Congratulations! You’ve gone and done a heroic thing and put multiple heroes in your book. As the saying goes: two heroes (or three or four or…) are better than one. Yes, I’m paraphrasing a tad. My point is, you have a big, beautiful, complex book – more than likely part of a series – and…
Category: Journaralities
Pitch Wars Young Adult Mentors Handy MSWL
So, I did a thing…. If you are a hopeful Pitch Wars mentee for Young Adult/New Adult, and you haven’t already picked out your Most Wanted Mentors, then do I have a helpful list for you! I had the day off (courtesy a left eye surgery – thanks, early onset cataracts!) and spent the parts of…
A Word on Whores
That’s an attention-grabbing, click-bait headline if ever there was one. But lucky for you, I’m not going to try to sell you anything. Okay, that’s actually a lie. Eventually, I want to sell you my book once I get it out there, but you have some time before you are contractually obligated to me for…
Kick-Ass Women and the Woman Who Loves Them
Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 10, I had a bracelet. Well, to be honest, my oldest sister had the bracelet. I just borrowed it on occasion. It was a cuff-type bracelet; about two inches wide in faux silver finish and open in the back so you could squeeze your wrist into it. Whenever…
The Inner Worlds of a Writer
I have a rich inner world. A treasure chest of stories in my head. A personal copy of a “1001 Arabian Nights”-type book in which I write all the tales. No big deal, right? I’m a writer. All writers have thriving imaginations. It’s what makes us able to create the stories people want to read.…
Dear Important Minor POV Character
Dear Important Minor POV Character, It has come to my attention that, despite the epic fantasy genre of my latest work, it is not advisable to have more point-of-view characters than George R. R. Martin has dead ones. In an effort to bring my POV character count down to a more respectable and manageable number,…
Of Terms and Titles
Last week, I bombarded you with a mega-ton of angst over the title of my Young Adult fantasy manuscript. The bottom line on that post? In its querying stage, the importance of a clever book title is insignificant compared to other aspects of the project (i.e., is the plot interesting and fresh? Is it well-written?),…
Book Title Envy: The Blues of Being Green
or, When Every Other Book Title in the World Seems Better Than Mine Hi. My name is D.M. Domosea. I’m a young adult fiction author, and I suffer from book title envy. There, I said it. An ugly part of my writer’s soul has been laid bare, naked and plain for all to see. Now…
My Year of Reading YA
If you’ve spent time combing through the wealth of writing and editing advice for aspiring authors, you’ve no doubt come across this valuable nugget: “Read in the category/genre in which you want to write.” And what valuable advice it is. Reading in-category and in-genre familiarizes you with the styles, themes, and moods that dominate those…
Be Creative, Not Obnoxious
Writing rules are my friend. They are also my enemy. So in slightly outdated slang speak, that makes them my frenemy. Like spiders. I understand they serve an important purpose, and the large majority of them are benign. But that doesn’t mean I want them cozying up to me, crawling in my mouth while I…
D.M. Domosea 