First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

A story about how Romance continues to be treated like antimatter in some parts of the SFF community. Also, exciting news on ONEIRA, and a bit more about agents and being careful who you pitch to.

ROG…

My bizarre story about mistaken identity and the revelation it gave me on how we talk to each other and - most importantly - how writers communicate with agents. Also, highly recommend the Willamette…

The importance of voice, refining it, learning how to get it on the page, how dismissing something like the 3-Act Structure as formulaic is missing the point of storytelling entirely,  and why (again…

A dive into genre today, along with a discussion of whether there's an identifiable plot arc for Science Fiction or Fantasy (hint: there isn't), and what I've recently discovered about writing a Roma…

I'm digging into how I balance the various demands of being a hybrid author, giving details on my current decision-tree, how I decide what to give my agent to submit to traditional publishing, etc.

Y…

Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Oppenheimer - I'm talking story structure, breaking the gridlock of chronology (which both of these do), the difference between backstory and flashbacks, an…

For lovers of The Mark of the Tala, I'm asking a question.  Otherwise I'm talking about POV choices, how to decide, and rewriting from different POVs. Also, I'm teaching a Worldbuilding class in Port…

The ROGUE FAMILIAR audiobook is out now! I'm talking about Jacqueline Carey's CASSIEL'S SERVANT, how it compares to KUSHIEL'S DART, and on making choices about where to begin a story.

ROGUE FAMILIAR o…

On trusting the Story Brain, making choices and questioning those choices - authors, I'm looking for comments on your experiences - and also how much I loved Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy.

Jennife…

Creativity and vacations/holidays, moving from writing as a hobby to a career, taking your mental health seriously, maintaining writing productivity, meeting deadlines, and methods for aggressively f…

Tough love talk on how our families and the people who love us most can be the biggest obstacles to getting that writing time. Related: wants and needs, the difference between them and how other peop…

How I'm getting better at balance, increasing my wordcount, getting business done, and having more time to relax! Also, using AI "tools" as a writer and examining the whole point of being a creative …

What it takes to be a career author - particularly a novelist - the kinds of sacrifices you have to make to carve out enough silence to hear the words of a story, and how there are no straight line t…

Ruminations today on what we mean by the "strong female character" and why this might be a more relevant conversation than I thought, given the state of feminism and challenges some female friends ar…

Happy to report that my training program to increase creative flow and word count is working! Also, additional thoughts on the ethics of using AI-generated work and how money factors into that for so…

A concern I have about a book cover designer who is offering discounts to authors who approve the use of AI-generated art. Also thoughts on training to improve wordcount and recognizing overdoing it.

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A round-up of what I've been reading lately, including several excursions from my normal reading. I'm thinking about female/femme narratives and how we center those (or don't) in terms of stories abo…

Thoughts on learning to paint by numbers, or learn to follow the rules of craft before you break them. How I'm breaking my own rule, on epistolary romances, and a funny story about my granddaughter.

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Updates on my travels, including WisCon and thoughts on being laid-back at cons instead of wall-to-wall. Also, trends in traditional publishing and speculation on why they all seem to want full manus…

Zencastr borked on me, so there's an abrupt ending, but I'm talking about self-publishing careers vs. trad-pub ones, AI and creativity, and writing a book that is an artistic conversation with anothe…