HeyJaredNeil's Ruff Drafts
Dog lover Neil Plakcy writes on the intersection of business and creativity
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 15
- Latest publication
- Sep 30, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 13, 2026
Latest issues
I’m only one guy, and I make mistakes (opens the original)
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When I was writing K-Pop Double Life, I was focused on telling a K-pop story through my recurring bodyguards, Aidan and Liam. I used the structure of K-drama, with elements like forbidden love, emotional restraint, and chapters that end with a hook forward. I even added the music genre to the title, for discoverability.That thinking carried through to my original cover design. I wanted to focus on the five members of PRYZM, the K-pop group I created, with a tagline that hinted at the danger surr
Aidan and Liam began as opposites (opens the original)
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When Aidan and Liam meet, Aidan is a lost soul: an ESL teacher with no bodyguard skills, no tactical training, and no idea that his life is about to change. But from the start, he shows what may be his greatest talent: he learns. He adapts. He reads people.Some of that comes from teaching immigrant students. Some of it comes from being a gay man who has learned to notice tone, posture, danger, desire, and who is safe.At first, Aidan doesn’t think of that as training. Over time, it becomes one of
What Happens Between the Big Moments (opens the original)
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As a writer of mysteries, romantic suspense, and bodyguard adventures, I’m accustomed to looking for the big moments.A body is discovered. A threat is revealed. The villain makes a move. Someone finally says, “I love you.”Those moments give a story its structure, but over the past few years I’ve become increasingly interested in what happens between them.Japanese healing fiction helped me see how much emotional change can take place without a dramatic confrontation. In Before the Coffee Gets Col
Have we “Driven Together?” (opens the original)
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Hi!You’re receiving this email because you downloaded my Romance Reader’s Guide to Formula 1. I hope it gave you a little extra insight into the glamorous—and sometimes chaotic—world behind Driven Together.If you’ve already read the novel, I’d be very grateful if you would leave a brief, honest review. Even a sentence or two helps other romance readers discover the book.You can review Driven Together here:Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?asin=B0GMD9N9FFGoodreads: https://www.g
How K-Drama Led Me to K-Pop Double Life (opens the original)
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When I was at the 20Books conference in Las Vegas a few years ago, romance author Romy Sommer gave a presentation on how writers could learn from the conventions of K-drama. She used a lot of clips from a Korean television program called Crash Landing on You.It follows wealthy South Korean businesswoman Yoon Se-ri, whose paragliding accident carries her across the border into North Korea, where army captain Ri Jeong-hyeok hides and protects her; they fall in love. Sommer used elements of the sho
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