Megan R. Miller's Blog, page 4

Writing Romantic Conflict Part 1.2: More Good Relationship Drama

I've got this other blog entry over yonder about relationship drama and some good ways to do it without it being stupid. Anyway I had a whole bunch more ways to do relationship drama without it being stupid and that blog entry got way too long so I'm going to go ahead and continue from here because I apparently have a lot to say about this.

Strap in, nerdlets.


Straight Up Wicked

One character is doing some bad things. The other character knows they are better than this and is trying to save...

Torchlighters Is Available for Pre-Order on Kindle!

I was not lying to you when I said the 7th, it's just...later on the 7th than I anticipated.

Torchlighters can be found here and rest assured the physical copies are coming. I'm still figuring out IngramSpark (and by "figuring out" I mean I need to move some money around) but the very second it's out and available for purchase I will let you know! See you guys Tuesday <3

The Witcher 2 is Laughably Bad (Spoilers Ahead)

My husband and I are in the habit of playing games together and it kind of fluxes which one of us is holding the controller. This time, he was, so I only have his word to take on how this game controls and I'm honestly not inclined to go back and try it for myself. And just so you know, we only made it two hours into this game and that's legitimately enough for me to feel like I never want to touch it again, that is how hilariously bad it is. But, anyway, click 'read more' for the list of sin...

Breaking Down the Urban Fantasy Mystery Formula: Private Life Subplots

So we all love a good mystery, and most of that plot line is going to be about the murder, who did it, and particularly in an urban fantasy the weird world it takes place in that is so much cooler than ours (and why is my neighbor not a vampire?!). Of course, something that can (and probably should) be just as weird is the inevitable private life subplot that comes with the mystery you're serving.

Let's get to it, shall we?



You have your sleuth. They have their reasons for getting into whatever...

What to do About a Friend that Keeps Pretending to Have Read Your Work (And Obviously Hasn't)

I've done several google searches and can't find any good advice about this on the internet so I'm just going to collect my thoughts and write my own. Because I cannot be the only person that's having this issue.

You know the one. The friend that pops up and goes "Oh I love your work" but doesn't have anything specific to say about it? Or they pull something specific but they have it so far off the mark that you know they weren't holding the same manuscript? Like they tell you their favorite c...

Breaking Down the Urban Fantasy Mystery Formula: Hinting at Who Done It

There is a fine line between being subtle and cheating, when it comes to who actually committed the crime in a mystery. You don't want to be too obvious, because it takes the fun away, but the reader has to at least have a chance to see it coming. Otherwise they are going to be (rightfully) salty when the culprit comes out of nowhere and there were no clues.

So today that's what we're going to talk about.



Part of the generally accepted mystery formula is 'the return to an overlooked clue from a...

Writing Romantic Conflict Part 1.1: A List of Good Relationship Conflicts

If you know me at all you know I'm a complete sucker for romance. And of course the best romances have a little bit of conflict, because frankly we read to see things go poorly for people that aren't us. Something has to be at stake, right?

Romantic conflict is great, but sometimes it's just terrible. Sometimes it's unhealthy but you guiltily enjoy it anyway. That's what I want to talk about tonight. Some sources of romantic conflict. Good, bad and guilty pleasure (ugly).

So without farther ado...

Writing Mysteries: Crime Complications

What's up, readers? I've been doing a lot of studying the mystery formula. I might go back and do a blog entry on what that is generally, and what it entails, but today I wanted to take a minute to talk about Crime Complications, what place they have in a mystery story, why they are so important and what a few of  them you can use in your own work are.

(Edit: Yes, I know, I'm double late, I'm the worst; sometimes it's a struggle. The choice was get the blog done or get my prose done and g...

Breaking Down the Urban Fantasy Mystery Formula: Creating Your Sleuth

Hopping back on this urban fantasy mystery train, today I want to hit on some points to consider when designing your sleuth. After all, one of the best things about the genre is the first person smart ass whose head we're riding in, right?

(I know you're not obligated to go first person, but let's face it, most of these books are.)



Urban Fantasy shares a lot of tropes with Noir and for good reason. There's a certain vibe that comes with both. An expected grime, if you will. So here are a list o...

Breaking Down the Urban Fantasy Mystery Formula: Ingredients

Alright, so I've been studying this a lot recently and I want to break it down into chunks. I'll find the formula all over the place, breaking down what must be included in a mystery novel. However, some of these things have to be compounded into the same scenes. Some of them need to be included more than once. Some of them are subtext.

I'm pretty sure we're supposed to feel it out for ourselves, but I'm going to go ahead and give my hot take on the matter. So say we're following a recipe. The...