POV – Jennifer Lane Books

If you want authors to shudder with fear and revulsion, ask them to write a BLURB.

What’s a blurb? It’s a brief summary of a story. The best blurbs hook the reader without giving away too much.

We writers are a verbose bunch and it’s tough for us to pack our narrative into a pithy punch. This is where critique partners and editors come in handy!

What characterizes your favorite blurbs? I’ve been drawn to starting with a sentence or two from the first person point of view. However, I wrote the blurbs for my first two books in the Blocked series in the third person, and wanted to stay consistent for book three.

I found a compromise for SPIKED (Blocked #3) by adding song lyrics to the blurb to capture the first person perspective of the hero Mateo, who’s a singer / songwriter.

SPIKED (Blocked #3)

They say

University is the time

To find yourself

But I don’t need to find myself

Just want to find you

After watching his older siblings find their love matches at Highbanks University, Mateo Ramirez feels unlikely to follow in their footsteps. What girl would want him? Unlike his brother and sister, he battles diabetes and chooses music over sports. But at least he can write songs about his life—and the girl who caught his eye when their parents ran against each other for US President.

Hey, chica! Come conmigo

And baby, why don’t we go

Down under the bridge to the water

With you it can only get hotter

Jessica Monroe is a talented swimmer who dreams of representing Team USA at the Olympics. When she earns an athletic scholarship to Highbanks, she’s excited to attend the same school as the cute boy she met two years ago: Mateo. Too bad he’s not around when a teammate spikes her drink. Jessica may never trust men again.

Trust

Is a hard-to-earn thing

Just

Try to keep listening

Swallow

Down all of the unjust

Hollow

My chest, my heart will bust

College years are the time to shake off the past and find your future. But will that future find Mateo and Jessica together? Dive in and immerse yourself in the eagerly anticipated conclusion to Jennifer Lane’s Blocked trilogy.

~ * ~

Add to Goodreads HERE

What do you think?

Now I need to find a stock image of a Mexican-American guitar-playing shirtless hottie for the cover. But FIRST I need to finish writing the novel. 🙂

Welcome to April’s Insecure Writers’ Support Group. Hop over the Alex Cavanaugh’s blog to join us!

Recently a reader friend asked, “How do I write an honest, helpful, negative review?”

Let’s discuss negative reviews. I don’t want to censor reader opinions, but merely state how I can learn best from reviews. I definitely know how frustrating and disappointing the reading experience can be. It has also become so clear to me that no author can please every reader.

As an author, I appreciate negative reviews that 1) offer specific constructive criticism, 2) make me laugh, and/or 3) acknowledge how personal preferences affect reactions.

I suggest getting specific about what’s not working for the reader. The tightness of the writing? Grammar? Pacing of the plot? Realism of characterization? Chemistry between the characters? Too many characters? Implausibility of plot?

Here are some reviews that have taught me to write better:

“There was head hopping in the third person omniscient perspective. Sometimes the same paragraph had perspectives from two different characters.”
(Thank you to two authors for sharing this wisdom about my debut novel With Good Behavior.)

“Grant is a wuss.” (This made me LOL)

“Grant cries too much.” (These reviews informed my characterization of beta men–I don’t want to make them too weak.)

“It was too depressing and covered too many issues.” (I’ve tried to lighten up later books with more humor.)

“It just didn’t work for me because…” (I like when reviewers state how their personal preferences affect the reviews, acknowledging that others might enjoy it but it just didn’t fit for them.)

Some negative reviews are not as helpful:

“This is YA, not NA.” (I get frustrated with this critique of Blocked because the age of the characters is indeed New Adult. Though it’s also my fault for choosing a sexy cover then not delivering the horizontal refreshment.)

Reviews that spoiler the reader or attack the author as a person are also not my cup of tea.