by Zoe M. McCarthy | Mar 15, 2018 | Writing
When I started writing, I couldn’t have imagined what my weeks would look like after my books published. For the last seven years, I’ve been a full-time writer. Let me rephrase that, a full-time author. I’ve learned there’s a difference, as I’ll show. Background I...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Mar 8, 2018 | Writing
The hero in my next romance is a cattle farmer in Southwestern Virginia. I pass cattle farms often. I see muddy areas where the cows have been brought in from the pasture, the tabs stapled to their ears, the machinery, and the farmhouses. These offer little about what...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Mar 1, 2018 | Writing
A Writer’s Digest article* suggested a devastating choice will hook readers and show much about your character. This intrigued me. Although the writer discussed how to develop the story before and after the choice, I approached the idea from a different angle. How...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Feb 22, 2018 | Writing
I recently read insights I’ve heard before but were worth hearing again as I prepare to write my next romance: Ask myself what matters to me, stirs me, and bothers me; look into my personal life for experiences that accompany these three things; then write...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Feb 15, 2018 | Writing
The last two weeks, I’ve given examples showing characters’ love for each other and examples showing characters’ flaws. This week, I give an example of a character exhibiting a wound. I chose being stalked. I consulted The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s...
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