By Janice Hardy It doesn't matter how you hook your reader, as long as you hook them. "You need a strong hook" is advi...

By Janice Hardy Novels don't always have a happy hero at the core — but that doesn't make the character any less "likable....

By Janice Hardy At the heart of every story is a person with a problem, and the more compelling that person is, the better the story will be...

By Janice Hardy The guiding force at the center of a character.  When we’re developing characters, there’s a lot to think about. We need...

By Janice Hardy A first-person narrator has a unique set of challenges, and describing emotions is one of them.  For many readers, emo...

By Janice Hardy To be a great writer, it helps to be a terrible parent (but only to your characters). I have this philosophy for my characte...

By Janice Hardy The primary goal of an opening scene is to make readers want to read the next scene.  You’d be surprised how often w...

By Janice Hardy The premise is the core of the novel. Make sure it's solid. When I first started The Shifter (the first book in my tril...

By Janice Hardy Readers don’t mind backstory—as long as it’s something they want to hear about. The first novel I ever wrote was fantasy, so...

By Janice Hardy Betrayal can come in many forms, and most of them make for great stories. The "unexpected betrayal" has alway...