Shannon Donnelly I don’t actually believe in writer's block. That probably makes me sound arrogant, but what I’ve found is that blocks are actually your writer instincts trying to get your attention—and what better way than to stop you cold? Every writer needs good instincts. You have to have that gut feeling when you’re scene […]

by Shannon Donnelly Years ago I was struggling to try and figure out how to write a synopsis. It took a lot of input from other writers, and some workshops, but I finally became comfortable with syopsis writing—and now it’s one of my favorite tools. I’m now doing my “Sexy Synopsis workshop again for Outreach […]

By Shannon Donnelly Great dialogue can make or break a novel. This view may stem from growing up watching a lot of 1930’s screwball comedies. Zingers fly with rapid fire and everyone talks. A lot. But the importance of dialogue really sank in when I wrote A Proper Mistress. I went for a lot of dialogue […]

Just a quick announcement - the winner of the drawing for the online course at Lawson Writer's Academy is . . . Jamie Beck! Writers in the Storm welcomes Shannon Donnelly to clarify what a book needs to land on the romance shelf. If your WIP a genre "fence-sitter" or if your romance could be shelved […]

by Shannon Donnelly “In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.” – Stephen King, On Writing There are three huge flashing signs that […]