Folk Horror Elements: How to Use Them
I learned long ago that my love of mystery and horror is uncommon. Some people who revel in writing murder[…]
Read moreA Blog for Readers and Writers of Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction
I learned long ago that my love of mystery and horror is uncommon. Some people who revel in writing murder[…]
Read more“Write what you know.” How many new authors have read that in numerous how-to books? And often it can be[…]
Read moreI’m thrilled to welcome Radha Vatsal to Miss Demeanors for a peek into her exciting new historical mystery, No. 10[…]
Read morePlease welcome July L Murray who has a fantastic approach to a book launch to share: My launch of the[…]
Read moreSince Kickstarter launched in 2009, it has shown incredible success. The crowdsourced funding platform has generated over $8.5 billion. As[…]
Read morePlease welcome Melissa Westemeier, who will tell us about her change of habit as she publishes the first in her[…]
Read moreRecently I spent four days leading a workshop at the NY Write to Pitch Conference. As the members of my[…]
Read moreFrom 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.
Read moreAs an author of fiction and nonfiction, I’m often asked which I prefer to write. It’s not that easy a[…]
Read moreEaster eggs and red herrings are the buried treasure of crime fiction. One enlightens and the other obscures. Both reward the sharp-eyed reader.
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