by Jamie Chavez | Mar 3, 2014 | The Writing Craft
We’ve just been talking about romance—elements of romance show up in all sorts of fiction, from literary to genre. It’s commonly an important element in women’s fiction—books from authors like Liane Moriarty, Elizabeth Berg, Jane Green, Emily Giffin, Sarah Addison...
by Jamie Chavez | Feb 27, 2014 | The Writing Craft
We all want a little romance in our lives, don’t we? There was a moment in my teens when I realized every single song I loved on the radio was, you know, a love song. In fact, every pop song I knew of—past or present—was, thematically, a version of “She Loves You...
by Jamie Chavez | Jan 23, 2014 | The Book Biz
One of the first manuscripts I turned in as a freelance editor caused a minor panic at the publishing house. “This novel is too long,” the managing editor said in an email. “It’s 90K words. We contracted 75K.” (Let me tell you just how many fifteen thousand words are,...
by Jamie Chavez | Oct 31, 2013 | Your Editor Says …
But wait—there’s more. By page 46, we’re in 1844 Ireland, and that’s where most of the story happens. Or, I should say, the second story. (Here’s the first one.) Because really, this is two completely different stories mashed together in the hopes they would somehow...
by Jamie Chavez | Sep 19, 2013 | Books You Might Like, The Book Biz
What do you think of when someone mentions inspirational/religious* fiction? Wait, wait, I’ll tell you! Romance, historical, Amish, and women’s fiction. I do a lot of work for Christian publishers, and with some exceptions, this is what it’s come to. A few weeks ago,...
