<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Florence A. Bliss Writes]]></title><description><![CDATA[Florence A. Bliss Wr]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:36:06 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.florenceabliss.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Make Every Scene Work]]></title><description><![CDATA[Craft moves that instantly strengthen your scenes.  There is a trap almost every new writer falls into.   It doesn’t look dangerous. It doesn’t feel wrong. In fact, it often feels productive. Have you ever experienced this? You’re writing. The words are flowing. The scene is vivid. But then you think…is anything really happening? Suddenly, you are in the trap. The trap of: Writing a scene without a clear purpose. As writers, we want readers to understand our characters’ lives. So we write...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/make-every-scene-work</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69c073840160b7de31523d5f</guid><pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 23:23:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_8ece31555bb846f0a3b8b87928a91be9~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_600,h_400,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Emotional Arc of Intimacy]]></title><description><![CDATA[Give your sexy scene an emotional climax as well as a, um, regular one. It’s hard, erm, difficult , to write an effective sex scene.  Why? Because good sex is about way more than just the sex. I remember reading an erotica years ago that was so confusing when it got to the sexy scenes that I couldn’t understand where the penis was located in three-dimensional space. It was over here, it was over there, it was up high and then down low, it seemed to exist as its own entity, independent of its...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/the-emotional-arc-of-intimacy</link><guid isPermaLink="false">698a69d23faa9e439bec9d49</guid><pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 22:36:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_7b5734a303044ac3b7f5c3bf497ccc44~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_600,h_400,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Revision isn’t punishment. It’s decision making time.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Stop me if you’ve heard this one: You’ve written a first draft. It took weeks, months, years. You’ve struggled, you’ve cried, you’ve bled onto the page. But you did it, you found the story, and finally wrote the words The End . Then you realized…finishing your first draft is most certainly not  the end.   Revisions can feel entirely overwhelming. Suddenly the story you’ve put so much into feels wrong in its very bones. Aside from the few moments that you love, you feel like there are too many...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/revision-isn-t-punishment-it-s-decision-making-time</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6976bdefc28ec6f251928ee0</guid><pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 01:07:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_f45b34cad8fa4f78b1525ef0fe1993ba~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_600,h_400,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Don’t Bore Me! Keep those first pages engaging]]></title><description><![CDATA[Apparently, I’m obsessed with first pages. Why? Because I know how hard it is to write a first page that gets readers to invest .   The truth of it is, the first few pages have to do a lot of things to keep a reader interested. We, as writers, want to give all those things because we know how great our story is. Unfortunately, it is very easy  to lose sight of what actually is important and how the readers will respond to the first few pages of our wonderful, wonderful stories.  What slows us...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/don-t-bore-me-keep-those-first-pages-engaging</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6969346e482610fa288de521</guid><pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:43:29 GMT</pubDate><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Making Dialogue Sounds Authentic (Without being, like, too real)]]></title><description><![CDATA[This month has been about dialogue. I love  writing dialogue. I tend to use dialogue to guide my scenes and I focus on description and exposition in later drafts. However, I know a lot of authors who are the complete opposite. So what’s a writer who doesn’t naturally gravitate to dialogue to do? Here’s the trick with dialogue: Make it real. But not too  real.   Easy right? Keep it real, mostly Writers often go one of two ways when writing dialogue: 1) super realistic 2) super unrealistic....]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/making-dialogue-sounds-authentic-without-being-like-too-real</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6935e64304019cd6c2cfbb7e</guid><pubDate>Sun, 07 Dec 2025 20:40:40 GMT</pubDate><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[✍️ Hooking Readers Through Curiosity (Like a fish, but without the bloodshed)]]></title><description><![CDATA[This month, I have focused on giving you tips to help grab your reader’s attention, and keep it, in the first pages.  The reason for this is that when a reader is new to you, you don’t have time to set the stage, build your world, or indulge us in backstory. Readers don’t want to invest in something that they aren’t sure will pay off.  The original version of my novel Taken by His Sword that I sent to agents was 115k words and it started with a three chapter description of how FMC Alex, at 8...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/hooking-readers-through-curiosity-like-a-fish-but-without-the-bloodshed</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68fd3012a51f8a92928a5bf6</guid><pubDate>Sat, 25 Oct 2025 20:22:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_7bf018fb0d5140ad884e5199c61c12f0~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_600,h_400,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Author Hack May - Can anyone help?]]></title><description><![CDATA[Being an author is weird because the writing process forces you to be alone and in your thoughts for so much time . And then your story...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/author-hack-may-can-anyone-help</link><guid isPermaLink="false">684066a591910dbe9d009918</guid><pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 19:54:04 GMT</pubDate><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[✍️ The Momentum Method: How to Keep Moving with your Manuscript]]></title><description><![CDATA[Do you struggle to get yourself to sit down and write? Or maybe you can get yourself seated, but you have a hard time staying focused and...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/the-momentum-method-how-to-keep-moving-with-your-manuscript</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68cefd22c9b60ffcbec7e4a9</guid><pubDate>Sat, 20 Sep 2025 19:23:43 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_7bf018fb0d5140ad884e5199c61c12f0~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_600,h_400,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What is art? (AKA my sister is super cool)]]></title><description><![CDATA[Some people just have art built into them, don’t they? So what are the rest of us supposed to do? I have a minor in music. I wasn’t a...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/what-is-art-aka-my-sister-is-super-cool</link><guid isPermaLink="false">66c26f550110c70781b216e5</guid><pubDate>Sun, 18 Aug 2024 22:08:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_6981a1325f9346fabfcfb02b799977fe~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Staring at the Screen [with a gun in my hand]]]></title><description><![CDATA[Any fans of The Cure out there?! If you have ever written anything , then surely you can relate to this.  Staring at a blank screen and a...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/staring-at-the-screen-with-a-gun-in-my-hand</link><guid isPermaLink="false">66a6ecdea834d3511f831703</guid><pubDate>Mon, 29 Jul 2024 01:32:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_0712ed9a15284734b134b4982200000f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Censor your f*&#38;#ing writing]]></title><description><![CDATA[Not really. Just quit swearing so much. I don't mean that writing should be clean and unabrasive. I mean the opposite. Swear words are an...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/censor-your-f-ing-writing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">66945428606070580d673a62</guid><pubDate>Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:40:27 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_9baa4b4b40a04d73b53b9eb81b5624b8~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_330,h_276,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why I write like a 1940s gangster]]></title><description><![CDATA[As it turns out, my natural writing voice is that of a 1940s gangster.  To clarify, I am not a 1940s gangster.  I was born in the 80s,...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/why-i-write-like-a-1940s-gangster</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6681bead58de13f57814af6f</guid><pubDate>Sun, 30 Jun 2024 20:31:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_b2cadbbc295541908a21f4dbbabfca77~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Romance Writing is Hard...]]></title><description><![CDATA[I have an MFA in creative writing which means that I really believe that I am an awesome writer.  Like I really  like my writing.  I...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/romance-writing-is-hard</link><guid isPermaLink="false">662aee3156f16d5e93f512fb</guid><pubDate>Fri, 26 Apr 2024 00:16:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_c67a555791044cf8b6a0bc53f8dc8e4a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sweet but Spicy]]></title><description><![CDATA[When I went into my first Romance Writers of America  (RWA) conference, I was given a nametag and then faced with a selection of little...]]></description><link>https://www.florenceabliss.com/post/sweet-but-spicy</link><guid isPermaLink="false">66283261660d4ceeddce1a0c</guid><pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 22:12:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f946b3_7c850984c9c648439444b2b73c7efb14~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Florence Bliss</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>