not bringing in as much money and being harder to convert into repeat sales, that is readers who come back for more of the author’s work. So they take one story idea and break it up. 

I get it from a business standpoint. But from a story standpoint?

I hate it. I will tell people why I hate it. I will never read another book by the author, even if I really liked the first book. It shows a severe lack of understanding of storycraft and writing for an audience. 

I know some people don’t care how their cliffhanger comes, but as an editor and author and reader of many, many books, it really bothers me. 

What do you think of cliffhangers? Do you like good ones? Or do you dislike them all? (Some people do, which is perfectly acceptable.)

The post Word Nerdery: The Dos and Don’ts of Cliffhangers – Why So Many People Hate Cliffhangers first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.

I recently had two blurbs to write, one for an omnibus of my urban fantasy series, and one for an epic fantasy first-in-series. No matter that I have written more than 20 books, have been editing for three years now, and have a MSc in Applied Linguistics, every time I write a blurb I feel like I’m barely able to scrape together a decent sentence.

I’m a good writer, dammit! Writing a 150 word blurb should be child’s play, not an agonising task. Yet I still struggle.

So I thought I would procrastinate and do some research into what actually makes a good blurb. Perhaps in the course of this research, I can discover just what it is that makes a blurb so difficult to write.

In general, blurbs are about 100-150 words and sit on the back cover (or Amazon page) of a book. They are designed to hook a reader, not to summarise what happens in the book. They are generally written in third person, though this is changing with the rise of first person stories and a reader desire to know what narrative POV they’re getting into. (Some people abhor first person or third person or what have you. Me? Second person is an immediate no-go.) 

Okay, great. Sounds straightforward so far, right?

Well, there are a few other elements that are important.

For instance, the blurb has to make it clear what genre the book is. Seems simple, but when writing an epic fantasy with a romantic subplot, which is quite different from a romantic fantasy (or romantasy) with epic style, or grimdark or cosy fantasy or science fantasy or, or, or. Anyways, delivering the precise genre can be quite complicated, which is why so many authors state it outright somewhere in the blurb.

Then, perhaps equally important or more important than genre, the blurb has to introduce the characters. This, I find, is where things get tricky.

It’s not enough to simply say, “Hey, this book is about Maggie Jones and her dog Spud.” One must introduce the characters in a way that is interesting, that manages to hook the readers. That requires an introduction of the primary conflict in the story (or that the character faces within themselves). One must say, “Maggie Jones was an ordinary witch, until she started seeing the ghost of her dead dog, Spud.” 

That simple sentence introduces several key points to the story. One: Maggie Jones is a witch. Thus, fantasy. Two: she’s pretty ordinary, or so she thinks. Three: She had a dog named Spud (probably contemporary/urban fantasy then, likely with cosy elements because it’s unlikely a dark story is going to name a dog Spud). Four: Maggie can suddenly see Spud’s ghost, which means she’s not ordinary at all. It’s the “until” which is important. (Also, a book about Maggie Jones and her ghost dog Spud actually sounds quite fun. If anyone wants to write that, I would love to read it.)

After the introduction of the characters, the main conflict of the story needs to be explored more. Why is seeing Spud’s ghost so problematic? What does Maggie’s evolving magic mean? Is there something Spud is trying to warn her about? And who is that mysterious coffee-shop goer who pretends he can’t see Spud’s ghost, despite Spud barking at him non-stop? 

This part usually includes rising tension, a problem that will be solved over the course of the story. It doesn’t introduce any answers. It may expand more on characters. 

Then the last bit, the final hook as it were, has to pull the reader in. Sometimes this section asks a question: will Maggie and Spud save the town from impending doom? Sometimes it is just stating the start of an adventure, romantic entanglement, what have you. I have found that this part aligns with the “point of no return” in story structure. Our hero is going off on whatever quest/adventure awaits them and they have reached the point where they can’t go back to how things were. The only choice is to go forward, but in what direction?

I have seen a great many books that also add a final sentence that is not within the walls of the story that talks about the book. (I do this a lot, too, just to make sure that readers know what to expect.) For example: Maggie Saves the Town is a fun, quirky adventure about a witch and her ghost dog who discover that the secret to saving their precious home may lie in their own hearts. How cute! (Actually, that’s a bit soppy for my tastes, but it fits with Maggie and Spud, so it works well for providing reader expectations.)

All of these bits and pieces together form a blurb. Hook. Character. Conflict/Tension. Author/Awards/Book Expectations. The order can be variable. 

Great! That’s only a few pieces that should go together quite simply. Right? Right?!

Nope. 

As always, there is an art to writing anything, but it is especially difficult with blurbs because you are trying to reduce a novel down to 150 words. Without spoiling anything. And also you have to draw your reader in, but the right reader. It’s difficult.

This exploration didn’t actually help me write my own blurbs at all. Thankfully, I have found that editing other people’s blurbs is a lot easier, perhaps because I don’t have quite the emotional stake in the piece and can identify the things that are working for me as a reader. So I just need to get some distance from my blurbs and see what my editing skills can do.

In the mean time, here is the blurb from one of the most popular authors in fantasy: Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.” So begins one of the most beloved and delightful tales in the English language.

Set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is one of literature’s most enduring and well-loved novels. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.

Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

Written for Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies worldwide and established itself as a modern classic.

The post Word Nerdery: Why are Blurbs so Difficult to Write? first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.