(Dianne) Fox Writes

His Bid for a Bride by Carole Mortimer [Amazon | Barnes&Noble] is not aptly named. Nor is it aptly blurbed. The title and back cover blurb are both incredibly misleading about the relationship between the hero and heroine. Far from “bidding” for her or otherwise demanding anything from her, the hero is actually attempting to [...]

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon [Amazon | Barnes&Noble] is a regency historical novel spinoff from the Outlander series. Now, I haven’t read the Outlander series, but that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying this book.
Lord John discovers that his cousin’s fiancee is poxed, and this sets him off on a quest [...]

No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty [Amazon | Barnes&Noble] is a sort of travel guide to the land of NaNoWriMo, a place I’ll never visit. Despite that, I wanted to read the book and see if any of his advice was applicable to me. (I can’t write 1,667 words in a day without being [...]

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine [Amazon | Barnes&Noble] has been on my To Be Read list for a really, really long time. I’m glad I finally read it. This was an excellent beginning to a series. As soon as I finished reading it, I immediately requested the next in the series from my local library.
Joanne [...]

Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing [Amazon | Barnes&Noble] is filled with truly excellent advice. The rules are formatted in true Elmore Leonard style, which makes them very entertaining to read. He backs up his advice with his reasons — and is very clear that if you have the chops to back it up, you [...]

Writing Young Adult Novels by Hadley Irwin & Jeannette Eyerly [Amazon|Barnes&Noble] was published in 1988 and is out of print, but it was surprisingly useful and interesting anyway.
Unlike the last YA writing book I picked up from the library, this one focused on topics specific to YA: how dialogue, setting, characterization, and plot are used [...]

While You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop To A Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing [Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Subterranean] didn’t tell me much I don’t already know about writing or publishing, the realization that I already knew all the key pieces of information Scalzi was offering as someone with a decade of [...]

Writing for the Teenage Market [Amazon | Barnes&Noble] was something I picked up on impulse from the library last week. I knew it was a fifteen-year-old book, and so a lot of the information would be out of date, but I was curious anyway.
The age of the book is not its biggest problem. The biggest [...]

I actually wrote this on Friday, May 8, intending to post it last weekend, but then the incomparable Elisa Rolle posted her review of the book and I didn’t want to clutter Mick’s inbox with review announcements. So, a week late, here it is:
Times Queer [Amazon] was an uncomfortable read, but I think that is [...]

Passionate Ink by Angela Knight [Amazon|Barnes&Noble|Loose Id] covers everything from plotting to the importance of good grammar to manuscript formatting. Grammar: Learn it, or your query may be rejected on that basis alone. Agents and editors don’t want to have to be constantly correcting your bad grammar.
One of the aspects of the book that was [...]