Allison Pearl

Author of Cozy Whodunits, Romantic Suspense Novels, and Bookish Blog Posts

Villains: Those We Love, Hate, and Don’t Want to Live Without

In a lot of ways, the villain makes the hero, and there’s something so satisfying when a hero meets his match.

World Building: Don’t let it read like a textbook

I am by no means an expert in fantasy writing or world-building, but my lifelong love for the genre has led me to the conclusion that while there is no right way to build a fictional world, a wrong way is to give your reader a textbook instead of a story.

Writing your resume: It sucks, but you gotta do it Part 2.

Reading job postings while crossing your fingers in hopes that it’s not a fake listing or another phishing scam, while trying to get the magic formatting formula that will allow your document to get past the dreaded Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) troll guarding the hiring manger’s inbox is like walking barefoot and blindfolded down a thousand-foot hallway floor covered with a cornucopia of loose Lego

Writing your resume: It sucks, but you gotta do it.

What everyone seems to agree on is that the current job market is a stress-inducing and time-sucking mess.

The Horror Genre: I can’t stay, but it’s a fun place to visit.

Thrillers and Suspense stories may keep you up at night, but Horror will haunt your dreams.

Books. How many is too many?

The better question is ‘How are you using your books?’

When it all goes off the Rails

Lost momentum does not have to stay lost forever.

The Greatest Girls are Gothic Girls: Why I’ll always love women’s Gothic Literature.

I find nothing scarier in a novel than a villain just as human as me.

Writing Action: Don’t Forget the ‘act’

Know everything. Until you know everything in an action scene, you can’t write anything.

Am I a writer who doesn’t write?

If I’m not doing this whole writing thing right, should I be doing it at all?