Writing has been my passion since I was a young girl. I enjoy the thrill of creating new characters, their back stories, and the worlds they live in. It is the thrill of the story development and the choices the characters make that keep my enthusiasm for their stories alive. I hope to share my experiences of how to write a novel with others so they can share their stories too.
Check out my novels on Amazon (Free for Amazon Kindle subscribers)
The Starborn Series: Forbidden, Forsaken, Forgotten
The Revenant City Series: The Curse of Judas, The Repentant Son (Coming Soon)
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How To Write A Novel Using OneNote
Tips for how to organize and write your novel using OneNote. From research to structure and outlining, OneNote is the tool to use.
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Increase Your Word Count: 6 Tips for Making a Creative Writing Space
Increase your word count with a productive creative writing space. Make a writing workstation that will work for you and keep you focused on reaching your writing goals..
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Which Point Of View Is Best When Writing A Story
I am currently in the beginning stages of rewriting the first novel I published and looking for some feedback.
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3 Bullet Journal Attempts And What I Learned From Them
A bullet journal is a good tool to use when you want to organize your life but you don’t know where to start. Outside of family and work, I pursue my dream of becoming a full-time writer. I have always used spiral notebooks to keep my notes in or write out my ideas. Over theContinue…
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Preview: The Curse of Judas
The Curse of Judas is scheduled for release on October 31st!!!! I am super excited and thrilled to give you a preview of what is to come. After generations of advancement, the human race had thought they were invincible. That was until the revenant made their presence known. The humans that survived the culling mustContinue…
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“Whereas” vs. “Where As”
While editing The Curse of Judas I stumbled upon this conundrum. So I did a little research. Whereas If you can substitute the word “while” then it is okay to use “whereas” as one word. If you cannot, then use “where as” as two words. I stumbled upon a very interesting blog post while IContinue…
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Blonde vs. Blond
I was researching for The Curse of Judas and stumbled upon this interesting fact. Taken straight from the search page: In the original French and in traditional English usage, blond is masculine and blonde is feminine. Therefore, blond is male and blonde is female. The word blond can function as an adjective and as a noun, and it is one of the only English adjectives to retain separate masculine and feminine grammatical genders.Continue…
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Mantel vs. Mantle
While editing The Curse of Judas, I ran across a spelling conundrum. Mantel vs. Mantle I never realized that there are two ways to spell this word, and each way has a different meaning. The “mantel” is a shelf above a fireplace. The “mantle” is below the crust of the earth or it could beContinue…
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“A While” vs. “Awhile”
While editing a part of The Curse of Judas, I stumbled across a dispute between the use of the phrase “a while” and the word “awhile”. Here is the snippet from the story: He stared into the fireplace next to the couch, and without looking at me, he answered. “A revenant’s blood has power. ByContinue…
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Bear a child or Bare a child?
I was writing a particular scene in The Curse of Judas and I stumbled across the difference between bear and bare. Here is the snippet from the scene: “You are important. In fact, you are the most important person I have met in the thousand years of my existence,” he replied. “Why is that?” IContinue…
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Hung vs Hanged
I thought of something interesting as I was working through my WIP. What is the difference between hung and hanged? A curtain is hung but a man is hanged. Why can’t a man be hung? I think it is strange that we use the word hung more than hanged. Our infinity for “the hanging man” is weird andContinue…
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Continually vs. Continuously
While editing a chapter in my newest novel, The Curse of Judas, I ran across something interesting. I have been using the words continually and continuously incorrectly. While the reader can still get the gist of the message I was trying to convey, it still struck me that I had not thought about it before.Continue…
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The Curse of Judas by Cynthia Brandel
A Post-apocalyptic Adventure Humans had placed themselves on a pedestal above all other living creatures. That would change when the revenant made their existence known. The Covenant was made at the end of the war. The culling had taken millions of human lives. The consulate (a group of higher-up humans) maintain the Covenant and workContinue…
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Writing the last chapter…..
Writing the last chapter and summing up your work produces a mixture of emotions. Your hard work and all the effort and time you have put into your project is finally coming to an end. The next step is editing. Editing….. A dreaded and tedious task. There are a ton of things to look forContinue…
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Forgotten: Book 3 of the Sanctorian Series has been published!!!!!!
Forgotten has finally been published! Writing the Sanctorian Series has been a struggle. Putting the story on paper is much like going to war with oneself. My endless battle of wording and editing has finally yielded the published work. Lyla has been captured by the Domuran King and Thane has been betrayed by one ofContinue…
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Developing Your WIP
Here are a few tips to keep in mind before you begin to work on your WIP. Write the ending first. This gives you a goal to shoot for. Develop your antagonist and your protagonist with evident flaws (opposite from each other). Your characters grow as they travel through the plot. They need to compliment each other.Continue…
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The Story Behind the Revenant
I have always been fascinated by the tales of how vampires first came to being. There are so many tales out there that it would be hard to choose just one path. But for the sake of writing the back story of the MC for the Revenant City Series…..I must. I have decided to goContinue…
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Do you know the difference between a hyphen, an en dash, & an em dash?
Dashes……. You see them everywhere even though you may not realize it. But did you know that there are three types of dashes? Really, there are three. hyphen (-) en dash (–) em dash (—) Now you may be saying, what—I’ve never heard of that! Well, neither had I before I found out I hadContinue…
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Other Things to Consider When Developing Your Character
What makes your character unique and helps them to stand out from the thousand other characters your readers will meet in their lifetime? What is it about your character that you want your reader to remember after they have finished your story? Think about the people you meet in your life. Pick out one ofContinue…
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Developing Your Character’s Appearance
I find it helpful to search online or through magazines to find inspiration for how I want my character to look. Usually, I will take a screenshot or a clipping and paste it with my character’s arc to use as a reference when I am trying to describe how they look. When you describe yourContinue…