Helen C. Johannes

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Helen C. Johannes

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August 2010


Author Helen C. Johannes lives in the Midwest with her husband and grown children. Growing up, she read fairy tales, Tolkien, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Agatha Christie, Shakespeare, and Ayn Rand, an unusual mix that undoubtedly explains why the themes, characters, and locales in her writing play out in tales of love and adventure. A member of Romance Writers of America, she credits the friends she has made and the critiques she’s received from her chapter members for encouraging her to achieve her dream of publication. When not working on her next writing project, she teaches English, reads all kinds of fiction, enjoys walks, and travels as often as possible.

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Helen C. Johannes Enter writing contests that offer detailed feedback. At some point you need to measure your work against that of others. Learning what you do well is …moreEnter writing contests that offer detailed feedback. At some point you need to measure your work against that of others. Learning what you do well is just as important as learning what you need to fix.

Now I know entrants are at various stages in their writing careers and have varied knowledge of the conventions of writing, but here are some items to pay attention to fixing BEFORE you submit because if you attend to these issues first, you give your judges a better chance to focus on your story rather than on trying to figure out what is on the page. And what you really want them to judge is the story and characters.

Paragraphing

Observe in published novels how dialogue is broken into paragraphs. Put the character’s spoken words in the same paragraph as his/her actions. Readers will be better able to follow who said what if you do this. And following who said what helps the reader see the story without getting lost.

He/She/They used too frequently without identifying who he/she/they might be.

If two male characters are talking, be sure to tag each one clearly with a name or descriptive title because if “he” appears multiple times in a row, you (the author) may be clear as to which “he” is which because you are visualizing the scene in your head, but the reader has most likely lost track. (The same goes for female characters and any time you have more than two characters in a scene.)

The unreferenced “it”

This useful little word can also be a source of major confusion if “it” is not placed close enough to the thing “it” is replacing or standing in for. We, the writer, know exactly what we mean. But readers can’t see inside our heads, so it’s our job to replace all the vague words in our text with clear ones.

When we enter contests, it’s partly because we want to be read, to connect with an audience. We want the judge to assess our story, our characters, our scene setting, our hook, and give us feedback on the story as a whole. The last thing we want to do is interfere with the judge’s ability to see those aspects of our work. My best advice is to pay attention to these few items when you polish that entry.(less)
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Featured Romantasy: THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE

This week N. N. Light Book Heaven is celebrating their Science Fiction and Fantasy Bookish Event with a giveaway. I'm delighted to announce that my award-winning romantasy novel THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE, book one of the Crown of Tolem series, will be spotlighted on Friday, October 10th. Check out allbooks and enter the giveaway to win a $10 Amazon gift card: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.co Read more of this blog post »
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Published on October 07, 2025 14:08
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Wolf of the Nordic Seas by Jennifer Ivy Walker
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Set a dozen or so years after Dragon of Denmark, Wolf of the Nordic Seas features many of the previous book’s characters, but now they’ve come to the aid of Lady Elfi, whose father has been taken hostage to force her hand in marriage. The claimant is ...more
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In the Time of Five Pumpkins by Alexander McCall Smith
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A wonderful comfort read is the #1 Ladies Detective Agency’s latest, In the Time of Five Pumpkins. The slow build and calm philosophy always give me warm fuzzies. The characters are so gentle with each other.
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Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
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I loved Hemlock and Silver. The scare factor was just creepy enough, and the romance was sweetly tender, and the heroine was perfect in her social awkwardness. A real page-turner with elements of Mirror, Mirror in its retelling of the Snow White stor ...more
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The Librarians by Sherry Thomas
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I finished The Librarians and found the second half much more compelling than the first. I know some have DNFd the book, and I can understand why since the first half is quite a slow build, setting up each of the four librarians’ secrets, which are c ...more
A Case of Life and Limb by Sally     Smith
" I enjoyed the first book in this series, too. Thanks for the recommendation. "
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"This second book in The Trials of Gabriel Ward series (after the surprisingly terrific A Case of Mice and Murder earlier this year) isn’t exactly a holiday book. But it begins with Sir William Waring, the Treasurer of the Inner Temple, receiving what" Read more of this review »
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Quotes by Helen C. Johannes  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Doing what’s right is always simple. Not easy, perhaps, but simple.”
Helen C. Johannes, Bloodstone

“Illusions may flatter us, confuse us, or betray us, Drakkonwehr. Or they may be images we cling to when the truth is too difficult to face.”
Helen C. Johannes, Bloodstone

“Blood answers blood, especially that given for the sake of others.”
Helen C. Johannes, Bloodstone

Topics Mentioning This Author

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“Doing what’s right is always simple. Not easy, perhaps, but simple.”
Helen C. Johannes, Bloodstone

“Illusions may flatter us, confuse us, or betray us, Drakkonwehr. Or they may be images we cling to when the truth is too difficult to face.”
Helen C. Johannes, Bloodstone

“You pathetic humans! It escapes me how you endure any trial long enough even to breed, yet here you are. And why do your kind persist at all? Because every now and then—once a century, perhaps—ONE of you understands this: Death is what you accept only when you have spent all that you are—to the very last drop of your sweat and blood—in order to save what you love. That, son of Koronolan, is what a hero, a true warrior, would do.”
Helen C. Johannes, Bloodstone

“Blood answers blood, especially that given for the sake of others.”
Helen C. Johannes, Bloodstone

“Insanity does NOT run in my family. It strolls through, takes its time, and gets to know everyone personally. —T-SHIRT”
Darynda Jones, Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet

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