Great Expectations
Talking about what your readers expect your story to be and how this can be used to create tension, add surprise, and entertain.
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Tag: mystery
mystery
Three Personal Favorites: A Week of Reading
Reading three books a week means I have a towering ToBeRead Pile. Every writer will tell you they have authors[…]
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OMG! I Have the Wrong Murderer!
By Matt Witten. Here I was, two thirds of the way through the first draft of my mystery thriller Killer Story, and doubt held me in its iron grip. Had I chosen the wrong murderer?
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My 5 Favorite Books of 2022
Yes, I’m making lists. Aren’t we all? I read a lot this year, as I always do. Most of the books I read were digital and at least half of everything I consumed was an audio book. Not all were released in 2022. These are just the ones that made my life better because they exist.
So here, in no specific order, are 5 books I loved the most:
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Four Tips for Writing a Series
Recently, an author friend preparing to teach a class on writing a series asked me what advice I’d give to an[…]
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6 Podcast Tips
Recently I was honored to be a guest on The Authors Show podcast. It takes a while to prepare for[…]
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Spooky Books: one mystery writer’s take
On Hallowe’en this writer’s thoughts turn to books that were particularly harrowing as I read them. Stephen King’s The Shining[…]
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Book-Picking
Just finished reading Don Winslow’s new crime thriller, City on Fire, which I loved. Five stars. But as I wrote[…]
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The Mystery of Desire
Why character motivations can be more important than plot, and how desire drives both. Read on for a handy chart to help if you’re stuck.
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5-Minute Writing Tips
Sometimes you just have to admit defeat. No matter how hard you try, there’s simply no time to write. This[…]
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