Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 159
June 25, 2019
Summertime Shift
Q: Here comes the summer! Are summers a distinct stretch of the year for you? What's this one got in store?
From Frank
My wife is a teacher, so my summertime projects are purposefully scaled back when compared to the rest of the year. I don't stop, but I try not to be quite as compulsive. I also go on hiatus with my podcast, Wrong Place, Write Crime . This gives me more time to spend with Kristi. She likes to be active during the summer, including some traveling, and I want to be available for t...
From Frank
My wife is a teacher, so my summertime projects are purposefully scaled back when compared to the rest of the year. I don't stop, but I try not to be quite as compulsive. I also go on hiatus with my podcast, Wrong Place, Write Crime . This gives me more time to spend with Kristi. She likes to be active during the summer, including some traveling, and I want to be available for t...
June 24, 2019
Summer forever!
Q: Here comes the summer! Are summers a distinct stretch of the year for you? What's this one got in store?
- from Susan
What I wish: Three weeks in the sweet cottage we’ve rented before in Hanalei, or invitations to stay again with friends in Provence and Camargue, or a week at my old stomping grounds on the seashore of Cape Cod.
What I have planned: Nada. I do live in a glorious place as long as there are no deadly wildfires or earthquakes, but, still, a real vacation would be a pleasure....
June 21, 2019
Kill 'Em. Then Bury 'Em.
by Abir
"Kill your darlings" is classic writing advice. What do you do with the bodies afterwards?
It’s never easy, taking a hatchet to your prose. You’ve spent hours, days, weeks crafting these wonderful words, and then someone: an editor, a first-reader, or often just that little voice in your head, tells you that they’ve got to go: that no one needs quite so much detail about the inner workings of a carburettor, or the Calcutta sewer system, or the inside of a grand piano. That you need to s...
"Kill your darlings" is classic writing advice. What do you do with the bodies afterwards?
It’s never easy, taking a hatchet to your prose. You’ve spent hours, days, weeks crafting these wonderful words, and then someone: an editor, a first-reader, or often just that little voice in your head, tells you that they’ve got to go: that no one needs quite so much detail about the inner workings of a carburettor, or the Calcutta sewer system, or the inside of a grand piano. That you need to s...
June 20, 2019
You Always Hurt the One You Love
"Kill your darlings" is classic writing advice. What do you do with the bodies afterwards?
What if you advised songwriters to throw out the prettiest strains they’ve written?
Or painters? That’s a beautiful portrait! Cut it to shreds!
Architects? What a beautiful building. Now blow it up.
Chefs? This meal is delicious. Throw it into the trash please.
Faulkner’s wastepaper basket:
No one expects other creative to discard their flashes of brilliance, so why are writers expected to do so? Because, for...
What if you advised songwriters to throw out the prettiest strains they’ve written?
Or painters? That’s a beautiful portrait! Cut it to shreds!
Architects? What a beautiful building. Now blow it up.
Chefs? This meal is delicious. Throw it into the trash please.
Faulkner’s wastepaper basket:
No one expects other creative to discard their flashes of brilliance, so why are writers expected to do so? Because, for...
June 19, 2019
The cutting room floor
"Kill your darlings" is classic writing advice. What do you do with the bodies afterwards?
by Dietrich
If they have to go, they have to go, so you could bury them, or you could keep them on ice.
It can be hard to take out a part of the story, especially if I like it, but sometimes it just doesn’t fit for some reason, so it has got to go. I’ve kept files, paragraphs and chapters I’ve cut, character names and titles I’ve changed, hoping to use one of these darling in the future, but I...
by Dietrich
If they have to go, they have to go, so you could bury them, or you could keep them on ice.
It can be hard to take out a part of the story, especially if I like it, but sometimes it just doesn’t fit for some reason, so it has got to go. I’ve kept files, paragraphs and chapters I’ve cut, character names and titles I’ve changed, hoping to use one of these darling in the future, but I...
June 18, 2019
Goodbye My Darlings
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June 17, 2019
After the Murder ... By Brenda Chapman
Question: "Kill your darlings" is classic writing advice. What do you do with the bodies afterwards?
Hmm. We're delving into the nitty gritty this week-- just what happens to the bodies after discovry?
Truth be told, there are times that I can hardly bring myself to kill off characters whom I've grown to like. In fact, in one earlier novel, I grew so fond of a character slated for the morgue that I killed off a different character instead. The manuscript came to a screeching halt as I str...
Hmm. We're delving into the nitty gritty this week-- just what happens to the bodies after discovry?
Truth be told, there are times that I can hardly bring myself to kill off characters whom I've grown to like. In fact, in one earlier novel, I grew so fond of a character slated for the morgue that I killed off a different character instead. The manuscript came to a screeching halt as I str...
June 14, 2019
Criminal Minds Think Alike
Do you read different stuff when you're writing from when you're not? Why?
by Paul D. Marks
Another Two-fer today. I’ll respond to this week’s question and also talk a little and post some pix from the California Crime Writers Conference that took place last weekend. The CCWC is a two-day conference that lately’s been taking place every other year in Culver City/Los Angeles at the Double Tree Hotel. It’s worth it just for the cookies they give you when you arrive.
It’s put on by the Los Angeles...
by Paul D. Marks
Another Two-fer today. I’ll respond to this week’s question and also talk a little and post some pix from the California Crime Writers Conference that took place last weekend. The CCWC is a two-day conference that lately’s been taking place every other year in Culver City/Los Angeles at the Double Tree Hotel. It’s worth it just for the cookies they give you when you arrive.
It’s put on by the Los Angeles...
June 13, 2019
Yes, No, Kinda.
Q: Do you read different stuff when you're writing from when you're not? Why?
A: No. Sort of. Yes.
By Catriona
No - let me explain. When people (like Cathy yesterday) say they don't read while writing, I ache for them. I know if writing stopped me reading, I wouldn't be a writer. After all, when studying English literature threatened to get in the way of reading all those years ago, I switched to linguistics. I remember the very day it happened. I couldn't face reading the next few chapters of J...
A: No. Sort of. Yes.
By Catriona
No - let me explain. When people (like Cathy yesterday) say they don't read while writing, I ache for them. I know if writing stopped me reading, I wouldn't be a writer. After all, when studying English literature threatened to get in the way of reading all those years ago, I switched to linguistics. I remember the very day it happened. I couldn't face reading the next few chapters of J...
June 12, 2019
The joy of rabbit holes... by Cathy Ace
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7 Criminal Minds
A collection of 10 writers who post every other week. A new topic is offered every week.
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