Every novelist reaches a plateau in which the perfect story idea isn’t coming together. The plot germ is there, but the theme, setting, characters, and storyline seem to spin out of control. By using the acronym, BRAINSTORM, you can bring the whirling to a halt and anchor your writing onto a firm foundation. Believe in yourself. You’ve been given the gift of writing, and you’re pretty good at it. You understand the craft, and you’re continuously educating yourself to add more tools and techniques. Realistic writing is what sells. No matter the genre, your storyline must be credible with identifiable characters who react and respond according to the traits you’ve assigned them. Analyze your basic idea. How can you grow your characters by making their goals difficult, perhaps impossible to reach? Inspire your readers to attempt and achieve great things. Fiction is truth. Jesus spoke in parables and through His stories, people gleaned meaning and purpose for their lives. Don’t preach your message. Let the reader see who your characters are by the way they tackle life’s challenges. Name your book and your characters. Why is this important? Because the title of a book gives the writer passion for the…

I’m a sports fan. Anyone who follows me on Twitter already knows this. Sometimes, I get a little too passionate about my teams. Okay, I get way too passionate about my teams. Like when the Giants won the World Series in 2010 and again in 2012. Or when Matt Cain pitched a perfect game and my father-in-law called me up to celebrate over the phone together. Then I called my husband, who was in Hawaii for work, to share the news. Is it wrong I was kind of glad I didn’t go with him? I still remember the Nevada football game against Weber State. Greatest comeback ever. Ok, so it’s been 20+ years, there may have been bigger comebacks, but that was the best. It was really cold in Reno that day, and we were down 35 points at the half. The students who’d stuck around were chanting “Five more touchdowns.” Then “Four more touchdowns.” Then “Three more …” and then we were thinking Holy smokes we might actually pull this off. The Wolf Pack ended up winning 55-49 and I have never willingly left a game early ever since. Except for the one Giants baseball game we took my…

When I was plotting my Kelly Brothers series, I jumped at the chance to write a “geek” romance. I’m true geek myself. I mean, the pick-up line I used on my husband was, “Want to check out my anime collection?” (And just for clarification, we didn’t end up watching anime. We watched The Princess Bride instead. That’s when I knew he was a keeper.) Geek cons are fascinating things. They are some of the few times where dressing like a Storm Trooper could score you a date and being a red shirt doesn’t automatically equate to death sentence. They are places where the “un-cool” kids are suddenly cool, and you’re surrounded by people who get your jokes and understand what you’re talking about when you wish you had a sonic screwdriver. So it was no trouble for me to come up with two geeks who meet at San Diego Comic-Con and fall in love in my latest release, THE HEART’S GAME. The big challenge was toning down all the geek references. There are D&D references. There’s a continual debate over Star Wars vs. Star Trek. There are even electrical engineering jokes. But alas, if I could go back, I’d have…

I’ve been getting this question a lot. “Why did you decide to a contemporary?” I guess that’s because I’ve already built a pretty good brand as a paranormal author, and I’m glad for it, but I also don’t like to be tied down to anything, and I love to challenge myself. And then there came the show Suits. Damn. I can’t believe I missed this for two whole seasons. I gobbled that up in one massive television-watching binge. It was like Gabriel-Macht-Crack and I couldn’t get enough of it. When it was all done, I just knew I had to write a character like him. Oh, not a lawyer…at least not for this book…but everything else I saw in Harvey Specter I wanted to draw on for Benjamin Harrison: enterprising playboy of the tech world. I infused Ben with that same confidence that borders on cocky, the smooth sex appeal, the brutal intelligence hiding behind a veneer of sophistication and nonchalance. And as I was writing, I knew that even if the television show hadn’t yet shown me all of the cracks in Harvey Specter’s shell…they were there, and Ben had them too. At the same time, I knew that…

I may have written a book entitled PERFECTED, but that doesn’t mean I believe in perfection, or that I even strive for it. In my novel, the main character, Ella, was bred to be the perfect pet. She was raised to put her masters’ happiness before her own. In return, she’s been promised a perfect life, one of idle luxury, one of comfort and stability, but ultimately a life that doesn’t truly belong to her. At first, Ella’s new life at her masters’ house seems charming. Her owners surround her with beautiful things: fancy cars, expensive houses and fine clothes. It isn’t until she finds herself falling for Penn, her master’s son, that her perception of the world begins to shift. This world might appear perfect from the outside, but it’s only a veneer. Scratch the surface and there’s ugliness underneath. I don’t know anyone who could be considered perfect. Do you? Someone who always has their hair perfectly coiffed first thing in the morning, whose home is immaculate and never suffers from an occasional nervous breakdown? It may be that people like that actually exist in reality, but I certainly don’t know any of them. Our flaws are the…

Does anyone enjoy a bad dream? I hate nightmares. I go out of my way to avoid anything that has the potential to produce negative, terrifying thoughts that might creep into my subconscious and come to life while I sleep. If I see something frightening on the news, accidentally find myself in a movie that has too much violence or any amount of horror (before I run out of the theatre), or if a real life incident gives me the chills, I have to put sweet thoughts into my head before going to sleep. I will curl up with a happily ever after book or watch ten to fifteen minutes of a sappy movie before turning out the lights so that my last waking thoughts are pleasant ones. Yes, I am a bit of wimp. And I’m okay with that. In my new novel, SHENANDOAH DREAMS, Melissa Smith believes she is experiencing one heck of a nightmare. Melissa is chaperoning her sixth grade students on a week-long sailing cruise aboard the historic schooner Shenandoah. This is her fifth year on the trip, and she’s expecting it to be her best yet. Sleeping in the only cabin that is board for…

I have a friend who used to cut right to the chase whenever we saw each other after a long absence.  “New?” she’d say instead of “Hey, how are you, what’s new?”  Put on the spot, my mind always went blank.  “Not much.  You?” Things constantly happen, there’s always something new to share, yet we often don’t think our “stuff” is interesting enough—well, at least that’s how I feel—to tell the other person about.  My friend, Linda, must have thought I was the most boring person on the planet, when I was actually being humble. And considerate. On the other extreme—raise a hand if this rings a bell—how many have friends who think every little detail of their lives is worth sharing?  Admit it, you’ve made excuses to avoid them.  Ever seen someone like that in a store and pretended you didn’t notice them?  Who’s willing to admit that?  I’ll go first – YES. Is it human nature, or am I just weird? (Fingers crossed I’m not the only person in the world who does this.) When Fresh Fiction offered me the guest blog spot for today, I jumped at the chance, because there does happen to be something “new”…

YAY! It’s time to celebrate! The second book in my New Jersey Ice Cats series, A PERFECT TRADE, is out! As regular visitors to my blog posts here know, this is Tru and Jenny’s story. Readers first met this couple in A PERFECT DISTRACTION and it was clear from their first interaction, that there was a problem between them. Here is a brief reminder. In this scene, Maggie meets Jenny for the first time at an Ice Cats’ team dinner:   “Hello, gentlemen.” A throaty voice curled around them, like the tendrils of smoke from a vamp’s cigarette in a film noir. Maggie recognized the blonde—Jenny, queen of the puck bunnies. The players welcomed her with enthusiasm as she walked around the table greeting them. “Ice Man. Chance. Blade.” Each name was accompanied by a touch, a brush against a shoulder, a tap on the arm. “Mad Dog.” Vlad grinned as she reached him. “Remember me, Jenny?” “Detroit. The natural hat trick.” Her eyes twinkled. “You scored the overtime winner with fourteen seconds left.” “A memorable night.” From the Russian’s tone, he didn’t mean the goal. Jenny laughed. She trailed a French-tipped finger along his shoulder, then moved on. “Juergen Ingemar….

Let’s start with the basics. Kathy Lyons has a new book out! It’s hot contemporary, and it’s about… A. Her fantasies about her older brother’s best friend. B. Her fantasies. She doesn’t have an older brother. C. Jade Lee’s older brother’s best friend. D. Even Jade doesn’t have an older brother. E. A woman who has loved a good person since they were kids and now has two weeks to find out if their attraction is real. Answer: E, though almost all the others are true. I don’t have a brother, but I have wondered about what he’d be like. And even more important, what his best friend would be like. (And in case you wondered, Jade Lee is my historical name. Yes, I’ve a split personality). True or False? 1. In her fantasies, Kathy’s brother looks and acts like Dr. Simon Tam from Firefly. A hottie who gives up everything to save his sister from evil baddies. Answer: False. Anyone that hot is not related to me. 2. Her brother’s best friend is just like Jay Chou, aka Kato from The Green Hornet movie. Answer: True. In my fantasies, my brother has a zillion hot best friends. 3. The…

Naming a book is kind of like naming a baby—you want to go with something you love, but also something that “fits” and is unique enough to be remembered. It’s a tall order! So what’s an author to do when faced with naming a whole series worth of books? Enlist help, of course. The original title of book one in the Pine Mountain series was IT’S NOT YOU (because poor Bellamy Blake hears that an awful lot). But my editor and I wanted something more romantic, so I put the question to my critique partners. They put on their thinking caps, and came up with TURN UP THE HEAT. It set the precedent for the slight foodie theme, but then I realized I had three (at the time) more books to go. Thinking caps back on. Book two is head chef Carly di Matisse’s story, and I wanted something really special. She’s one of the most central characters in the series, in charge of the kitchen and the other chefs…but not quite in charge of her heart. Carly needs a place to belong, and to discover that she can be loved by a good hero, right where she is. So…