The first manuscript I wrote – First Aid for a Broken Heart – features an American heroine and a British hero. Throughout the story, I tried to make sure that Spencer doesn’t just speak like a Brit but thinks like one, while Caitlyn thinks and speaks like an American. Weirdly (considering I’m American), Spencer’s voice… Continue reading Writing in an accent that’s not yours
Tag: language
Tools for heating up the (fictional) bedroom
If you write romance, chances are you’ll find yourself pondering how best to describe genitalia and different sexual positions. After all, who wants to read about boring sex? Having read romance for twenty years, I’ve seen the way sexual descriptions have changed. I still remember one novel where the hero and heroine made love on… Continue reading Tools for heating up the (fictional) bedroom
Describing how a man smells
One thing I hate to read about is a musky man – partly because it’s become hackneyed, and partly because the word conjures its original use. The musky scent in colognes used to come from a glandular secretion from near the musk deer’s rectum. According to Wikipedia, the word ‘musk’ originates from the Sanskrit for… Continue reading Describing how a man smells
Save the words!
Here’s a little language quiz for you. 1) How many words do you think the English language has? I lost count at 157, so fortunately I was able to put my Googling skills to the test and discovered the Oxford English Dictionary has full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words.… Continue reading Save the words!
Prune your prose
Speaking of being overly wordy, here’s an online workshop that my RWA chapter is running soon. It’s as if they’ve been reading my blog and came up with the class just for me. Thanks, guys. ***** Permission to Forward Granted ***** RWA® Online Chapter presents: PRUNE YOUR PROSE! Ten Tips to Tighten Your Fiction Writing… Continue reading Prune your prose