My summer battle with the wild bunnies in our yard inspired the title for this episode, alone with too many copycat books which rely on tropes to grab readers' attention. This episode discussed what genre tropes are, writing tips on when to avoid falling into the trope trap, and how to use common tropes readers identify with for character and story development without creating a copycat story. Unfortunately, I have no useful advice for the bunnies.

Author Life

Genre Tropes are like Bunnies

The blending of fiction genres has led to a variety of paranormal subgenres, from paranormal romance to paranormal military fiction. Readers love paranormal fiction, but they expect it to be either factual or unique. Now, when talking about factual paranormal fiction, what do I mean? I mean researching the common theories, terms, mythos, and culture. Writing paranormal may sound as easy as throwing in a few ghosts or vampire. Writing paranormal that truly draw in readers takes a little more than that. Today’s podcast talks about how to research paranormal and incorporate what you learn into a convincing story that will capture reader’s attention.

3 Tips for Researching Paranormal

Last month I attended the Writers and Scribblers conference in Silverton, Colorado and was able to listen to local book buyer Jeanne Costello give tips and advice or working with book stores and making sure you're ready to have a book placed on shelves. Her comments apply to traditional and indie authors, and cover everything from stats on today's book market to cover design to knowing your genre.

Notes from a Book Buyer

Get a preview of The Ghost Host: Episode One audiobook! Everyone thinks Echo Simmons is crazy, but being The Ghost Host isn’t just a YouTube hoax like people think. It’s the only way to control the ghosts haunting her…at least until the FBI shows up asking questions. The first eighteen years of Echo Simmons’ life have been less than ideal. On more than one occasion her parents have considered committing her. They don’t believe she sees ghosts or that they harass her on a daily basis. So when a rogue ghost begins tormenting her, they’re the last people she’s going to tell. Her best friends Holden and Zara are doing their best to help, but ghost attacks are only the beginning of Echo’s problems. Handling the ghosts by giving them a voice on YouTube through her webshow has been her saving grace—even if her parents think it’s all a hoax—but that gets a little complicated when the ghost of Madeline Crew reveals a little too much about her previous life and the FBI shows up at her door wanting to know how she gained access to long-buried government secrets. It just keeps getting worse from there. Madeline’s message to her great grandson sparks a strange connection between Echo and Malachi, which leads to Georgia, secrets, mistakes, love, lies, and life changing revelations. The audiobook is a work in progress, but you can find purchase links and all the other info about the series here: https://delshereegladden.com/books/the-ghost-host/

The Ghost Host

This week on the podcast we're talking about how to write realistic villains that go beyond being "evil for evil's sake" as well as how to craft memorable secondary characters that do more than provide stereotypical roles. We'll be discussing characteristics of villains, how to use "show vs tell" with your villains, not taking the easy way out with villain development, and questions you should ask your villain. With secondary characters, we'll discuss their role, impact, and focus on the main characters and story, how they can act as mirrors without being rules by the main character, positioning your secondary characters and maintaining mystery.

Villains and Secondary Characters

Author Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar talks about writing crime, living in the Middle East, and balancing life with young children. DelSheree Gladden is also the host of the Bestselling Reads Podcast and Mohana gave her permission for this interview to be shared on Write. Publish. Repeat Podcast as well. You can find out more about Mohana at her website: http://www.mohadoha.com/ Find Mohana's books on her Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Mohanalakshmi-Rajakumar/e/B002PMRI1U/

Writing, Life, and Keeping Balance with @moha_doha

Author Emily Kimelman is joining Bestselling Reads Podcast to talk about writing multiple genres, using travel as inspiration, and increasing your writing speed. DelSheree is also the host of the Bestselling Reads Podcast and Emily gave permission for her interview to be shared on WPR Podcast. Find out more about Emily on her website: http://emilykimelman.com/ Check out her books on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Emily-Kimelman/e/B004YG4PPC/ Check out the Sydney Rye Kindle World: https://kindleworlds.amazon.com/world/SydneyRye  

Writing, Travel, and Multiple Genres with @ejkimelman

Writing characters of the opposite sex can be a challenge for both men and women. Recognizing the differences between men and women in real life can help create more distinct and engaging characters in fiction. This episode talks about writing strong females characters without going to extremes, the difference between behaviors and character traits, writing characters as people before writing as one gender or another, not avoiding the feminine, how men differ from women in speech, thoughts, and actions, how to approach description when writing in the male point of view, the differences between stereotypes, generalizations, and reality, and when gender should and shouldn't play a part in your character's experience.

Writing the Opposite Sex

Scott Bury joins Write. Publish. Repeat Podcast by way of Bestselling Reads to discuss the collaborative publishing model and why it may be a good alternative to traditional publishing. DelSheree also hosts the BSR Podcast and Scott gave his permission for his interview to be shared on WPR as well. Find out more about Scott on his blog/website "Written Word" http://writtenword.ca/  You can find Scott's books on his Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Bury/e/B007Z4BXGY/   

Collabortive Publishing with @ScottTheWriter

Watching her two nephews and a puppy named Thor for the weekend was supposed to be fun for Greenly Kendrick. Sweating to death at a never-ending baseball game while getting gum in her hair, soda down her shirt, and an ice cream pedicure wasn’t part of the deal. Neither is finding out the best blind date she’s ever stood up is there to witness it all. Longest. Weekend. Ever. Except it doesn’t stop at one crazy weekend. Embarrassment turns into mortification, a head wound, and being patch up by her amused knight in shining armor. Roman Carpenter can’t help laughing at Greenly’s mishaps, but for some reason, he sticks with her through it all. At least, until his ex-wife shows up and starts causing trouble. What started off as a strange, yet promising relationship, might be able to survive spiteful exes, but adding in a stalker that puts everyone on edge and pulls the police into the mix, might push everyone past their breaking point. Available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BKZBL3I/  

BONUS: The Crazy Girl's Handbook Chapter One

Writing dialogue comes naturally to some writers, but for others it can be a struggle to create dialogue that sounds realistic and unique to each character. This episode of the Write. Publish. Repeat. Podcast explains why dialogue is so important and offers tips on writing strong dialogue that is unique to your character and helps move the story forward. We'll be discussing pitfalls of dialogue, "real" vs. "real sounding" dialogue, the sound of dialogue, character specific dialogue, structuring dialogue for the best impact, and technical aspects of writing dialogue.

The Art of Dialogue

Tips on how to create an interesting backstory for a character, how to integrate it into the story, how much backstory to reveal, and how to pace the reveal.

Creating a Backstory that Matters

This episode will cover, how to get started building your character profiles, the difference between stereotypes and archetypes and how and when to use them, stages of building a character arc, how to develop and use a backstory without info dumping, how to develop faults in your characters that make them believable and relatable, using the right kind of failure, and giving your character something to love so they have something to lose. This is the first episode in a character development series, so stop back by soon for more discussion on creating character that stand out and draw readers in, as well as a few guest authors giving their own advice.

Creating a Character with Depth

After our two part discussion of marketing, here's your chance to see what's working for current authors. Guest podcaster and author, Melissa Eskue Ousley, is joining me on the podcast to talk about how to collaborate with other authors, as well as what other marketing avenues have been working for her. Melissa is the author of The Solar Beir Trilogy and is currently posting her new project Sunset Empire on Wattpad. Connect with Melissa online at: http://melissaeskueousley.com/ https://www.wattpad.com/story/46069117-sunset-empire https://twitter.com/MEskueOusley https://www.facebook.com/MelissaEskueOusley 

5: Collaborating With Other Authors with Guest Melissa Eskue Ousley

Continuing the discussion of how to create a book marketing plan that fits with your time, budget, and life, this episode will cover a variety of topics to help you begin building your marketing plan. Topics covered in Part 2: --Author collabortion --Marketing Timeline --Long term marketing --Paid and free advertising --Genre specific marketing techniques --Book bloggers and tour companies   Resources mentioned in the show: •http://www.jillwilliamson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/The-New-Recruit-Marketing-Plan.pdf •http://nicholasrossis.me/2015/06/12/call-to-arms-book-marketing-results/ •http://www.lulu.com/blog/2012/07/how-to-market-mysteries-thrillers/#sthash.J977cZKA.dpuf 

Creating a Marketing Plan That's Actually Doable - Part Two

Write. Publish. Repeat. Podcast shares knowledge and experience from writers, both new and established, to help other writers improve their writing, learn about publishing, and navigate the industry.

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Author Life

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