Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 189

Character Archetypes: The Comfort Food of Writing

Which crime fiction archetype do you find truly essential to the genre? Which would you like to see retired for a while? 

Note: Instead of a Jungian interpretation, I'm going for something crime fiction related, e.g. introspective gumshoes, screaming police superiors, alcoholic ex-investigators, reluctant detectives, that sort of thing. 

by Paul D. Marks

Which crime fiction archetype is essential?

Archetypes are a funny thing. On the one hand they’re familiar. They allow us to get into...

Character Archtypes: The Comfort Food of Writing

Which crime fiction archetype do you find truly essential to the genre? Which would you like to see retired for a while? 

Note: Instead of a Jungian interpretation, I'm going for something crime fiction related, e.g. introspective gumshoes, screaming police superiors, alcoholic ex-investigators, reluctant detectives, that sort of thing. 

by Paul D. Marks

Which crime fiction archetype is essential?

Archetypes are a funny thing. On the one hand they’re familiar. They allow us to get into...

My Dear Watson

"Are there archetypes in crime fiction you wouldn't be without? Are there any you'd happily never meet again?"

By Catriona

I do love a sidekick. Holmes' Watson, Poirot's Hastings, Wimsey's Bunter, Myron's Win . . . the supporting character saves us ploughing through a lot of internal pondering and delivers instead my favourite element in any novel: dialogue.

"I wondered how much longer I could spin out this one drink, when the barman would swipe the glass with its puddle of ice-water out from my...

Everything old is.... by Cathy Ace

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The good, the bad, and footwear... by RM

Which crime fiction archetype do you find truly essential to the genre? Which would you like to see retired for a while?What is essential to me when I read crime does seem different than when I read other fiction. With crime fiction I’m looking for something special:  entertainment, comfort, some kind of connection, and a conclusion. So much in life is conclusionless that it's nice to get a little closure. 

I’m also looking for characters that I admire, so to me, the good ol' good gu...

Bring Me a Heroine

Q: Which crime fiction archetype do you find truly essential to the genre? Which would you like to see retired for a while?
-from Susan
Essential: A protagonist who is honestly curious, pricked by a desire for justice, unable to let go of a thorny question until she/he can answer it to her/his satisfaction. Whether it’s a true mystery, a detective story, a thriller, or a spy novel – cozy or noir – this role has to exist for there to be a story. Doesn’t have to be an alcoholic or a bitterly divo...

Wishing At Random

Wish list for the next ten years of your life.
My random thoughts on wishes are they're what we make when something we want is out of our control. I'd like to think everything I'd want in life, love, and career would be in my control, but I learned long ago that just isn't true. I'm loathe to write about my wishes as it feels somewhat conspicuous. I get the sense I'm cataloging my life's experiences and taking inventory of all I haven't gotten. I'm overthinking it, of course, but it feels...

Oh, the Streets of Rome Are Filled with Rubble

Wish list for the next ten years of your life. 
From Jim
No one knows exactly when the music will stop. You hope there’ll be a chair available when it does, but eventually the seats fill up and you’re out. As sad as that might be, it’s inevitable so you might as well accept the bitter truth that, tôt ou tard, we’re all going to shuffle off this mortal coil. I’m at an age when thoughts of mortality are beginning to creep in, but I’ll take aging over the alternative any day. And th...

What a ride

by Dietrich Kalteis
Wish list for the next ten years of your life. 
Making it through the next ten years should be at the top of anybody’s list. But, let’s take that as a given. How I live those years is the key to it.
“Some people will tell you that slow is good – but I’m here to tell you that fast is better. I’ve always believed this, in spite of the trouble it’s caused me. Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube.” — Hunter S. Thompson
Sometimes f...

Life is to enjoy

 By R.J. Harlick
Wish list for the next ten years of your life. 
Being somewhat superstitious, I debated whether I wanted to write on this topic. I ain’t exactly a spring chicken, so the years ahead don’t go on forever and ever. I’ve been very fortunate in having had a good life. Sure, there have been hiccups, but hey, everyone has hiccups. You brush them aside and carry on enjoying life. I’ve achieved most of my goals, writing being one of them. I’ve had good health. And most importa...