Thank you to everyone who attended the First Pages workshop last night! It was amazing to catch up again even on Zoom. I really enjoy these meetings and sharing some of the best tips I've learned on my Writing Journey with you.

Last night we got together to talk about what a first page and chapter needs in order to hook a reader. We discussed what we as readers like and don't like in the opening pages. Then we examined the first pages of a collection of novels.

This month at Popular Fiction we discussed all things romance! What defines a romance novel, what are the different subgenres, and what type of conflict makes up the story on the road to happily ever after?

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting. We had lots of fun. And if you missed out, come along next month for Genre Expectations! In the meantime, here is a summary of last night's meeting.

2018 has been my most successful year of my writing career so far. As a board member of the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre, facilitator of the Popular Fiction Writers Group, and entering many competitions, I have been very busy while also working on my three manuscripts. It has been a very overwhelming year with plenty of ups and downs, but I have learned plenty from competition feedback and writing workshops. Again, I feel like I've grown as an author this year and cannot wait to see what 2019 will bring me.

This blog post will share some of my writing achievements and memorable moments of 2018.

Popular Fiction is going to be bigger and better this year with interesting workshop topics on the last Wednesday evening of every month. Reviewing the most important aspects of novel writing, I've planned eleven workshops that should be applicable to all novel genres and will help improve the quality of my fellow writers work. Take a look below for a preview of Popular Fiction this year, and I hope to see you there!

The importance of setting is generally overlooked when creating your novel, so tonight at Popular Fiction I led a discussion about how to make your setting mean something. Settings are not just a place in your novel. If you want your reader to feel and experience what your character is, then you need to think about time and place within that scene.

This month, I put together a workshop exploring the key aspects needed in order to start writing a novel. As the Popular Fiction group is filling with writers who are just starting out or hoping to write their first manuscript, I thought this would be a valuable workshop as I took them through plotting, characters, point of view, and 'what is my story about?

As we're a writers group for popular fiction, which includes crime, this month I put together a workshop on different aspects of crime novels, including sub-genres, antagonists, red herrings, and foreshadowing. The discussion at this workshop was open and engaging as we explored these features of writing, which can cross over into most genres, including one of my favourite's, romantic suspense.

This month, Popular Fiction discussed the topic of how and when to include sex in your novel. Sex is a popular selling point in fiction and other forms of storytelling. Consider the popularity of Mills and Boon's Sexy (now Modern) line and TV shows like Grey's Anatomy, Game of Thrones, or Outlander. While sex isn't the main action here, it holds a major drawcard to increase the popularity of these books/shows.

​So what about sex in fiction Dos your book need sex? This is something only you can decide.

At the Popular Fiction Writers Group this week, we discussed popular romance tropes. What makes these tropes popular? Where do they fit in to today's society? And how can we improve these tropes and make them unique?

While the conversation was indeed interesting, below are a list of my favourite tropes and why I like them. Please remember, these are only my opinions and based on what I enjoy reading.