Fiction – WRITE TIME AND AGAIN

Coming in November 2026

Image• Posted on July 29, 2026 by L. M. Montes

When creating fictional characters, so many details needed in building them exist. So, how do you choose what traits to give them externally and internally? Let’s focus on the internal, for now. In the reading a work of fiction for pleasure, part of what pulls me in is the depth of character of the protagonist. Their emotional response to the people and events going on around them, their thoughts, and their actions taken all play a role in achieving this.

Emotions:

Do: Tears skated down her cheeks. Don’t: She cried.
The goal here is to allow the reader to feel right along with the character. You want to pull them in. The first example does this.

Do: Sam backflipped, shot his arms into the air, and danced. Don’t: Sam was excited.

Actions:

Do: Gwen sat on the park bench and waited. Her hands rested either side of her knees, tapping out a nervous rhythm. She checked her watch, continued tapping, checked her watch again, and continued tapping. Why was he late?

Don’t: Gwen sat on the bench tapping her fingers

In the first example we get a clear picture that Gwen is nervous about her meeting with a man. In the second example we don’t know why she is there. Her actions don’t indicate whether she is nervous, relaxed, or happy.

Thoughts:

Do: My heart ached, watching him go. Would he be back? Would he find another? Would he get killed? I knew these long missions away from home was part of his job. One would think I’d be used to this by now. Maybe some do. But a nagging pit in the well of my stomach sat lying in wait each time he went on assignment.

Don’t: I didn’t like him leaving on assignment.

Clearly the first example paints a deeper picture of what she’s going through. Her situation carries quite a bit of emotional baggage and fear. It is conveyed to the reader. The second example tells us nothing.

Think of creating character depth this way:

How can I cast a line into the character and pull out a wealth of emotions, thoughts, and actions that will pull the reader in, make them care, and turn pages?

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Long Hours

Posted on July 22, 2026 by L. M. Montes

The Hidden Scepter: Time Series (book 3)

The last four years have been quite an adventure writing the 3rd book in my Time Series. It’s gone through revisions, complete deletions, and now the editing process is in full swing. Even though it is 3rd in a series, the story itself circles back around in parts to the first two books. Because of this, when The Hidden Scepter comes out this coming November 2026, books 1, 2, and 3 will be a trilogy within a series. The name of the trilogy will be The Sapphire Trilogy. Then I will begin writing the next trilogy in the Time Series.

Future Projects

My co-author and I have also been working on another short story collection. We’re about six stories deep and going strong. Updates on that will follow later this year. Also stirring in our minds is a cozy mystery. I started that one, was deep in chapter 1, then deleted it and set it aside. Why? Because I felt it could be better than what was there. After re-reading it, it sounded too blah to me. It needed a better setting. It needed more of a hook. So that book is brewing on the back burner of my mind and will be for while.

I hope the rest of your week goes well, and all the best to all of you.

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Five Activities I Do for Fun

Posted on January 23, 2026 by L. M. Montes

Having fun encompasses many areas of one’s life. So much in this world brings joy and creates fun for so many. But what brings fun for one is different from what brings fun for someone else. For me, there are a number of activities I do for fun. Here is a list of five.

Write fiction
Make jewelry
Read
Put jigsaw puzzles together
Go for walks

Of course, there are other activities connected with these items that create fun, but these are the main ones.

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Cross-Promotion Techniques Every Seller Should Know

Posted on December 19, 2025 by L. M. Montes

When there is something we as individuals are trying like mad to sell, it is easy to get caught up in advertising and marketing by doing what everybody else is doing. As a result, nothing sells. Why not? The strategies used worked for others but not for you. What did you do wrong? Sound familiar? Yep. Sounds familiar to me, too. That’s when its time to take a step back. Relax. Take a deep breath and look at what you have. Look at ‘what’ you are doing. Do you ‘sound’ like everybody else who was able to make sales? You don’t want to sound like someone else. You want to sound like you. You can do what others do, but do it your way. You could even add something only you can.

The key is to stand out. So, how do you do that? Well, it depends on ‘who’ you are. What are your likes? What are your hobbies? How can you incorporate them into your marketing strategies? Here’s an example. Sally Seller makes jewelry, and she writes books. In her books she features certain gemstones, such as sapphires, emeralds, jade, and lapis lazuli. The typical marketing strategies she had been using for her books were not working, so she ‘took a step back’ and thought about what she had been implementing in way of marketing. When she did this, an idea hit. She could cross promote her jewelry with her books. Here is her idea.

Make beaded bracelets using Preciosa crystals in the colors of the high end gemstones featured in her books and give a free bracelet to anyone who purchases a book in her book series.
Purchase some actual sapphires, emeralds, lapis lazuli, and jade beads in the colors of the gemstones featured in her books, make bracelets out of them and sell them at her book signing table.
By implementing both strategies 1 and 2, readers will be drawn not only to the books but also to Sally’s handmade jewelry and vice versa.

What happened when ‘Sally’ implemented these strategies in real life (on two occasions now)? Her book and her jewelry sales went way up and more than tripled.

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Hardest Personal Goal

Posted on October 8, 2025 by L. M. Montes

The hardest personal goal I set for myself was back in the early 2000’s when I was in the beginning stages of writing my first novel. I set a goal for myself to finish it in 2004. I had started writing it in 1999. Well, twenty years afterwards in 2019 I finished and published it. Writing your first book is not an easy feat. Maybe for some beginning writers it is but for many it is not.

So what makes publishing that first book so difficult? It’s everything we don’t know that we need to know and have yet to learn. Add to that a full time job and raising a family. We do our best. I did take my time with that book because there were times I didn’t feel like writing. There were times I needed time to think about how I wanted the story to get to where I wanted it to go. Then, a large chunk of my manuscript got deleted when the hard drive on my computer went bad. Essentially, I started over. I am so glad I did because the story was better as a result.

Learning the ins and outs of writing a book along the way took time as well, which included learning how I write. Am I a planner or a pantser? Getting to know myself is what I call this. I did figure all of this out by the way. Now that doesn’t mean I know everything there is to know about writing a book. No one ever knows everything there is to know. It’s a ongoing process, so we are continuous learners.

I should never have made the goal of finishing my first book to be in 2004. That wasn’t realistic. Not for a first time novelist. Hence the most difficult goal I ever set for myself.