Genre writing

How many times have you walked into a bookstore with a particular title in mind, and walked out with three others you hadn't planned to buy? As readers, we're drawn to a snappy title, a cool cover, a shout line that intrigues and excites. We decide, on a whim, to revisit an old favorite, or to try a new author, recommended by the bookseller's handwritten review card.  Read more

You can't have a good thriller without a nasty and formidable opponent for your hero. But it isn't enough to just write a character and call him "the bad guy." Just as it's important to create a well-rounded, three-dimensional hero, you must create a villain who is well-developed and not just your standard killer, robber, or kidnapper.  Read more

There's been a lot of discussion in the YA book world about how YA books are becoming less and less about teen readers and instead, more about the interests of adults who like reading YA. Some claim that the community in fact isolates teens.  Read more

Sarah Dalton writes young adult novels. She's earned a following among fans of YA genre fiction with such speculative series as Blemished, Mary Hades, and White Hart. Dalton's big break, however, came under her pen name, Sarah A. Denzil.  Read more

A single book created the "bodice ripper" as a concept and cultural phenomenon: 1972's The Flame and the Flower. Written by Midwestern homemaker Kathleen Woodiwiss and published by Avon, the novel is widely considered to be the first sexually explicit romance novel, released just as the second wave of the feminist movement was cresting. As Roe v.  Read more