HEARTICLES: Articles with Heart

Welcome crime writer, Sue Coletta, to Hearticles. She is guest posting about adding pets and animals to your writing. Take it away, Sue! • • • I love writing pets into my stories. Not only is a great way to  show a killer’s soft side , but they become important family members for the main characters. In my stories, I’ve used a Rottweiler, mastiff, and St. Bernard ( MARRED  and CLEAVED), a calico, tabby, and all-black cat ( Wings of Mayhem ), pet crows (Blessed Mayhem), and a black bear (A Sultry Abyss in  SCREAM ). I’ve even borrowed  a friend’s Bulldog  for Black Out ( RUN ), but I felt so responsible for him, I couldn’t include him like I’d originally planned. God forbid I returned him emotionally scarred from the experience. It’s much safer to use fictional pets. Need a way to show your character’s quirky side? Include a bearded dragon, snapping turtle, boa, tarantula, or exotic bird. Is your character adventurous? Give him a pet moose, lion, leopa...

Hashtags are an essential tool for any promotion. For the sake of conversation, let's talk books. What is a hashtag? Firstly, a hashtag is made up of two components...the hash and the tag or keyword. Using the two together creates a type of label or metatag used on social media to make it easier for users to find messages with a specific theme or similar content. The has looks like this #. Back in the old days, we called this the pound sign, but with most things, over time, names and meanings can change. In a time of social media, this innocent looking character has become something which holds much power. Why? Using this symbol alerts social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to share the topic on the hash, much like a neon arrow that's blinking, "Hey, over here...someone's talking about your book!" And with luck, that person will be inspired to buy your book, or whatever you're promoting. Each social media site uses the hashtags a little dif...