Helen C. Johannes's Blog, page 19

You’re the author, right? You control the story. After all, it’s all coming out of your head, isn’t it?

Now I usually haven’t had much trouble naming my main characters as soon as they appear on the page. Some friends have asked me how I can come up with such unusual names as are necessary in fantasy, but the only challenge I’ve usually had is getting the spelling arranged so the reader can pronounce them in some way close to how I hear the names in my head. Secondary characters have had their...

What if looking at the face of the man you loved meant death? Years ago, warrior Durren Drakkonwehr was cursed by a mage. Now feared and reviled as the Shadow Man, he keeps to himself, only going to town to trade rare bloodstones—petrified dragon’s blood—for supplies. Though he hides his face, he can’t hide his heart from the woman who haunts his dreams…Needing bloodstones for a jewelry commission, Mirianna and her father journey across the dreaded Wehrland where the beast-men roam. When their...

I enjoy baking, and I enjoy fairy tales, and I especially enjoy romance. What about combining all three--just for fun?
Recipe for a Fairy TaleTake one orphan teenagerAdd a wicked stepmotherToss in two cruel step-sistersCombine with beatings and press under a heavy work loadLet stand several years
Prepare one handsome prince in need of a wifeArrange a fancy dress ballCombine with a dash of pomp, a teaspoon of circumstance, and one full tablespoon of glitz
Measure one cup of fairy godmother and si...

I want to thank everyone who voted for the cover art for BLOODSTONE in the Affaire de Coeur Magazine Cover Art Contest.  There were 22 entries and BLOODSTONE took a respectable 10th among some fierce competition.  This was my first entry in a cover art contest, so I had no real idea what to expect.  I just know I really like my book's cover.  The book is in production galleys now, so I hope to have a release date soon (fingers crossed!).

In anticipation of BLOODSTONE's...

Waiting for a cover is like waiting for the birth of a baby. Will it be a boy or girl? Will it take after the pretty side of the family or the one with ‘character’? The author fills out a form describing the hero and heroine, the setting, mood, and any objects important to the plot. Then the artist does what he or she does best, marketing weighs in and—voila!—a cover is born. And the author has to live with it.I was fortunate enough to have Rae Monet, the same cover artist for THE PRINCE OF V...

I admit it—I’m a William and Kate fan, and I was keeping track of the royal baby watch. I thought Diana brought some much needed good looks into the Windsor bloodline, and I’m rooting for William and Kate to have the kind of marriage Cinderella dreamers hope for them.

But as for the baby’s name—I’ve recently seen THE KING’S SPEECH (great movie, by the way), and I understand the significance of George in the name of the king as well as the patron saint of England, but still…I guess it’s a more...

When I write, I have a basic idea of a scene, and then I make multiple passes over it to add details and significance. The whole process may take days—or weeks—until I’m satisfied. I call this process “layering” and it’s something I’d like to share today.
Plot, or what happens, is the basis for a scene. If nothing happens relative to the overall plot, the scene should be cut. But just recording what happens isn’t enough to make a scene memorable or create enough of a hook to keep the reader in...

I’ve recently returned from my RWA chapter’s annual conference, and while I wondered several times in the previous six months whether I should spend the money and go, I’m glad I decided to attend.
First, no one understands writers like other writers.Writing is a lonely vocation by its very nature. It involves delving into one’s imagination for long periods of introspection which, to most of the members of the human race, looks like daydreaming. If you can’t show them ‘pages,’ they don’t think...

I’ve been reading a wide variety of published works and unpublished drafts. As we writers have adapted to technology that lets us type and edit electronically, programs have evolved to help us. Being a writer of fantasy romance with a tendency to make up names for people and places, it’s a given that I tend to overload the spell-check function on my computer. Nonetheless, I do find the program useful to help me spell a word I’m not sure about before digging out the trusty paper dictionary.

W...

Lots of us worry we’re just a one-book wonder, especially if it took years to crack the publishing bubble with our first book. In most cases, that’s the book we sent to contests and polished until it shone with vigorous vocabulary and sharp characterization and cogent plotting. Then, once it was accepted for publication and we held our “baby” in our hands (insert a chorus of hallelujahs here), we finally set it down and the glow faded and we wondered, “What the heck do I do now?”

Well, if we...