Melissa Charles author

  • Welcome to the New Me?

    A brief introduction to the site

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  • The Wait

    One thing that doesn’t get talked about much is the wait. Publishing runs on timing all its own. It follows no other schedule known to man, or at least known to me. If you think that waiting in a Dr’s office or ER is long, publishing will completely redefine what waiting really means. It starts…

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  • Half Full

    Today was the day. The Husband and two of the Minions headed off to Montreal to see the Rush concert. (In case you missed how this all happened, I mentioned our plotting here) The house is oddly quiet, but not. Our Boston Terrier, Lilo, is definitely out of sorts. See, I’m what’s often referred to…

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  • How To Write A Novel – Characters

    In case you missed it, you can find the other three entries here: the beginning, inspiration and outline. Now we’re looking at characters. For me, characters are where the story really comes alive. The better I know my imaginary friends, the better the story works. There’s a lot of advice on how to get to…

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  • How To Write A Novel – Outline

    Ah, outlining. How you are so controversial! There are three kinds of authors: The Plotter, The Pantser and The Plantser. Fear not, I will explain these terms. The Plotter: these folks write a dedicated outline, to one degree or another. Some have a rough map of big plot points, like a one page synopsis that…

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  • Goodbye, Dolly

    Her family announced that Ms. Parton passed away today, at the age of 80. There are so many reasons to have had admired her, and I’m not going to list them all here. If you know, you know, and if you don’t, please do some research. She was a woman of integrity, respect, and generosity.…

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  • How To Write A Novel – Inspiration

    So, back in this post, I said I’d boiled down my writing process into three points when drafting a new novel: inspiration, outline, and characters. For me, everything starts with an idea. This can be something from a headline, a day dream, a bit of conversation overheard while waiting in line at the grocery store.…

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  • How To Write A Novel

    Being an author can be an awkward life. There’s so much work that happens long before you can point to an actual book for sale that I’ve considered claiming a career in something more straightforward, like being an international spy or llama psychologist. How do you explain the journey of writing a novel? “Well, I…

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  • Revisions, Plotting, and Tickets

    The progress on the current novel or WIP (Work In Progress) aka ms (short for manuscript) continues. Sort of. I’ve handed in the most recent round of revisions, and now will find something else to do until I hear back from my agent. For me, I’m gonna hang out with the Minions, probably watch a…

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  • Scaring A Normie

    I often describe our family as the not-wealthy, Canadian version of the Addams family. It’s a short form that most folks instantly understand, and is more accurate than anything else I’ve been able to come up with. I genuinely wish we had the house, to be honest. There’s something about the Victorian style houses that…

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  • Bye Bye Bessie & Other Chaos Pt 2

    If you haven’t read part one, you can find it here So. We had a new vehicle, finally, and were on our way to purchase a new washer and dryer at a local store. I’d reviewed everything online, knew what set we wanted, and we strode in, ready to drop a chunk o’change on a…

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