Sooner or later, practically every would-be novelist turns to those already published in search of The Secret. And universally, the reply is some version of, "There is no secret." But kindly authors offer us tips again and again, and now write FAQs, undoubtedly in hopes that we'll stop bugging them! The topmost tip is read. Read everything in the genre you love. Read outside of your genre. Read with an active mind for what you like and what you don't like, for how the writer gets their point across.

I'd like to say that I was following this advice when I devoured Stardust, Moon Called, and Touch the Dark, but I'd be lying. Consciously, I was trying to entertain myself. Unconsciously, I was avoiding my own writing by reading someone else's. Fortunately, my writer's mind was at work whether I willed it or not, and I learned a thing or two from both the fan girl and the fledgling novelist points of view.

Neil Gaiman's Stardust had been collecting dust on my bookshelf for years. I had started it, having fallen in love with his work (who am I kidding? I have a crush on the man as well) when I'd stumbled upon American Gods and then Neverwhere, but this book didn't hold my interest. The story begins by describing the English town in which the starting action takes places. A definite turn off. I didn't want to read about a place that I had no reason to care about yet. Nor was I particularly interested in reading a story that takes place during the reign of Queen Victoria.

I picked it up again because I will eventually read everything Gaiman's written, and more important to the timing, the movie hits theaters on August 10th. As a reader, it taught me patience. It's a lovely fairy tale for adults and my reluctance due to not having fallen head long into as I had his other stories made me miss out for years. As a writer, I learned to let myself go.

Speculative fiction has been my imaginary home since I was old enough to pick out my own books at the school library. It was only natural that I'd write some flavor of fantasy. And yet, I find that I get so bogged down with rules that the free flow of imagination is blocked. In the novel I'm (theoretically) writing now, is a paranormal adventure that was losing its magic.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. Is it urban fantasy? Paranormal romance? Who cares-it's a damned good story! I didn't expect to like this book. I bought it because I needed *something* to read, it fit roughly with what my mood called for, and Kim Harrison had written on of the blurbs on the cover. Both my reader and writer sides cringed at the main character being another "half Native American". While these subgenres aren't necessarily top heavy with such characters, there are just enough half-Latino-or-half-Natives who look-Anglo-but-a-bit-more-exotic to annoy. And this one also being a female mechanic immediately brought up thoughts of Urban Shaman. But this girl isn't a clone from that book. Through the sheer expression of her own style (and awareness of plot elements and pacing), the author makes this story hard to put down.

The big difference between Moon Called and Karen Chance's Touch the Dark is experience. They've got the vampires, werewolves, and fae (oh, my!). They each have the feisty heroine who has learned how to stand on her own in worlds where they could be overwhelmed by the supernaturals around them. Every book in that falls under the broad heading of speculative fiction needs to make the reader understand the rules of the world. Where Brigg's, already a national bestseller with her more traditional fantasy books, guides the read by slipping the info into the story, Chance force feeds you huge chunks of character and setting background. Thank goodness my inner reader had learned the lesson from Stardust days before or I'd have lost patience. The story ends up being quite interesting. The twists make up for the parts where you want to take the heroine and shake her saying, "You seriously didn't see that coming?"

Both these books remind me that there is still plenty of room for my own work in my chosen area of fiction. The trick'll be to learn from each of them-where they work and where they don't-to incorporate those lessons without losing my own voice.