Cheryl Cowtan on Writing

NetGalley has over 175,000 reviewers, media, booksellers, bloggers and librarians!  NetGalley is a conduit for authors to get their books noticed, read and reviewed. Many years ago, I was a reader for NetGalley. I thought it was a great deal - getting free ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. However, what I found was that I would load up too many ARCs and then eventually lose interest in writing reviews. I'm sure there are many readers on NetGalley who have experienced the same initial enthusiasm followed by a decline in activity. That's why if you're going to invest in NetGalley, you will want to have control in choosing your own reviewers. Reviewers are rated on their activity, so you can sort through those who don't follow through using the NetGalley dashboard. NetGalley offers an incredible dashboard that allows you to control who gets your books, which also ensures the readers getting your novel are interested in your genre. Readers who aren't might

# WritingTips Creating mood and atmosphere with your writing is more than just using words. And a fine example of how we can create mood and atmosphere is this Canadian song. https://m.youtube.com/watch… If you don't know French listen to the song and decide whether the words are scary. If you know French, still listen to the song and consider that though the words are not scary, the mood and atmosphere is. How did the songwriter achieve this? Well, he used codes and conventions of music that translate into our minds as scary. Writers use codes and conventions of the genre and form in which they are writing. Codes are things that create meaning like symbols, images, and sound and lighting. Conventions are the parts that are normally found in that form. It's how we partner passages with other words or hints to other texts, or how we use the sound of words to create the effect. These are literary devices. Can we do this naturally?  Sure. If you're a great

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#WRITINGTIPS : Carefully choose your comparisons to support the mood of your passage. In this quote from "The Captive Series Bundle (Books 1-5)"   by Erica Stevens and Leslie Mitchell - the authors have sacrificed the atmosphere of a battle scene by using comparisons the reader usually associates with positive situations. Running across the top of the battlement, Ashby moved swiftly through the soldiers trying to stop him. Ever whistling Ashby continued to toss them aside like discarded peanut shells. Realization settled over him as Jack finally understood what caused Ashby to become so ruthless. Melinda. How to Write it Better First, consider the mood you are trying to create. In this featured passage from "The Captive Series" : The situation is "war" The setting is a "battlement" The character is "ruthless" The action is "tossing soldiers aside" Based on the above information about this scene, it would be a

Donna J. Warner, Author of a Crime Thriller Series: A HORROR FANTASY WITH HISTORICAL EVENTS : My guest is Cheryl R Cowtan. She is a long-time fan of Anne Rice and Stephen King and prefers her vampires to be razor-sharp predators w...