Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 11

Life's Too Short For Bad Behavior by Eric Beetner

 A writer whose work you admire A LOT turns out to be a disgusting pervert. Do you stop reading their work? Do you hold your nose with one hand as you turn the pages with the other? Do you refuse to be on a panel with them?

Boy do I wish this was a hypothetical thought experiment and not a real-life scenario.

The question of how to separate the art from the artists is a long-standing one. In recent years a small handful of writers I've known casually, and been friendly with over the years, have be...

The Seat Not Taken

 

A writer whose workyou admire A LOT turns out to be a disgusting pervert. Do you stop readingtheir work? Do you hold your nose with one hand as you turn the pages with theother? Do you refuse to be on a panel with them?

Trigger warning: This question wasn’t easy for me, and myanswer may upset some people.

It depends.

 

I’m not talking about Issei Sagawa, who was a pervert, acannibal, and an author who profited from murders. That’s clear-cut. But onceyou move awa...

NO PERVS ALLOWED!

 

 

 

A writer whose work you admire A LOT turns out to be adisgusting pervert. Do you stop reading their work? Do you hold your nose withone hand as you turn the pages with the other? Do you refuse to be on a panelwith them?

Personally, this is the easiest question in the world forme to answer. No! I’m tired of disgusting perverts on all levels. Just tired.With all the truly incredible writers in the writing community I wouldn’t wasteone second on a writer who is revealed to be disgusti...

Three questions for today - and such good ones too.What’s...

Three questions for today - and such good ones too.

What’s thebest question you’ve ever been asked as a writer? 

There are two, and both are asked quite frequently 

The first is this - what was your inspiration for Kaveri (the main character in my 1920s colonial Bangalore historical mystery series, The Bangalore Detectives Club)? 

I love this question because it lets me jump into one of my favorite places - Bangalore of the 1920s. Starting with the story of how Kaveri parachuted into my head one fa...

I Hate that Question! from James W. Ziskin

What’s the best question you’ve ever been asked as a writer? What's the worst? And what question do you wish you were asked but nobody’s ever asked it? 
This week’s question is a difficult one. As Dietrich pointed out in yesterday’s post, writers get plenty of questions on the craft of writing. Things such as where do we get ideas, how do you approach your research, or are you a plotter or a pantser? And while these questions may prompt interesting answers, they’re not in and of themselves partic...

Worlds Behind the Words

What’s the best question you’ve ever been asked as a writer? What's the worst? And what question do you wish you were asked but nobody’s ever asked it?

by Dietrich

Like any writer, I get asked about craft, inspiration, and the dark corners of my imagination. Some answers are almost automatic, while others leave me digging deeper. 

I think the best question I’ve been asked was “How do you find the humanity in a monster?” This was at Word on the Street in Toronto a few years ago, and the person in th...

Who's Got a Question?

 

Terry here, with our question this week: What’s the best question you’ve ever been asked as a writer? What's the worst? And what question do you wish you were asked but nobody’s ever asked it? 
 I’m going to start with the worst for a particular reason. At my first, ever, bookstore launch, which had a very healthy 35 attendees, a man asked me, “Why do you write mysteries? Do you think aren’t good enough to write literary fiction?” 
 When I tell people this, they gasp at his rudeness and audacit...

Questions on a Theme

What’s the best question you’ve ever been asked as a writer? What's the worst? And what question do you wish you were asked but nobody’s ever asked it?

Brenda here. I'm going to anchor this week's question around bookstore signings.

The best question: Could you sign my copy? Meeting readers and having them like my work enough to purchase a book or be willing to take a chance and buy one without having heard of me before is always hugely gratifying. It never gets old.

I met Tom at a signing on Satur...

Lone Wolves Get Lonely Sometimes by Poppy Gee

Do you see AI as a blessing or a curse for you as a writer?

For the past decade I have built up a small but robust editingbusiness focusing on crime fiction. It employs one person – me.

I have a background in newspaper and magazine journalism,specialising in subediting, and a master’s degree in creative writing. Mybusiness is called The Lone Wolf Writing and Manuscript Appraisal Company. Thename sounded dramatic, and it made me laugh. I think writers are like lonewolves, roaming majesti...

"Strawberry Mango Forklift", by Catriona

Do you see AI as a blessing or a curse for you as a writer?

I genuinely didn't want to use one of my book jackets to illustrate this post, so thank you S J Rozan for sharing Ken Chang's Fb post earlier today.

AI is an irrelevance for me as a writer, as far from impinging on my work as drink-driving laws impinge on my commute. (I write at home and I don't drink.)

Two caveats to that, though: I was talking about generative AI trained on large language corpora made up of stolen words, not those algori...