One of the most important skills every writer has to master, no matter their genre, is crafting a great mystery. It’s also one of the most misunderstood elements of novel writing. Mysteries are the lures that keep us turning the pages and keep us glued to the book. They send us into a frenzy because […]
Suspense
Cozy Mystery. What’s That?
By: Kay Elam When I was writing my first novel, I knew it was a mystery, but I wasn’t sure of its sub-genre. At a writing conference I was telling someone about my book and they said, “Oh, it’s a cozy.” I simply agreed instead of admitting I’d never heard of such a thing. Since […]
Page Critique Monday: My Critique 8/16/10
Thanks very much to the intrepid WilliamJJones for offering his page for critique! Random.org has been very good to Mr. Jones lately as he was also randomly selected to be a participant in Be An Agent for a Day II. Now if he would just buy a lottery ticket for me we should be all […]
What’s Your Favorite Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Novel of All Time?
Please continue to enter The Rock Paper Tiger Chase/Action Writing Contest Extravaganza if you have not already! Be sure to do so in the official contest thread. And as we continue in Rock Paper Tiger week (on sale now!), a very timely question: what is your favorite mystery/suspense/thriller novel of all time? I was drawn […]
The ROCK PAPER TIGER Chase/Action Writing Contest Extravaganza!!
Contest! Contest contest! This contest is honor of the fantastic and gripping suspense novel Rock Paper Tiger by Lisa Brackmann, now on sale and which you should definitely purchase for your suspense reading pleasure. BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it an “electrifying debut,” and the Miami […]
This Week in Publishing 3/13/09
Lots of links this week, and they don’t all fit neatly into the theme of Negativity Week, so in lieu of an actual theme to the news I will instead be saying “Bah!” at the end of every paragraph regardless of my feeling about the news I’ve just relayed. Consider it negativity, old man style. […]
