Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 113

Must love pets (and maybe needles) - a guest post by Annette Dashofy

Catriona writes: This week's question is Do you have a particular, typical, or ideal reader in mind as you write? But I'm not going to answer it. 

I'm going to answer the question Do you have a particular writer in mind when you choose an outfit for an awards dinner? The answer to that is YES. Annette Dashofy.

(Here we are at Malice Domestic a few years' back, after a lot of dress, shoe, and jewelry planning. Annette was nominated and I wasn't, so I'm being Vanna and she's being FAAAAbulous). 

And...

Mum's the word... by Cathy Ace

Do you have a particular, typical, or ideal reader in mind as you write?

When I was writing my first novel, The Corpse with the Silver Tongue, I sent chapters to my mother over the internet each night, and she was my first, eager reader, literally watching the story grow as it left my fingertips. By default, therefore, she became my visualized ‘particular’ reader. This process continued for a few books, but then it became more difficult for her to read this way, so now she waits until my books a...

Who Do You Write For?

Do you have a particular, typical, or ideal reader in mind as you write?

From Frank

I think so. I mean, this is different than the mythical first reader, right?

If so, then I do. I think of several die-hard River City/Frank Zafiro readers, and I write in a way that I think will interest them, will excite them, will satisfy them, will validate their faith in me as a writer.

I pay attention to what they like, what they want, and how they respond.

I make an effort to engage with them outside of the work...

Pssst...Remember Me!

 Q: Do you have a particular, typical, or ideal reader in mind as you write?

-from Susan

That’s an interesting question and I haven’t got a clear answer. Definitely not an ideal reader, some made up person who loves my stories and writes to beg me for more. The ideal ideal reader buys multiple copies of my books to give to her friends, invites me to talk to her book club, and reviews my book on Amazon and Goodreads. But I don’t know exactly why she loves my book, so I can’t conjure her up while I’...

Why Do You Hate Your Kids So Much?

 By Abir

Do you ever read children’s books (not including reading them to your children)? Do you think children’s books have changed from when you were a child?

 

 

Right, today we are talking about the worst things in the world, the gateway to a messed up life.

 

When I was three, and illiterate, I was fearless and careless. A happy little free spirit. Three years later, and having acquired the dubious benefits of literacy, I was a brow-beaten, conformist, neurotic; chain-smoking my way through packs...

Kid Lit from James W. Ziskin

Do you ever read children’s books (not including reading them to your children)? Do you think children’s books have changed from when you were a child?

I really have no idea if children’s books have changed since I was a child, since I don’t read them today. That’s perhaps a logical consequence of having no children myself. But, I suppose, if I had been so inclined, I might have continued reading children’s literature into my adult years, middle age, and now dotage. Instead, my tastes changed and...

Great Day for Up

Illustration: Mystic Art Design

Do you ever read children’s books (not including reading them to your children)? Do you think children’s books have changed from when you were a child?

by Dietrich

It started with children’s books—that fascination with stories that came to life right off the pages. It was The Frog Prince, The Pied Piper, Rumpelstiltskin, and so many more by the Grimm brothers. And it was Aesop’s Fables and Roald Dahl. It was H.A. Key’s Curious George, and Howard Pyle’s The Adventures...

Children's Books

 

Terry Shames here, answering our question of the week: 
Do you ever read children’s books (not including reading them to your children)? Do you think children’s books have changed from when you were a child? 
No, I don't read children's books--at least not usually. But at Left Coast Crime in Vancouver a few years ago, some of us were exploring the area around the hotel and ran into a used bookstore. There, in plain sight was a book I had not seen since I was a little girl, living in small town in...

The Enduring Pleasure of Children's Literature

Do you ever read children’s books (not including reading them to your children)? Do you think children’s books have changed from when you were a child?

Happy Monday. Brenda Chapman kicking off the week.

An interesting question this week. I actually started my book-writing career penning a middle grade mystery series - the Jennifer Bannon mysteries. At the time, my daughters were twelve and nine, and I often spent hours in the children's section of the bookstore selecting books for them as gifts. I...

Please allow me to introduce myself… by Josh Stallings

As I type this I am looking out over the San Jacinto Mountains. I live in a valley populated by ancient cedar, oak and pine trees, bobcats, bunnies, squirrels, cougars, owls, ravens and every once in a while a brown bear wanders down from the high country. From my rustic perch I write crime stories set in Los Angeles, the city of my birth.

Hard Boiled, please.

My first books, the Moses McGuire trilogy were definitely on the harder side of hard boiled. I was angry and in need of an outlet for my pa...