Just in case your New Year's resolutions had something to do with reading, too, here's a title for anyone who loves a good, suspenseful yarn involving creepy old houses, mistaken identities, and ghosts from high school past. In NEVER TELL A LIE, Ivy and David Rose seem to have the perfect life--a Victorian fixer-upper, a happy marriage, a first baby on the way--until a woman who claims to know them shows up at their yard sale. She introduces herself as Melinda White, but she looks and acts...

• Lynsay Sands The Good Guy
• Hailey North From Where You Dream, The Process of Writing Fiction
• Carrie Adams Anybody Out There?

Character Interviews

Having trouble with your characters? Try interviewing them. It sounds crazy, but it works. Pay attention not just to the words, but how they’re being said. Is she snapping at you or is she fairly open? Is he flirtatious or does he resent that you have the nerve to even ask him questions? This is a stream-of-consciousness sort of thing so don’t overthink it. Go with the flow, relax, and have fun. Two tips: (1) avoid yes-or-no questions in your interview, because you’ll only get yes-or-no answers; and (2) listen to your characters’ answers. They will reveal things you don’t expect, and if you don’t jump on those you might miss something important.

Victoria Alexander, author of Seduction of a Proper Gentleman

• 10/2/2008 The Post and the Courier covers Romance

  Charleston newspaper's article Georgian...

• 10/2/2008 Carol Alt on GMA

  Author of Next Year's Model on GMA

• 9/15/2008 Lois Greiman at RWA

  Romance author Lois Greiman answers...

• 9/9/2008 Carol Alt on The Today Show

  Author of This Year's Novel on The...