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First Page Critique: He’s In A Funk And She’s In A FretBy PJ Parrish Good morning, crime dogs. Or, should I say, love dogs. Because I’m abandoning my normal dark and stormy heart to critique a...
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Description Creates a MoodDescription should create a mood that matches the emotion of the POV character. If we all stood in the same yard at the same time, we’d interpret...
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When to Be a Crazy Dumbsaint of the Mindby James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell Every college boy who wanted to be a writer back in the day when I trod the quad of my institute of higher...
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What’s That Doing There?Finishing up a novel this week, I went back and read through it one last time before sending the manuscript on to my agent. This one wrote itself...
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Amazon’s Read Sample – What is your opinion?Amazon’s “Read Sample” – Too long or too short? Any potential use as a marketing tool? Any tips on how to change its length? You’re familiar with...
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What Makes a Good Action Scene?What Makes a Good Action Scene? Terry Odell We don’t go out to movies anymore, and don’t watch too many on TV, either. But one thing I know is that...
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First Page Critique – The Markby Debbie Burke @burke_writer Good morning and welcome to the first page submission from another Brave Author who says the page is in the crime...
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The Meaning of SuccessDictionary.com defines success as the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one’s goals. the...
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Timeless Writing Adviceby James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell I’m a fan of Gutenberg.org, which comes out with digitized versions of public domain works every day. I get...
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Finishing the First Draft Words of WisdomLike many writers, for years I had trouble finishing a novel draft. I had a lot of starts, and one half-completed novel. It wasn’t until I sat...
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Highway to the Danger Zone – Dark, Dirty, and DangerousScenes That Grab You and Won’t Let Go As readers we want scenes that grab us as the MC struggles with the villain and adversity. As writers...
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True Crime Thursday – Investing in Blueskycoinby Debbie Burke @burke_writer Meet Sophie and Fred, both 59. Fred has a good job with the county and hopes to retire in a few years....
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Banning ObscenityBy John Gilstrap The West Virginia House of Delegates is making news by passing a bill that removes an exemption for schools and libraries from...
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When Death Becomes RealDear readers: I had my second eyeball surgery yesterday (run of the mill cataracts) and can’t see the computer screen quite yet. Well, I can...
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#BookTok Tips for WritersLast week, Steve asked for a post about #BookTok on TikTok. Since I wrote an article for Anne R. Allen’s blog in October 2022, I’ll...
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A Villain’s Charm Offensiveby James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell We all know the first rule (wink) about villains is to not make them like Snidely Whiplash. Those of you too...
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Does Size, ahem, Length Matter?Faithful readers might recall that a couple of weeks ago my blog post revolved around how books were once sold on display racks or shelves in...
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The Case of the Forgotten FilesNo, we’re not discussing politics, classified documents, or dementia. The discussion today is about the forgotten literary treasure (written and...
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How Many Books is/are Too Many Books?Read a lot. Write a lot. That’s probably the universal message we hear from great and prolific writers, most notably from Stephen King who said,...
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It’s Valentine’s Day. Can Mysteries Contain Romance?It’s Valentine’s Day. Can Mysteries Contain Romance? Terry Odell It’s Valentine’s Day, which probably brings to mind flowers and...
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Grand Opening!by Debbie Burke @burke_writer In 1988, when we moved to Flathead County, Montana, the population was 57K. There were more than 10 bookstores...
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Surprise in Fiction: Trent’s Last CaseSurprise – noun — a completely unexpected occurrence, appearance, or statement. * * * Unsurprisingly, there’s been some research done on the...
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Your Unique Writer Propositionby James Scott Bell @jamesscottbell “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” That old chestnut is usually...
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The Black Sheep of the Short Form—the NoveletteThe two previous Words of Wisdom dealt with story lengths shorter than the novel: the short story and the novella. Today’s post, though not a...
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Creating a Main Character PersonaLast weekend I watched a Dyan Cannon interview in which she discussed the new movie, “Archie” (Cary Grant), and her marriage with him. When asked...
