Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 218

Truth, Justice and the Crime Writing Way!

What prompted you to become a writer of crime fiction?

by Paul D. Marks

Uh, time to delve into that whole Pandora’s Box of psychopathology that makes me, uh, me. And that made me want to become a writer of crime fiction. But we won’t delve too deep. You never know what you might find down in the depths.

So, what prompted me to write crime fiction: I write it so I can kill people...on the page that I can't kill in real life...........

Related to that is the desire to see justice served as it so of...

Why? Why? For the love of all that's holy WHY?

By Catriona
This week's question is "what prompted you to become a crimewriter?" But yesterday was a bad day for me to answer it.

It started well, with me up bright and early and taking a responsible apporach to the business end, reading through an email from my agent about the UK contract for Standalone Book No. 7. So far, so organised.
Promotion has to be done too. Briefly, before settling down to day's writing, I went on social media and retweeted a photo from London of the first ARCs of...

To kill, or not to kill, that is the question...by Cathy Ace

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Trouble

WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO BECOME A CRIME WRITER?

 I thought I knew the answer until I sat down to think about it.

I thought I would say it's because I grew up reading crime fiction. Now I'm not so sure that's really it. I think even if I hadn't read crime I would still want to write crime. It's just a nice roiling backdrop for what's most interesting to explore on the page for me: people in trouble. People doing stuff they shouldn't do, and other people trying to stop them, then those people wh...

I Wanna Be a Writer, Okay?

Q: What prompted you to become a writer of crime fiction?

-from Susan

1.     I’ve gobbled up crime fiction since childhood. Yes, that means dopey Nancy Drew, but early exposure to Agatha Christie’s best puzzles, and other books that had some crime as the fulcrum around which the plot revolved.2.     Rex Stout’s atmospheric series of Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin stories set in my hometown of Manhattan looked so easy to write because they were stylish, unspool...

The Hero's Journey, From The South Side

"Ask me how I'm doing this. Or where I purchase my sunglasses.
The answer to both is Overstock.com"I know I bemoan discussions of process and influences and derivation. I'll cop a plea to the charge of emotional avoidance. Thing is, folks wanna know, and I'd look like a jerk if I asked people to support my writing then expect that support to arrive from a safe distance. So I toss out the surface facts: I plot on long walks. I write dialogue in the shower. I cook a lot when I'm editing to ease...

Where Don’t I?

by Alan

What sources do you draw on for ideas for your stories? (Also known as the “Where do you get your ideas? question)

A rerun of a previous post that sums it up:

Ode to Ideas

I get them when I run,
I get them having fun.

I get them when I walk,
I get them when I talk.

I get them when I showers,
I get them planting flowers.

I get ideas every which way,
All the time, every day.

I get them when I dream,
I get them when I scream.

I get them when I shave,
I get them when I wave.

I get them in the c...

So what if?

by Dietrich Kalteis

What sources do you draw on for ideas for your stories?

Ideas can spring from just about anywhere: memories, headlines, newscasts, personal experience, what happened to the neighbor, dreams, song lyrics. They can be imagined or borrowed, and when I find something interesting I often find myself thinking, “so what if?” And it starts me writing a single scene. And from that, it leads to the next scene. 

The idea for my first novel Ride the Lightning came from a bit of dial...

Whatever works

By R.J. Harlick
What sources do you draw on for ideas for your stories?
I tell you, it’s a tough life. I’m basking by a pool in the land of sun and fun, listening to palm trees clatter in the breeze, while at home winter doesn’t want to leave after burying the streets in another record-breaking snowfall. I feel for my fellow Ottawans.
Feeling very mellow and relaxed in this new-found sun, I find myself having to write a blog. I’d planned on doing it before I left the snow, but…you know, one thi...

Sources of Inspiration

Revealing my sources, by Terry Shames
Last week someone asked me why I wrote Samuel Craddock as an art collector. It’s a convoluted answer, but it boils down to this: People, places, and plots in my books are based on real life. I love modern art, but the more compelling reason had to do with a bit of family history that I used in a creative way.
I just read an author I had never read before and thoroughly enjoyed his crazy plot that revolved around nonstop mayhem, complete with characters who...