Writing — Contemporary Romance Author

Formatting

Behind the ScenesHeather AshleyApril 20, 2024Behind the Scenes, Writing, Dirty Hit Comments

The Process

Behind the ScenesHeather AshleyApril 15, 2024Behind the Scenes, Writing, Dirty Hit, Savage Society of Emerald HillsComment

The Book You Didn't Ask For

Behind the ScenesHeather AshleyDecember 20, 2023Writing Comment

My Writing Plan & Schedule

Behind the ScenesHeather AshleyDecember 9, 2022Writing Comments

New Series Announcement

Savage Society of Emerald Hills is a dark (my darkest yet) series full of forbidden stories. Think father's best friend, step brother, priests, etc. It’s set in Emerald Hills, the fictional town located in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains (in the Pacific Northwest), and…

Crossed Souls in the Making

I mentioned in my last post that Crossed Souls had started in my head as something so much different than it turned out to be when I wrote it. Originally, I imagined Willa as a sort of Cupid-like character. She was compelled to help everyone around her find their soulmates while not having one of her own and she was definitely bitter about it.

Crossed Souls - Rewrites

Crossed Souls, the first book in my Twisted Soul Magic series, was my first foray into paranormal romance. This was a story that started out in my head as something so much different than it came out when I wrote it. It also was my first attempt at writing reverse harem, and y’all… that shit is hard.

Heather AshleyMarch 6, 2022Crossed Souls, Writing, Behind the ScenesComment

Twisted Little Games - Plot

Every book I write, my actual process of writing the book changes just a little bit. Well, I guess that’s not true—sometimes it changes a LOT.

Behind the ScenesHeather AshleyFebruary 28, 2022Emerald Hills Elite, Twisted Little Games, Writing, Behind the Scenes, Follow AlongComment

Emerald Hills Elite Behind the Scenes

The Emerald Hills Elite series has been on my mind for a looong time. I don’t know if reverse harem academy books are still popular or not, but they’re a trope I love to read (and have loved to read for a while now). I’ve really itched to write my own story, put my own spin on the subgenre and so that’s where the idea for this series came from.

Behind the Scenes, InspirationHeather AshleyFebruary 26, 2022Emerald Hills Elite, Behind the Scenes, WritingComment

Twisted Little Games - Prep Work

Now that Hostile is finished and out in the wild, it’s time for me to start working on my next project. I thought it would be fun to update you as I go, giving you a behind the scenes look into my process of plotting and writing the first book in the Emerald Hills Elite series.

Behind the Scenes, Writing TipsHeather AshleyFebruary 24, 2022Emerald Hills Elite, Writing, Behind the Scenes, Follow AlongComment

Progress Update

I thought it’d be fun to update you along the journey of writing my current books. So, what am I actively writing?

Behind the Scenes, What I WroteHeather AshleyMay 4, 2021Behind the Scenes, Writing Tips, WritingComment

Two-Timing

Well, it’s official: I’ve lost my mind.

Yup, I’m about to dive into writing two books at the same time.

Behind the Scenes, Sneak Peek, Writing TipsHeather AshleyApril 28, 2021Behind the Scenes, Writing Tips, Writing, Crossed Souls, ChasedComment

Plotting... to Take Over the World?

…cue maniacal laughter.

I’ve probably talked about it before, but there are two types of writers (and potentially more in the form of hybrids of the two types but we’ll ignore them for now): Plotters and Pantsers.

Now, “Pantsers” are the type of people who fly by the seat of their pants. Get it? Ha. Ha.

Behind the Scenes, Writing TipsHeather AshleyApril 21, 2021Writing Tips, Writing, Behind the Scenes, Chased, Captive, Hollywood GuardiansComment

What Captive Taught Me

This whole writing journey started for me with a song and an idea to explore what it would be like to be a rock star and also finding love. At the start of my writing career, I had no idea about HOW to actually write. I mean, sure, you can sit down to your computer and just start typing, and a lot of authors make that work for them.

I am not one of those people.

Behind the Scenes, Writing TipsHeather AshleyApril 8, 2021Hollywood Guardians, Captive, Writing, Behind the ScenesComment

My Creative Brain

Heeyyyy, lovely reader! The first book in my all-new Hollywood Guardians series, Captive (Connor's story) is still underway and on top of that, I've been working on something top secret, too... But right now I want to do something I'm not great at and let y'all in a bit.

Behind the ScenesHeather AshleyMarch 24, 2021Behind the Scenes, Writing, PersonalComment

When I'm Stuck

Typically when I write a book, I aim to get a chapter done every day. Now, there are plenty of times that it doesn’t happen or that I do more than one in a day (more often, it not happening is what’s going down rather than me writing more, but it does happen from time to time).

Behind the Scenes, What I Wrote, Writing TipsHeather AshleyJanuary 14, 2021Behind the Scenes, WritingComment

Sorry For the Delay

I know, I know. It’s been a hot minute since I wrote anything on this blog, but there’s a good reason—promise! I’ve been hard at work writing Griffin. This book… it’s testing me, y’all. I’ve had to do so much research to try and get everything just right.

The Shadow Phoenix crew is going on tour in Griffin’s book, and while it’s not a huge tour, I want you to feel like you’re experiencing some of the places they go right there along with Magnolia and Griffin (and, of course, some of the other guys and girls from the group).

What Am I Thinking?

My mind was blown about two years ago when I discovered Lauren Landish and read a few of her books. They were so different than all the other romance novels I’d read in the past and I loved them so much. They were like a breath of fresh air.

Behind the Scenes, Writing TipsHeather AshleyNovember 9, 2020Behind the Scenes, Reverse Harem, Writing, Saving MaddoxComment

What I'm Working On

With the release of Playing Jericho, I haven’t been great about blogging. On the one hand, I was busy rushing to get it done on time. On the other hand, I’m fairly lazy when it comes to keeping up with my social media. Or anything, really, but that’s for another day (procrastination is another one of my many, many talents lol).

Alpha-Holes? Yes, Please

I’d never heard the term “alpha-hole” before I started reading dark romance, but whoever invented it is a fucking genius because it so perfectly describes the kind of heroes (or anti-heroes) that star in those books.

Behind the Scenes, Writing TipsHeather AshleyOctober 4, 2020Behind the Scenes, WritingComment