Fiction Archives - Miss Demeanors

Folk Horror Elements: How to Use Them

July 8, 2025 Nancy Bilyeau Fiction, Movies, Publishing, Tips and Tricks, Writers, Writers inspirations, Writing

I learned long ago that my love of mystery and horror is uncommon. Some people who revel in writing murder[…]

Using Life Experience in Our Writing

July 1, 2025 Marni Graff Creating Characters, Fiction, Tips and Tricks, Writers, Writers habits, Writers inspirations, Writing

“Write what you know.” How many new authors have read that in numerous how-to books? And often it can be[…]

No. 10 Doyers Street by Radha Vatsal: A story of NYC on the cusp of modernity

June 10, 2025 Mally Becker Books, Fiction, Historical Mysteries, New Release

I’m thrilled to welcome Radha Vatsal to Miss Demeanors for a peek into her exciting new historical mystery, No. 10[…]

Judy L. Murray: When Readers and Writers Celebrate Together

June 3, 2025 MIss Demeanors Fiction, New Release, Promotion, Tips and Tricks, Writing

Please welcome July L Murray who has a fantastic approach to a book launch to share: My launch of the[…]

Now on Kickstarter: My Gothic Suspense Novel

May 27, 2025 Nancy Bilyeau Books, Fiction, Marketing, New Release, Publishing, Writers inspirations, Writing

Since Kickstarter launched in 2009, it has shown incredible success. The crowdsourced funding platform has generated over $8.5 billion. As[…]

Evolving from a Pantser to a Plotter

April 29, 2025 Marni Graff #inspiration, Creating Characters, Fiction, Inspiration, Tips and Tricks, Writers, Writers habits

Please welcome Melissa Westemeier, who will tell us about her change of habit as she publishes the first in her[…]

High concept

April 24, 2025 Susan Breen Fiction, Marketing, Tips and Tricks

Recently I spent four days leading a workshop at the NY Write to Pitch Conference. As the members of my[…]

From the early childhood game of Peek-a-Boo to an unexpected bouquet of roses after a hard day at work, the pay-off, neuroscientists tell us, is a rush of dopamine, intensifying our emotions by as much as four hundred percent. How do we use this human affinity for surprise in our mystery fiction? No mystery there. Overturning the expectations of readers, surprising them, is called a “plot twist,” that moment when everything the reader has been led to believe turns out to be wrong.