Melissa Charles author

  • Welcome to the New Me?

    A brief introduction to the site

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  • From Pantser to Plotter Update!

    This is a follow-up to a previous post, found here As I mentioned before, I’m normally a ‘pantser.’ Someone who has a vague, hazy idea of how the book might go, and discovers the whole of it during the writing. A process I love, by the way. No shade on pantsers. I just had this…

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  • Author Challenge: How To Research Crimes Without Getting Arrested

    Maybe it’s my anxiety squirrels having a moment, but is there a good way to call up, say, the local police or fire department to ask questions about how to plot a crime? It can be really hard to find accurate information sometimes without sending up some concerning flags. Telling them, “I swear, I’m an…

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  • Weird Things On Social Media

    I’m not as active on social media as I could (probably should) be. I pop in and out like a demented jack-in-the-box because my energy levels vary wildly… and because life has forced my feral house goblin self to be social for the last two weeks and *gasp* leave the house. That said, I’ve heard…

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  • From A Pantser To A Plotter?

    The term ‘pantser’ is taken from the expression, ‘flying by the seat of your pants.’ Personally, I think of it more as the Ms. Frizzle approach. “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!”… while flying by the seat of your pants. I usually have the last scene in mind, and maybe a snapshot in my head…

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  • Let’s Talk Referrals And Etiquette

    I originally posted this on Threads, but wanted to compile it all into one blog post so folks could find it easier. Let’s begin at the beginning, as they say. What’s An Author Referral? It’s when an agented author recommends you to their agent. It’s not a guarantee of an offer of representation or even…

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  • Sh!t People Say To Authors

    One of the hazards of being an author, other than potentially getting yourself on a list somewhere due to your internet search history (seriously, it’s for a BOOK), is the weird things people say when they discover you’re a writer. “I would write a book, but I don’t have the time.” This doesn’t sound like…

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  • Being on Sub

    In case you thought that anxiety ended once you signed with an agent, allow me to introduce the next stage of publishing: going on submission. Step One: Depending on your agent, there are revisions to go through. Personally, I freaking love how editorial my agent is. I knew when querying that it was something that…

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  • Week’s End

    Whew. It’s been a heck of a week here. Sunday saw us loaded into the people mover to travel two hours away to an ‘entertainment centre’ to celebrate the youngest’s birthday. I put ‘entertainment centre’ in quotes, because I’m fairly certain that if you’re over the age of, say, twenty-five, it’s more like a full-on…

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  • How To Survive The Query Trenches

    The query trenches is an emotional rollercoaster. There’s the rare unicorn that sends out a dozen queries, receives ten requests for their full manuscript, then eight offers. Which is amazing and wonderful and mind-blowing, but absolutely not the norm. For most of us, it’s a long, slow, tedious slog. Emotionally, anyway. Actual time elapsed is…

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  • Idioms, Not Idiots

    In our family, The Husband and I take turns reading bedtime stories to the Littles, who aren’t as little as they used to be, but are still willing to be read to. Right now, they like old Garfield comics. Since I’ve already read ALL the Captain Underpants books and ALL the spinoffs multiple times, it’s…

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