I tend to write with the notion of a 'narrative dare' and to see what appears out of the murk once I have changed the bedrock ground rules of society.
Over the years we have noticed trends in what is being published in the mystery genre. Some years we seem to have an abundance of books around the theme of kidnappings, other years it is psychological thrillers or serial killers. Police procedurals and historical mysteries continue to be huge sellers.
It’s a great time to be a female crime writer, but there are challenges for sure. Many readers expect a thriller and noir writer to be male.
Read widely and extensively. Good writing should inspire you.
Short stories are challenging because you always have to think up a new beginning, a new character, a new plot. Novels are slightly easier as you have something that you settle in with -- something larger to explore and study.
The funny thing about history is that for all the reports of the standard mores of behavior, there were always outliers, women who explored Africa, who went on hunger strikes, who spied for the government.
With the stigma of self-publishing removed in our modern world, today's writer has many more options to publish.
Throughout my writing journey, I've been lucky to receive wonderful advice from fellow authors and people working in the publishing business. I know how important it is, to learn from others.
I’ve always wanted to know what was behind a closed door, or going on in a stranger’s mind.
Write every single day. Try for one page. In less than a year, you’ll have finished a book.
Interview with Essie Lang - a literary travel guide to her books, her most memorable day as a bookseller, and her advice for aspiring writers.
When you receive a book as a gift, it’s unlike any other present.
It’s obvious from the first page that MURDERESS INK was written by someone who savored a murder a day, in the privacy of heR reading chair.
Even in this age of internet recipes, I still use my copy of THE JOY OF COOKING and wouldn’t dream of parting with it, despite the stained cover and pages, the broken spine, and the place-marker ribbons worn to shreds.
It’s that vividness that inspired me to create my own stories, first as a child, making them up in my head before I fell asleep at night, and later, as an adult, writing romances.
Our reading tastes change and evolve and I don’t want to lose the magic of getting lost in its pages many years ago. But, the book also sits front and center as a reminder that the best gifts come from the heart.
The activities in the book, which included writing a personal mission statement, led to major life changes including a new job, moving to a new state, an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction, and a career as a published mystery writer.
Books given as gifts do so much more than just tell a story. They hold memories.
Out of all the gifts I’ve received throughout life I always love the bookish ones. The most memorable of the book-related gifts I’ve been given was Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone.
I received a copy of *Frenchman’s Creek*, by Daphne du Maurier, for Christmas, when I was eighteen years old.
Revisiting favourite books can be a gift in itself.
I was at university the year I got The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart for Christmas. That was more years ago than I care to remember, but I have never forgotten the impact the book had on me.
Myself and like any true book lover will attest to, books are my weakness and giving the gift of a book is something very special.
For every child (or grownup) who loves to imagine stories and write them down, I hope you find that author who shows you it’s possible, no matter how long it takes you to achieve your dream.
I have a fond memory of a Christmas morning, age nine, opening the box set of The Chronicles of Narnia. I had never seen a box of books before.
I return to Wuthering Heights for Christmas most years, but my love affair with the tempestuous Catherine and mysterious (okay – rotten) Heathcliff has never ended.
There's something magical about discovering an inscription inside a book. As though the book has had its own, secret, past.
When a wrong turn is a right turn, and an excerpt from Ginger Bolton's BOSTON SCREAM MURDER.
Kathleen Marple Kalb chats about her swashbuckling opera singer sleuth, plotting, and advice for aspiring writers.
Phillip Margolin's challenge was figuring out how you could kill someone who is on stage in front of 3000 people and disguise the identity of the killer.
The characters came to Alma Katsu immediately, fully formed, like she'd known them all her life. Like they were old friends.
In Julie Howard's SEA SALT LAVENDER FOR APHRODITE, Rosella is loving her new ice cream truck business, until she finds a corpse...
Daryl Wood Gerber's goal is to create a well-crafted puzzle for the reader, so that they will derive the same pleasure that she experiences when she reads a good mystery.
Find out how Nate Hendley creates suspense in his books, the most surprising thing he discovered while researching, and his tips for aspiring true-crime writers.
6 inspiring writing tips from established crime writers.
For THE BRIDE, Wendy Clarke's inspiration was a black and white photograph of an old dockland warehouse which she'd seen in a coffee shop.
Lynn Cahoon has a mystery file with news emails about local murders kept inside.
In most of Peggy Jaeger's romantic suspense novels, the heroine saves the day in the end and oftten saves the hero as well.
I'm delighted to share this gorgeous cover of Baked With Love by Peggy Jaeger.
If you aspire to write, go where the writers are... Elizabeth J. Duncan guarantees you will come away having learned at least one thing.
Owen Laukkanen has always felt drawn to the ocean, and the mountains and the kind of chilly moodiness of the rainforest, and he's tried to evoke that more and more in his writing...
14 unforgettable book gifts by romance and crime writers, to inspire your holiday shopping.
Like the heroine of The Turkish Affair, Jill Culiner once worked in backwoods Turkey, translating. The landscape was beautiful but bleak; the winters were Siberian, the summers, hot and heavy.
Find out more about Carolyn Huizinga Mills' writing process and her fierce refusal to give up on the story that took up permanent residence in her brain and heart.
My one piece of advice to all writers is to write. Write anything and everything, write wherever you are, however you can and write what excites you.
Making Shana a martial artist was pretty self-serving… she needed a pastime, and I already had some knowledge of karate due to my own experience. I do think drawing on that helps to build emotion and tension, simply because the sensation of sparring with someone is familiar to me.
I like to write good-natured comedy – the type that comes from situations that go wrong, and quirky characters. I love capers – generally heists that go wrong.
Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon and The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler. Those books helped me learn to plot my stories.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Publishing is hard enough without constantly comparing your accomplishments with someone else’s. Celebrate every single victory.
Make friends. Meet your idols, meet everyone you know online, the newbie authors, agents, editors, publishers, media, organizers, podcasters—this is your community and it’s the best one to be in.
'Butt in chair.' In other words, show up to write and treat it like a real job, not just a hobby. My mother used to repeat that quote that 90% of success is just showing up, and that’s very true when it comes to writing.
For mysteries, however, it crucial to plan out the crime and the clues. I figure out who gets murdered then develop a roster of suspects and motives.
I really enjoyed the creative aspect of crafting the magical elements. They often came to me unbidden, whether it was the village backstory of the Jin ancestors or the supernatural talent of Whiskers, the magical bunny (with a nod to Chinese mythology) in the Jin family.
I think one of the things that holds new writers back is the idea that a first draft is supposed to be perfect. It’s easy to fall into the trap of self-editing or giving up partway through a manuscript, but first drafts aren’t supposed to be perfect or pretty. They’re supposed to be messy.
