What is it that attracts us to historical fiction, mystery, and romance? For me, it is reading a well-developed plot and excellent characters with the added enjoyment of time travel. Whether the book takes place in Victorian England or pharaonic Egypt, our readers have certain expectations we need to meet to keep them coming back and pre-ordering our next book. Tip 1: World-Building Think world-building is just for the science fiction and fantasy writers? Not so! I would ar

Q: Your main characters in An Artful Dodge are women thieves. This is very different from your usual book. What made you decide to write this? What's its backstory? As usual, this book began with a profound surprise, a discovery that fell in my lap. My daughter Julia studied abroad at Oxford for a semester, and I met her in London afterward. It was December, and one rainy, windy night, our umbrellas in disarray, we popped into the Great Scotland Yard hotel, in Whitehall. It’s

One of the questions I hear a lot is: "What point of view should my book be in?" My answer is always the editor's go to: "It depends." Why? How do you decide what POV you book should be in? What is POV? When you think POV (point of view), think "Who is narrating this story?" What do they know that the other characters don't AND why do you want you reader to know these things? Types of POV First Person (Limited): The story is narrated by one character First Person (Unlimited):