Timothy Miller's Blog, page 26
March 14, 2021
For Writers
Think of your story as a Rubik's Cube (though each story has a different method of solving, so you can't just memorize one), but you've got to keep twisting and turning and observing the results from every angle. There is one correct solution for each story, one which is satisfying, so don't be afraid to scrap your progress and start all over again.
March 13, 2021
A Book by its cover
By the way, I'm extremely pleased to announce that Jennifer Do, the artist who did such an amazing job on the cover for The Strange Case of Eliza Doolittle, is on board once again for my second endeavor,
The Strange Case of the Dutch Painter. Can't wait to see what Jennifer has up her sleeve up with this time.
March 12, 2021
Birth of a Novel
An article I wrote for Crime Thriller Hound
"So I got an idea. I would write a little detective story. (You can see that I still had Holmes on my mind.) That would give me a reason to lard it with prepositions—which I would leave blank. And I’d populate the story with English characters, probably hoping to make up for my American mutt complex and show those Brits. Characters that even an Italian would be familiar with. So I picked them out of the air. Sherlock Holmes. Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I think it was about six pages long, and as I recall Higgins is murdered and Eliza revealed as the culprit, a denouement G.B. Shaw should have thought of. I acted it out for my students and it was a big hit, with them shouting out prepositions right and left."
Bradbury
"I ran up and down the stairs, finding books and quotes to put in my "Fireman" novella. You can imagine how exciting it was to do a book about book burning in the very presence of the hundreds of my beloveds on the shelves. It was the perfect way to be creative; that's what the library does."
Booklist starred review
Somehow I've managed to forget to post Booklist's starred review.
"Suspense, resonant period ambience, vivid and memorable characters, masterful writing based loosely on Conan Doyle’s style, a multilayered plot with references to the works of George Bernard Shaw and Robert Louis Stevenson, and, most of all, Holmes and Watson in a story perfectly suited for them make for a gripping, hugely entertaining, and very satisfying read."
March 11, 2021
Penguin on the run
From Karen's Killer Book Bench: an interview with Dr. John Watson.
6. A penguin walks up to you, right now, wearing a sombrero. What does he say to you and why is he here?
It being London, of course, he would first mention the cold. Then he would ask for directions to 221B Baker St., but I would have to inform him that Holmes no longer resides in London, and indeed no longer involves himself in cases. Then I would then invite him to a pub for a brandy, where he would tell me of his impending peril. Almost certainly of his escape from an Argentinian guano farm and the pursuit of bloodthirsty gauchos. It’s an old story. There’s an office in Special Branch now that looks after penguin emigres.
March 10, 2021
Goodreads giveaway
