So, one of my most popular Medium articles is “What is Purple Prose, Beige Prose, and Blue Language?” While it seems a bit of a cliche that this writer is writing about writing, you gotta work with what you’ve got. If you’ve got it flaunt it. Shake what yo’ momma gave ya. If you smell it, dwell on it.

I’ve had too much coffee.

Regardless, this article has managed to snag the top SERP position. So it seems like something a lot of writers wonder about.

A couple of weeks ago, I got this comment from reader Coach about purple prose:

Like you rightly said,” if teenagers will go crazy over it en masse, it’s probably purple”, nay, not just teenagers, everybody who loves reading enjoys the allure in purple prose, that is what makes a novel notable, and worth reading. They used to call those with the skills to write in that way, word smiths, didn’t they?”

I have a slight (major) habit of being a bit sarcastic, and I don’t truly think that teenagers have terrible taste in books. I love it when kids enjoy reading. And I can understand why someone would like the Twilight series. However, I think Coach definitely has a point here, and I believe that the crux of his argument is where so much of the confusion about purple prose, what it is, and isn’t, originates. To understand and appreciate Coach’s argument, we gotta do a bit of time travelling.

Way…

A year ago, I published a post chronicling my first year into publishing and freelance copywriting. I dabbled around a bit in 2016 by taking a few writing courses, and 2017 really marked my start into the world of creative writing and fiction. 2018, however, has been the year of commercial copywriting for me.

So, how did I do it? (Very carefully). Is it possible to earn a living wage as a freelance writer? (Yes it is). Find out below in my 2018 year in review post.

What happened in the beginning of 2018?

So, last year’s year-in-review post left off with me about to launch Nefarious IV: The Dirigible Airship Disaster. The book officially released on Valentine’s Day. I had a Rafflecopter going for the book, and also ran a (somewhat) extensive email marketing campaign for the title. At the peak of the campaign, the book reached #34 in Gaslamp Fantasy.

Not too terribly bad for someone who didn’t experiment with any paid advertising methods. I earned about 100 bucks that month in royalties from that title alone. Unfortunately, I didn’t do much author marketing on…

We are going to cover my favorite genre, horror, and how to convey a decent amount of disgust and dread to your reader today.

I’ve written a couple of horror stories, and I use a simple formula to set the mood. Since I’m feeling especially generous right now, I’ll share it with you.

It’s about the tragedy.

What keeps us up at night? Tragedy.

Why do we believe in the fallacious Just World Theory? To make a feeble attempt at staving off tragedy.

What is regret? Tragic, and something everyone over the age of six months experiences.

What is the human condition? A tragedy.

…

Author marketing Hell.

A wasteland, but not a desert one. No, author marketing hell is full of too much stuff. In fact, it’s saturated with deafening and dissonant noise.

Your subscribers feel the same way, too.

First, I’d like to draw your attention to this article on Facebook’s recent announcement regarding the news feed algorithm. Late last summer, Facebook ran out of ad space. Essentially, the news feed became saturated by so many ads.

Now, if you carefully read that article I linked to, you can probably surmise that Facebook ad space will now come at a premium. Less ad space = more expensive ads. …

If you happened upon my year in review post, you probably noticed that I learned how to build an author email list during the second half of 2017. I get a lot of questions through this blog and via my Facebook group on how to do this, so I’m starting a new marketing series that will cover the topic.

I’ll try to break this down into easy steps. I remember when first starting how confusing it all seemed, and that there were so many ‘gotcha’ moments that led to a crap ton of unnecessary headache and heartache because I just didn’t understand certain terms.

So with that said, let’s get started.

You’ll need a reader magnet.

What’s that?

It’s a free book you use as bait/to entice someone onto your email list.

“But Lucille, I don’t want to give away my work for free! Do you know how many hours I put into toawejtaoinalesnoaieoaej *dry heaves*”

Look, I know. It hurts to give away free work AT FIRST but bear with me. It’s actually in your best interest to do so. And I’m not advocating you give away a novel. Just a short story of around at least 5,000 words, maybe a little longer…

A year ago today, I was dusting off an old flash fiction piece I’d written several years prior. That piece would then become the cataclysmic scene in Nefarious One: A Dark and Erotic Tale.

At the time, I’d been writing off and on for about fifteen years. I’d never considered publishing. I was a hobbyist. In hindsight though, my biggest regret is not starting sooner.

I graduated right when Kindle first came on the market, and at the time, I floundered around trying to figure out what the hell to do with my life. No inspiration was ever forthcoming, and…

Three Effective Techniques

First, let’s define a short story:

A short story is a work of fiction that can be read in one sitting and ranges in length from 1000 and 20000 words.

Short stories usually have a theme, are comprised of one main character, and a transformative event that shapes him/her.

In order to write a short story effectively, you must make an outline, keep the pace, and establish mood.

1. Make an outline

Making an outline will help you keep the pace, which is extremely important for short story writing. …