As a romance author few things give me more satisfaction than watching my characters come to life within the pages of my novels. I imagine Dr. Frankenstein felt much the same way when he attached nodes to his monstrous creation and waited for lightning to strike. Not the most romantic analogy but I’m just going to go with it lol…. Read more »
This was supposed to be a blog post about story tropes I enjoy but, given the state of the universe, I don’t really feel like writing about that. I just want to talk about happy endings. If you have a pulse, you know that America is not in the best place right now. I’m not in a position to… Read more »
Blurbs should be short and to the point. Hence the name “blurb.” Blurbs are a summary of what a book is about. But who says that the blurb has to be long. I’ve seen too many authors’ blurbs that tell too much of what their book is about, reaching the status of being more of a full length novel… Read more »
I have a lot of initials after my name…18 years of study on top of what I did at school. And not one of the degrees is in English or Literature. So what the hell am I doing writing novels? There is a myth that anyone can write a novel…but the truth is that not anyone can write a good… Read more »
Nearly 125 years have passed since 32-year-old spinster Lizzie Borden supposedly killed her father, Andrew Borden, and her stepmother, Abby Durfee Borden, yet the crime continues to be as fascinating as ever. Countless books continue to be published offering various reasons for the crime. Was she insane? Was it a crime of passion? Was it a crime of opportunity… Read more »
Beyonce’s ‘Run The World’ keeps playing in my head as I sit down to write this. Well can you blame me considering women writers are on fire and chicklits are rocking it so fly. The architecture of literature is evolving and we must be ready to embrace the evergrowing, ever exciting heroines. Gone are the days of Sherlock Holmes solving… Read more »
I wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to all our readers and guests for our absence over the past week. Internet troubles made us unable to post some of the amazing posts we had scheduled for Murder Thriller Week, as well as some guest posts and reviews by our own staff. My sincere apologies. Please know that I am… Read more »
30 Things about My Sleuth – Delanie Fitzgerald of Falcon Investigations Thank you for letting be visit your blog! Secret Lives and Private Eyes is the first in my Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series. She is a private investigator who lives in Central Virginia. And I’m often asked about what my protagonist is really like. Here’s my top-thirty list about my… Read more »
Small Press Publishing: What to Expect Small presses can open doors for authors who may not otherwise find a home for their books. For anyone considering publication by a small press, here are a few things I’ve learned from working with Fire and Ice YA, the Minnesota-based press that published my young adult mystery, Trail of Secrets: * Expect to… Read more »
Every author that tackles a genre with outside-the-norm characters wants to make the best ‘bump-in-the-night’. Let’s note that I originally wrote that line, using only ‘horror’ and ‘fantasy’ as genre examples. But fortunately for readers and writers, so many of the stories that we bring into the light lately are almost impossible to categorize. Though it makes it difficult… Read more »
Getting Reviews for Self-Published Books A few decades ago, self-publishing was a drag. Aside from the strife that comes with financing your book, you also have to impress the publisher with your transcript. Think about it. There used to be a time when the only people who could read were the ones who went to school. Why? Well, let’s just… Read more »
The mind’s eye can be a wonderful thing. Through it, thousands of words become glorious landscapes and sweeping vistas and the darkest caves. We witness through our imagination the rise of kings and the fall of dictators, honorable battles, and mischievous deeds. We can see the glow of first love, the tears of new loss, and the grief of… Read more »
The question that author, Tony Wirt, asks on the cover of his book, A Necessary Act is “Can you stop a serial killer before it starts?” It’s the same thing you’ll be asking yourself until even the last page of the book – perhaps even scratching your head. The entire community of Lake Mills knew there was something amiss with… Read more »
Thank you so much for letting me visit today. Secret Lives and Private Eyes is the first novel in my Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series. When I started writing this (several years ago), I thought about what it would be like to encounter someone famous in an ordinary or unexpected setting. I coupled that with my love of ‘80s music and… Read more »
I definitely have a dark side. For as long as I can remember I have loved scary and/or weird stuff, starting with Nancy Drew and John Bellairs (remember The House With a Clock in its Walls? Spooky!), moving on to Nightmare on Elm Street and anything by Stephen King, James Lee Burke or Jonathan Kellerman, and now Lee Child. I… Read more »