Recent

How Would the Sisters of Little Women Experience the World Today?
On Updating a Classic by Virginia Kantra
Lit Hub, May 26, 2021

Virginia Kantra on Why Your Story Matters | Librarians' Day, RWA 2020
by Annalisa Pesek, Library Journal, Sep 02, 2020

26 Books That Give Iconic Literary Characters A Different Story
It is a truth universally acknowledged that people love a fresh spin on a classic.
by Shyla Watson, BuzzFeed, June 25, 2020

"Jo Was Everything I Wanted to Be": 5 Writers on 'Little Women'
Julia Alvarez, Virginia Kantra, Anna Quindlen, Sonia Sanchez and Jennifer Weiner talk about how the book, now a hit movie, inspired them.
New York Times, Dec 31, 2019

Articles & Interviews

Can You Learn to Write? by Virginia Kantra

Celebrating Romance: the Journey and the Ways of Love by Virginia Kantra

Confessions of a Contest Slut by Virginia Kantra

Developing the Romance in Your Romance Novel by Virginia Kantra
originally published in the Romance Writers Report, July 2008

Fight Scenes and Love Scenes: Seven Tips to Writing Action by Virginia Kantra
originally appeared at Attacking the Page June 2011

Folklore in Sea Lord Interview with Jessica Lee Jernigan

Guide to Guy-Speak by Virginia Kantra

Guide to Guy-Speak 2: Negotiating Intimacy and Control by Virginia Kantra

Guide to Perfect Pitch: Pitching to Agents and Editors by Virginia Kantra

If She Can Think It, She Can Say It: Dialogue in Romance by Virginia Kantra

Interview with Cover Artist Tony Mauro
Tony Mauro, who did the fabulous cover art for the Children of the Sea, talks about his process

Interview, The News and Observer Books section, August 21, 2011.

Point of View, Part 1: Who's on First? The Basics of POV by Virginia Kantra
Guest lecture, Romance University

Point of View, Part 2: Switching POV by Virginia Kantra
Guest lecture, Romance University

Romancing the Phone by Virginia Kantra

Sealing the Deal:the Wet and Wild World of Selkie Romance Novels by Jessica Jernigan
Bitch Media, Red Issue, 2011

Til Death Do Us Part by Eloisa James
Immortal Sea and the function of the wedding in romance at Barnes and Noble Reviews

Voice: What Are They Talking About? by Virginia Kantra
originally published in the Romance Writers Report, October 2010

Who's on Top? Intimacy, Conflict, and Control by Virginia Kantra
originally published in the Romance Writers Report, October 2009

Wild Kingdom by Eloisa James
Sea Lord and the appeal of the Beauty and the Beast story at Barnes and Noble Reviews

You Can't Write that in a Category Romance! by Virginia Kantra at All About Romance

Links for Readers & Writers

I think every romance reader and writer should read Jenny Crusie's irrepressible defense of our genre,
Glee and Sympathy
as well as Laura Clawson's thoughtful essay at The Daily Kos, Romance Reader, Unashamed

There are a kajillion romance sites out there, many with great blog rolls.
But here are a few to get you started:


The Romance Dish
Smart Bitches Love Trashy Books

Links for Writers

Starting out, everybody's got questions. Find the answers at:
Romance Writers of America - national organization
Heart of Carolina Romance Writers - local chapter

Writers Market - the industry bible. If you're serious about marketing your work, sooner or later you're going to look at this, either the free copy in the library or the on-line subscription. Lots of great information is available at the website, even without a paid subscription.

Writer Unboxed - one of the best blogs out there for information, confirmation, and inspiration!

For profane and excellent advice, check out Delilah S. Dawson's guest post on Terrible Minds,
25 Steps to Being a Traditionally Published Author: Lazy Bastard Edition.
(Although once you start poking around on Chuck Wendig's Terrible Minds blog, you will lose hours of valuable writing time. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

More Great Resources

Honing your craft?

Browse articles on writing at The Book Designer

Don't miss Lisa Gardner's Conquering the Dreaded Synopsis
a New York Times bestseller's ten lecture workshop series on writing query letters and synopses.

Want help with characterization? I find the enneagram personality typing systerm a great resource.
Take the sampler quiz and read more about the 9 personality types at
The Enneagram Insitute

And for a quick, dirty, funny introduction to story structure, watch this introduction to the
Hero's Journey - with sock puppets!

Looking for an agent?

Check out Agent Query - What an agent is and how to submit to one,
along with a free, searchable database of over 700 agents.

as well as Preditors and Editors - Be careful out there!
Another Realm hosts this guide to literary agents and publishing houses.

Interested in self publishing?

Barbara Samuel O'Neal offers a thoughtful look at this option in The Sea Change of Self Publishing.
Novelists Inc offers their guide to all aspects of self publishing as a free, downloadable binder.

Links to Protect Our Oceans

In a sense, we are all children of the sea.
Read more about the issues affecting our oceans at Oceana
OC meets the Better Business Bureau standards for Charity Accountability. 80% of the funds raised go to program expenses. OC's current conservation priorities focus on addressing the impacts of climate change on the ocean, ending overfishing, protecting vulnerable and critically important marine ecosystems, reforming ocean governance, reducing threats to endangered marine species, and ridding waterways of trash and debris that pollutes our rivers, lakes, streams and oceans through the International Coastal Cleanup.

There are small, practical steps you can take to save our seas, from using reusable grocery bags to reducing your use of fertilizer.
Check out Coastal Living's Five Ways to Help Save Our Seas
and Five More Ways to Save Our Seas

For a list of other excellent organizations that help protect our seas, visit
SOS: Saving Our Shores.

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