Anne R. Allen's Blog

  by Anne R. Allen   The AI book marketing scams are proliferating like Tribbles. I’ve probably had more than a thousand emails from them since mid-summer. Like Star Trek’s Tribbles, the emails approach you with warm and fuzzy friendliness. But don’t be fooled. These scammers wouldn’t be so relentless unless this stuff is working. […]

The post Update on those Flattering AI Book Marketing Scams appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

  by Anne R. Allen The phrase “what’s my motivation” is a joke in the theater world. I remember rehearsing for a production of Alice in Wonderland when the actor playing the (very minor) role of the Cook, when told to cross the stage when the Duchess enters, yelled out “What’s my motivation” to the […]

The post What’s My Motivation? Secondary Characters Should Want Something, too. appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

  by Anne R. Allen Last month, I wrote a post with tips about how (not) to write a novel opener. Some readers complained that I was “dictating” how people should write. That wasn’t my intention. I only talked about what agents and editors think has been overdone, and what doesn’t work well in an […]

The post Writing “Rules” are Only Guidelines appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

  by Anne R. Allen I love to start a novel. This is the fun part of writing for me — as it is for most writers I know. My muse has uploaded a shiny new story into my head and I’m all revved and ready to go, so I get those words down as […]

The post 12 Ways Not To Start a Novel appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

  by Anne R. Allen If you’re like a lot of authors, you’re starting to feel annoyed at the number of “publicists” filling your email inbox with sugary messages about your brilliant talent. The headers are usually quotes from your Amazon reviews, something like:     Fast, Funny, and Fair, Delivering a Twist-filled Mystery…that’s Ignored […]

The post Authors, Those Flattering Emails Filling Your Inbox—They’re All an AI Scam appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

by Alicia Street and Terence Stamp I was so sad to read of actor Terence Stamp’s death this week at age 87. Early in this blog’s history, we were honored to run this interview with Mr. Stamp, who had just launched his memoir, Rare Stamps. Our regular reader, Alicia Street, conducted the interview.  So here’s […]

The post Interview With the Great Terence Stamp, RIP appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

  by Anne R. Allen I wrote a post three weeks ago about the barrage of spam emails I’ve been getting from scammy publicists, bogus book marketers, and various other con-persons — sometimes 100 a day. I’m still getting them, but luckily a good chunk are captured by my anti-spam elves, now they know what […]

The post My Life as an AI Hallucination—Why AI isn’t Always a Scammer’s Best Friend. appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

by Anne R. Allen This week I’ve been hit hard by signs that publishing industry bloggers are disappearing into the Substack world of “become a paid subscriber to continue reading this article.” But it’s also obvious the publishing world still needs us! How do I know? This week, I’ve been buried in emails from book […]

The post Bloggers Are Still Important to the Publishing World, but They’re Disappearing appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

  by Debbie Burke Let’s assume most of us who follow Anne’s and Ruth’s blog are not kidnappers, rapists, or murderers. Since we’re not, it can be difficult for us to imagine the mindset of characters who commit heinous crimes. So how can we write multidimensional, memorable villains who have more depth than the cartoonish […]

The post How To Drill Inside Your Villain’s Head appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.

Go ahead, write that first draft with a feather. It’s all good. by Anne R. Allen Recently I’ve been looking at comment threads on old posts. Five years ago, people were leaving a lot more comments. But commenting on blogs has faded along with the popularity of blogging, which a lot of people see as […]

The post Write Your First Draft for Yourself: there are no rules appeared first on Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris.