Romance, like any genre, has its conventions. That dependability is what keeps readers coming back. A romance without a happily-ever-after ending or, at a minimum, a happily-for-now is going to get raked across the firiest of coals by its audience. There are also tropes that won't appear in every romance novel but tend to be reliable favorites for those who seek them out, like enemies-to-lovers and office romances. And then, you've got the tropes and genre conventions that re

When I started writing on a more serious basis, love triangles were running rampant in fiction. It wasn't just in book series like Twilight and The Hunger Games (in which, for what it's worth, it felt like the love triangle angle was ramped up for the films and I could go so in depth about the paralells there), but in popular shows at the time like Gossip Girl, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and The Vampire Diaries. It made for good drama, which kept people inv

Social media can be a fantastic resource for bookworms and writers alike. Thanks to the rise of BookTok and Bookstagram, it's easier than ever to find your next read. Reviews are important for so many reasons, chief among them being to help prospective readers determine if a book will be a good fit for them. Star rankings are the most common. In recent years, however, another emoji has become a popular metric in book reviews: the chili pepper. 🌶️ Primarily used in reviews fo

Disclaimer: this post is not directed towards Milo Winter specifically, nor anyone on or affiliated with his team. via Instagram My coworkers are incredibly supportive of my writing, and that's led to some interesting conversations about craft, the industry, and my own projects. These conversations have more than once been the key to figuring out something I've been getting stuck on and finding inspiration both in terms of fiction and this blog. Several of my coworkers have a

Last year, I shared a few tips for setting boundaries as a writer to protect your writing time and peace of mind, especially during the holiday season. Your time for writing and your headspace aren't the only things to safeguard as a writer, though! Boundaries can help your writing in both the short term and the long run. The specific boundaries and where the lines are drawn will vary from one writer to the next, but here are a few I have set (or intend to) for myself... Tim