First novel, Earth, to Launch February 19, 2015

My first novel, Earth, is being published by Seattle’s Booktrope, and the official launch is this Thursday, Feb. 19th. Join our mailing list on my website, carolineallen.com, and be entered to win a couple of fun promo prizes. I’m a visual artist and metaphysical coach (besides being a fiction writer) and you could win a […]

Enter to win an original watercolor!

We’re holding a raffle to attract people to my new Caroline Alllen, Author Facebook fan page. Earth, my first novel will be published in February 2015! Click this link below, and Rafflecopter will guide  you through the process of liking my page, and following me on Twitter, and you’ll be entered to win this 9×12 […]

Art of Storytelling is Hiring an Intern

The Art of Storytelling is hiring an intern in the Portland, Oregon area. With clients all over the globe, Art of Storytelling’s coaches and editors work online with creative writers on novels, memoir, screenplays and short stories. We help excavate a writer’s authentic voice, evolve that creative expression step-by-step, and finally help clients get published. […]

Writing a Novel: One Soul, Two Lives

Guest blogger Julie Mannina discusses her novel about past and present lives, Rhamanta, in this ongoing series of essays on writing by guest bloggers. Read more about Julie on her blog http://juliemannina.wordpress.com/. As a child welfare attorney, I see compelling stories every day. Several years ago, I decided to try to record those stories that really […]

Semiautobiographical Novel: A Eulogy

On June 9, 2012, I hosted a reading of six memoir and fiction writers at Santoro’s Bookstore in Seatte. My father is dying of Parkinson’s. One evening I was thinking about how at his funeral all the eulogies would be cleaned up, politically correct versions of the truth. Why couldn’t someone tell a real story, I thought, about […]

5 Tips for Writing Fiction

Angel at Kerepesi Cemetery in Budapest, Hungary, http://www.carolineallen.com It’s more difficult to sum up writing fiction than it is writing memoir. Fiction can be too amorphous, too soulful, to be forced into linear alignment. However, there are a few guidelines you can follow for writing good fiction. 1. Start with character. Spend time really getting […]

Evolution of the Writer

Court Jester, acrylic on canvas board, 16″x20″, part of the Stream of Consciousness Series, http://www.carolineallen.com. Evolving ourselves, owning our authentic voice, our authentic selves, may be the most important aspect of becoming a great writer. It may be more important than studying plot, characterization, setting or theme. It may be more crucial than a master’s […]

How to write: When beautiful isn’t beautiful

Seattle healer Ellen Newhouse (www.ellennewhouse.com) and I were working on a chapter of her memoir called Loner. She was describing how she liked to church hop when she was just a young girl. She was Jewish and adored Temple, but also went with friends to Catholic Mass, even took a catechism class. She was writing […]

How to write believable characters

Statue at Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest, http://www.carolineallen.com I’ve been working with Julie for four years. She’s writing a fascinating novel, where half of the novel is set in Medieval Wales and the other half in modern times. The protagonist has lived both lifetimes. Read more about Julie, as well as an excerpt here. http://www.artofstorytellingonline.com/#!__site/case-studies Because Julie […]

Fractured Brilliance

Fractured Brilliance: Styrofoam, paper mache, shattered mirror, and grout. http://www.carolineallen.com Over the past month in my studio, I’ve been working on a mosaic (see picture above). Usually I build the structure from scratch, but have been overwhelmed by world events, emotionally and psychically, and after writing my own novels and coaching clients on their books, […]