⭐ My Narrative Poetry Article Published at Women on Writing's Craft Corner! ⭐

Super excited that my article about narrative poetry was published at Women on Writing today in the Craft Corner. 🪻🥳

I had a blast talking about this meaningful type of poetry as well as my own writing practice, and I packed it with tips for writers exploring this exciting form of verse!

Signed copies of Does It Look Like Her? available at my Etsy store: clickety-click. Also, available (unsigned) through Amazon: clickety-click.

Also, If you, your friends, or your students or writing group are interested in learning more about writing poetry, I have a lot more writing advice and fun prompts for poets in my Vine Leaves Press book, Poetry Power (scroll to the second book on the page for links to Poetry Power ) ! Check it out: Poetry Power: clickety click and at Amazon:clickety-click.

My Article Published & A Regency Page-Turner

Once upon a time (circa 2015), I started writing a Jane Austen fan-fiction story that over a few months turned into a novella, it was so irresistible to keep writing. Happily, it was published as an e-book a few years later by Uncial Press.

In the time-honored tradition of Romance writers, I pen-named it. Recently, I had the great joy of writing an article for The Uncial Letter about why it’s so fun to read the Regency genre.

Read my article below, and then do pop by the Uncial Press website and/or Amazon to treat yourself to some of their many fabulous books in genres as diverse as Fantasy and Science-Fiction, Westerns, Paranormal, other Historical Fiction eras, poetry, and more.

To subscribe to The Uncial Letter is also a must and easy-breezy: just send an email to uncial-letter-subscribe@googlegroups.com, and you’re all set to receive the latest book updates and many other fine articles, too.

Without further ado, I’m so pleased to announce my featured article:

“Three Reasons Regency Romance Is
   a Perfect Fit for Turbulent 2022”

Enjoy plucky protagonists with minds of their own and strong convictions? Like historical times and places? Want something--anything--today to make a modicum of sense? Regency romance may just be the perfect balm for these tumultuous, wearying days of 2022. Read on!

Regency tends to be character-rich. Readers follow lords, ladies, commoners, clerics, dukes, and duchesses as they populate a British town or city and, best of all, take part in the growth experience of the protagonist. Let's talk about this protagonist for a moment. She tends to be youthful and, while a bit inexperienced, filled with hopes and ideas about how the world works. She's a young woman of conviction with goals that frequently don't pan out as easily or even in the same way as she'd hoped, especially when it comes to her experiences with love. Yet, by the tale's ending, she's realized life lessons about herself and become a more thoughtful, less selfish, more accepting person to her friends, to her family, and to her love interest.

The pleasures of escaping into another world. While I was researching my novel, Her Humble Admirer, it was a great deal of fun to enter back into a place and a time where flowers had secret meanings, from undying friendship to unrequited love to secret passions and more, based on the colors of the blooms. A world where calling cards were on everyone's desk, and ladies and gentleman who were single were only allowed to dance one dance in a row with each other, lest they raise gossipmonger's eyebrows by scandalously dancing away the evening together in public.

The mores and customs of Regency England are far different from 2022, and that's a great thing. Nobody in that era has heard of a thing called Covid nor felt worried and annoyed again because the cost of rent and groceries and gas have skyrocketed yet again this month because of inflation. Nope: readers can time travel and drop in by the fireplace for a cozy conversation (and a bit of village gossip or a reading of the latest Lord Byron poem that's the talk of the Ton) or enjoy an afternoon's carriage ride to visit a relative or the scintillating excitement of a costume ball in a fortnight. Spending time in a different era via characters and scenery is a staycation for the senses that won't cost a penny (and no jetlag!).

Bring on the happy ending! What do we most crave in times of stress and drama? Times when our lives have been upended and are still being put back together? That's right: familiarity. A pattern, order, the sweet pleasure of our expectations being met. What more satisfying pattern could there be than what Regency delivers time after time: the spark of first feelings, obstacles to those feelings, more misunderstandings and a clash, followed by an upturn, a tender admission or a quick reunion, and then together again, this time forever.

While everyday life certainly offers headaches and hassles that don't frequently tie themselves together with a neat little bow, it's a soothing experience to enjoy the protagonist's HEA, page by page. Now, more than ever, that vicarious joy is an especially delightful part of our entertainment, and one in which Regency particularly excels.

So, go ahead: grab a Regency novella or novel today and prepare to encounter another world, a heroine to root for, and a HEA that makes 2022 a bit more palatable and a lot more entertaining.

~*~

We couldn't have said it better. Immersing yourself in a Regency can allow you to escape from yesterday's scandalous headlines that have barely been assimilated when today's upheaval makes news that's followed far too quickly by tomorrow's disasters.

We have a great assortment of Regencies for your pleasure, in all lengths and moods. A great place to start is with Lucy M. Loxley's Her Humble Admirer, a sweetly traditional story with its share of quirky characters, including an innocent maid who is ready for love, a faithful swain who seems interested only in being a good friend, and a sophisticated gentleman from London who wants something from Miss Livia Hightower, but is hesitant about telling her exactly what. Caught up in the summery swirl of country society, Livia weaves romantic dreams about the future...but will they ever be more than hopeless fantasies? [ISBN 978-1-60174-232-2, $3.99]

I Guest Blogged: "3 Steps to Fixing an Annoying Protagonist"

Check out my guest blog at the fabulous Write it Sideways that went live today: “3 Steps to Fixing an Annoying Protagonist.”

Craft Article: "Introducing Your Next Characters: How to Outline Your Protagonist and Nemesis"

Great news! My craft article was published by Women on Writing today! Read on for some tips sure to develop your latest fictional protagonist and antagonist.

“Introducing Your Next Characters: How to Outline Your Protagonist and Nemesis”

By: Melanie Faith

Protagonists and antagonists: every story has them, or should have them. Our readers want someone to root for, someone they can identify with as they conquer problems both common and extraordinary. They also want an instigator, a character whose sole goal is to create the tension and conflict we experience in real life.

Think of these characters as paired all-stars in your novel—wherever there’s the protagonist striving to make their hopes and dreams happen with their actions, the antagonist should soon appear to work their devious deeds of mayhem to block those hopes and dreams.

Many writers delve straight into their initial scenes with their protagonist without knowing more about their protagonist than a name and perhaps an age. Certainly, many writers begin stories without knowing anything about the antagonists who will make it their purpose to mar the protagonist at every turn.

While one could free-write scenes for endless weeks or months, the more sensible approach is to do some quick but fruitful pre-writing to “meet” your protagonist and antagonist before setting your scenes to the page.

Outlining character details before writing chapters will:

*  save you time figuring out what your protagonist wants,

*  save you time and scenes figuring out why your protagonist is doing what (s)he is doing,

*  create immediate conflict that sets your novel’s plot into motion,

*  help you to pinpoint exactly why this protagonist desires what (s)he desires,

*  introduce you to the antagonist’s desires and why (s)he doesn’t want the protagonist to succeed,

*  and demonstrate the lengths the antagonist is willing to go to block your protagonist.

To get started, consider the following outlining exercise. Set a clock for fifteen or twenty minutes and answer these questions. Allow ideas and information to bubble up from your subconscious without editing or omitting details. Write as much or as little for each question as you wish. J  

There are many, many more approaches for developing notes about your protagonist, numerous of which I’ll explore during my course Outline Your Novel with Ease, but these initial questions will get you well on your way to a juicy conflict and two well-rounded main characters.

Feel free to keep writing beyond the ding of the timer. Pick a few of these questions, or answer them all.  Feel free to add details over the following hours and days as they appear to you. Keep in mind that protagonists are not all good and sweet, nor are antagonists all selfish or rude; we’re all a blend of qualities, emotions, circumstances, and missteps.

Then, after a few days, sit down to draft your initial scene. In the scene, use several details directly from this exercise.

By the way, you’ll learn more about your protagonist from this pre-writing exercise than you will include in the scene, which is perfectly normal and a great idea. Think of those “characters” you know in real life—you know a lot more about them (and they about you!) than either of you share directly when communicating.

Meet your protagonist:

*  What is their childhood nickname? Do they still go by this name? Would they hide it?

*  What is their birth order? Do they have siblings? Would they have liked [more] siblings or no siblings? Does anything in their background influence their thoughts about having or raising children?

*  Do they live where they thought they would as a teen? Why or why not? Are they willing to move to another location? Why or why not?

*  What is your protagonist’s dream job? Do they currently have that job? Do they have excuses for why they don’t have that job? If so, what are they?

*  Describe a time when your protagonist was overlooked or underappreciated. What would it take to make your protagonist feel like a winner?

Meet your antagonist:

*  Does your antagonist have a nickname? Do they still use it? Would they hide it?

*  Has your antagonist known your protagonist since childhood? Since college? If not, when and how did your antagonist and protagonist meet?

*  What was your antagonist’s initial (unspoken) impression of your protagonist? Describe their first conversation.

*  What is your antagonist’s biggest regret?

*  Describe a time when your antagonist felt like a winner. Then write about a time when your antagonist felt like a complete zero.

Want to learn more? Check out my 2020 classes, beginning on January 17th with Outlining Your Novel with Ease! Click here: 2020 classes info.