Openings by Sherry Harris Oh, the pressure of writing the perfect first line, the perfect first paragraph. I’ve heard over and over if you don’t grab readers in the beginning you can just forget about it. (Me? As a reader I’m a bit more patient with a story.) So you would think when I was […]

Do Fictional Characters Make Demands? How Two Holocaust Survivors Entered My Book by Kay Kendall Authors often assert that characters can take off on their own and run away with their stories. One writer said, “When Jim told me he was the killer, I had to change my plot.” But such remarks have made me […]

Mindless. That’s my favorite word this week. I recently finished the first draft of a WIP, had an opportunity during the past few weeks to see all of the kids, grandkids and granddogs, learned that I have a short story being published in the next few weeks, had some wonderful things happen in terms of […]

The Evolution of a Bad Guy By Maggie Toussaint When I began plotting my second paranormal mystery, Bubba Done It, I knew one thing for sure. All the suspects had the nickname of Bubba. Other than that, I didn’t have a clue. Before I could cast men in the suspect roles, I considered my setting […]

Finding the Right Beta Readers by E. B. Davis I read a myriad of genres and mystery subgenres. To me, the writing is the most important element of a good read, and variety is the spice of life, isn’t it? When I thought about what I wanted to write, my thoughts turned to fun reads—entertainment, […]

My Granddaughter is a Mutt by Debra H. Goldstein People Magazine, CNN, and most public media outlets covered the birth of England’s Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. The reactions of Prince William, Kate (I feel that friendly to her and jealous of how she looked ten hours after giving birth), Prince Charles, Cornelia, and the Middletons […]

THE STORY OF A STORY OF A STORY by Jim Cort “Before I Wake” had its genesis in my desire to try a story entirely in dialog. A few experiments were enough to convince me that some compromise would have to be made, and I wound up producing a story composed of documents and letters and […]

What I Learned From Our Passover Seder by Debra H. Goldstein Confession: when I have more than four people, even if I put the food in my own bowls, I have the evening catered. This year, with only four breaking matzah and because I’ve become addicted to cooking competition TV shows, I decided to tackle […]

Keeping it Real by Michele Drier Because I write in two genres—traditional mystery and paranormal romance—I’ve been reading a LOT of genre fiction over the last few years and I see some scary trends. One of them is what I call verbalization: Taking perfectly good nouns and turning them into not so good verbs. So […]

What the Heck is “Writing What You Know”? by T.K. Thorne Write what you know. A well know axiom for writers. But is it really a rule? Is it good advice? What the heck does it mean? I can’t tell you how many times I have scratched my head thinking, okay, what do I know? […]