Some writers are excited to begin a new novel. The story idea is fresh and compelling. Characters can’t wait to jump off the page and display their personalities. The setting begs to come alive with details that make readers feel they’re there. It’s like starting a new school year eager to see what you’ll learn … Read more
Story magic can happen unexpectedly when a plot twist or new character invades your writer’s mind. In this instance, it’s good to seize the moment and scribble down notes before you forget your spark of inspiration. Such an event happened to me the other evening as I was contemplating Hanukkah Hairloom Mystery, my next Bad … Read more
Writers can easily end up in a muddle at the middle of their story. The direction forward becomes unclear, and you’re not sure that what you have plotted so far will reach your projected word count or come to a satisfactory conclusion. This means it’s time to reassess what you’ve done so far. When you … Read more
It’s advisable for mystery writers to give each character a secret that may or may not relate to the murder victim. This makes them suspicious in the sleuth’s viewpoint until she can unravel what it is they’re hiding. In Ladies of the ’80s: A Divas Christmas recent TV movie on Lifetime channel, five former soap … Read more
Transition scenes in a novel can be tough to write. These can serve your need to jump ahead in time, have your characters go from one place to another, or act as a bridge between action sequences. It’s easy when you’re jumping ahead in time. You can leave a space break between paragraphs or start … Read more
Most authors have several manuscripts gathering dust in their drawers. These are our unsold babies, books we wrote along the journey to becoming a published author. Are they really that bad, or were they merely not ready for the right market at the right time? Aside from the corrections that our more skilled eye could … Read more
During the Discovery phase of your novel, which I discuss in my post on Five Stages of Writing, you’ll begin formulating the characters. If you’re writing a mystery series, you may already know the protagonists and recurrent characters. So now you have to determine the suspects that are specific to your WIP (work-in-progress). As a … Read more
Transitions are some of the hardest scenes to write in a novel. Your hero has to go from Point A to Point B without boring detail or abrupt shifts of any kind. If you’re like me in racing through the first draft to get the story down on paper, then doubtless your critique partners may … Read more
When you write your first draft, it’s okay to forge ahead and write whatever channels through your mind. The next sweep through will give you the opportunity to eliminate those clichés you planted along the way. I’m preparing to reissue The Drift Lords Series, and my cliché alert meter went into full mode back when … Read more
It’s important when editing your work to detect inconsistencies in word use. As I am revising my backlist titles, I am coming across several of these instances. One way that you can help avoid them in the future is to create a style sheet. Sometimes your publisher does this for you. Or you can note … Read more