June Shaw's Blog, page 8
October 20, 2015
How shall I kill thee? Let me count the ways...
by Carola
With 25 mysteries published (and another on the way), I'm constantly looking for new ways to do in my victims. I've used guns, gas, sharp blades,...
... an explosion, strangling, carotid pressure, poisons, suffocation, drowning, falls...,
...being fallen upon (crushed by a stone angel monument), and common-or-garden blows to the head with a blunt instrument. I'm sure there are others I've forgotten.
I've never got around to electrocuting anyone, though electrical safe...
With 25 mysteries published (and another on the way), I'm constantly looking for new ways to do in my victims. I've used guns, gas, sharp blades,...
... an explosion, strangling, carotid pressure, poisons, suffocation, drowning, falls...,
...being fallen upon (crushed by a stone angel monument), and common-or-garden blows to the head with a blunt instrument. I'm sure there are others I've forgotten.
I've never got around to electrocuting anyone, though electrical safe...
October 15, 2015
Women Serial Killers
by Jean Henry Mead
I decided to return to our blog's original theme, murderous musings, because Halloween is fast approaching. And I've wondered whether serial killers use costumes or disguises to lure victims to their untimely deaths.
We rarely hear about women serial killers. They usually maintain a lower profile than their male counterparts, and they’re generally more efficient, according to Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent. They’re also just as lethal. Mactire lists them in four categ...
I decided to return to our blog's original theme, murderous musings, because Halloween is fast approaching. And I've wondered whether serial killers use costumes or disguises to lure victims to their untimely deaths.
We rarely hear about women serial killers. They usually maintain a lower profile than their male counterparts, and they’re generally more efficient, according to Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent. They’re also just as lethal. Mactire lists them in four categ...
October 12, 2015
The Relaunch of Material Evidence – but why?
Let’s forget the embarrassing teenage poetry and set my early writing days at the time when I was a playwright. I wrote stories and articles but my main output was plays for BBC radio and for the stage. Then, one day (I think for submission to a competition), I started writing a novel and learned that one of the qualities a novelist needs is stamina. I wrote in longhand and, after a few days, had a significant little heap of paper on the desk. Once you get a measurable pile, you want to add t...
October 9, 2015
When Illness Interrups Your LIfe
By June Shaw
I haven't gotten much writing done on a novel and missed writing some posts because of illness. Not mine. My partner's. He's been in and out of the hospital, spending many days in it, with challenges to his heart and kidneys. During that time, he's grown weaker and stopped driving much.
I know many of you face health problems of your own from time to time, and some of you surely need to tend to family members. My good thoughts go out to all of you.
www.juneshaw.com
I haven't gotten much writing done on a novel and missed writing some posts because of illness. Not mine. My partner's. He's been in and out of the hospital, spending many days in it, with challenges to his heart and kidneys. During that time, he's grown weaker and stopped driving much.
I know many of you face health problems of your own from time to time, and some of you surely need to tend to family members. My good thoughts go out to all of you.
www.juneshaw.com
October 7, 2015
GHOSTS (AND WITCHES) FROM MY PAST
By Jackie King
Halloween is coming and it's one of my favorite holidays. Often I dress up as a witch to hand out candy to the kiddies. This is one time of the year when I revert to my childhood.
Jackie King--Ready for Halloween
I was about four when my older cousins started scaring me with ghost stories. These were told in the bright sunshine, but at night I had to creep up creaking stairs to get to my bedroom at Grandma’s house. These monsters lurked along the way to terrify me. I can still rem...
Halloween is coming and it's one of my favorite holidays. Often I dress up as a witch to hand out candy to the kiddies. This is one time of the year when I revert to my childhood.
Jackie King--Ready for HalloweenI was about four when my older cousins started scaring me with ghost stories. These were told in the bright sunshine, but at night I had to creep up creaking stairs to get to my bedroom at Grandma’s house. These monsters lurked along the way to terrify me. I can still rem...
September 30, 2015
Using Weather to Enhance Suspense
Weather can serve as an antagonist in any novel, whether it's mystery, suspense, thriller or other genre. And I've used precipitation in all its forms in my own books.
In my first novel, A Village Shattered, the opaque San Joaquin
fog hides the serial killer, but I didn’t even think about the fog until I was writing chapter three. Having lived in the valley for a dozen years, I know the horror of trying to drive in pea soup fog, so I switched seasons and went back to chapt...
In my first novel, A Village Shattered, the opaque San Joaquin
fog hides the serial killer, but I didn’t even think about the fog until I was writing chapter three. Having lived in the valley for a dozen years, I know the horror of trying to drive in pea soup fog, so I switched seasons and went back to chapt...
September 23, 2015
THE CORPSE AND THE GEEZER BRIGADE is Finished!
by Jackie King
Book OneWriting a book is an onerous undertaking. I’m astonished that a cowardly woman such as myself, would even attempt such a thing. But the compulsion to express oneself on paper is a sort of madness—an urge that can’t be ignored comfortably. Ordinary chores such as dusting or tidying up your sock drawer, can be postponed until infinity. Or as my mother might have said, until the cows come home. And since I have no cows, there will be no interruption of that sort.
Book TwoAn...
Book OneWriting a book is an onerous undertaking. I’m astonished that a cowardly woman such as myself, would even attempt such a thing. But the compulsion to express oneself on paper is a sort of madness—an urge that can’t be ignored comfortably. Ordinary chores such as dusting or tidying up your sock drawer, can be postponed until infinity. Or as my mother might have said, until the cows come home. And since I have no cows, there will be no interruption of that sort.
Book TwoAn...
September 17, 2015
Dialogue Brings Characters to Life
by Jean Henry MeadI enjoy writing dialogue because it’s an excellent way to bring fictional characters to life. I began my writing career as a news reporter and photojournalist, so dialogue was not something I learned to write. Fortunately, I have an ear for dialects and speech patterns, and journalism taught me brevity. So my characters rarely ramble or veer off topic.
I learned the secrets of good dialogue from Sol Stein, who said screenwriting courses are a great way to learn to write con...
September 9, 2015
ARGUING WITH MYSELF
or Do All Writers Have Split Personalities
by Jackie King
Jackie KingIn Julia Cameron’s book AN ARTIST’S WAY, she speaks of feeding your inner child. My problem is, I’m so busy taking care of my old-girl self, that there’s little time left for outings with some brat that lurks in my psyche. However, some time in the past I had to return a purchase to the mall. I walked from the sizzling Tulsa heat into life reviving air conditioning and decided that both me and my inner-ch...
by Jackie King
Jackie KingIn Julia Cameron’s book AN ARTIST’S WAY, she speaks of feeding your inner child. My problem is, I’m so busy taking care of my old-girl self, that there’s little time left for outings with some brat that lurks in my psyche. However, some time in the past I had to return a purchase to the mall. I walked from the sizzling Tulsa heat into life reviving air conditioning and decided that both me and my inner-ch...
September 2, 2015
Too much research?
by Carola
How much research is too much?
I'm presently writing about a car chase across Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. I have two old Ordnance Survey* maps, 1/2" to the mile, of the area. They're really useful to show the roads the way they used to be, before they were straightened and widened. They also show the contours, so I can tell whether a road goes uphill--in general terms--or downhill. One has contour lines at 50 foot intervals. The other is tinted from blue (sea) through greens to various s...
How much research is too much?
I'm presently writing about a car chase across Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. I have two old Ordnance Survey* maps, 1/2" to the mile, of the area. They're really useful to show the roads the way they used to be, before they were straightened and widened. They also show the contours, so I can tell whether a road goes uphill--in general terms--or downhill. One has contour lines at 50 foot intervals. The other is tinted from blue (sea) through greens to various s...
