Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 23

Write with Special Sauce

 

Do you ever get stories “ripped from theheadlines”? How much do you rely on current events to fuel your stories?

 

We’ve allheard the familiar chestnuts: ‘Reality is stranger than Fiction’ and ‘Everystory has already been told,’ or a permutation on the latter, ‘Every book hasbeen rewritten.’

 

I thinkthe reason why readers see the same stories over and over again, and why agentsand publishers are reluctant to take on inventive stories or creative uses oflanguage is...

My Truth

Q: As we head into a rather big news week - do you ever write stories “ripped from the headlines”? How much do you rely on current events to fuel your work?

From Susan

 

Taking a whole story or a major plot from something that made the news doesn’t work for me. For one thing, the real story already exists. And if it’s crime fiction, there are real people who might feel I was ripping the scars off their devastating wounds for my own benefit. I know there are TV shows that do it all the time. I would...

When Diwali and Halloween coincide - by Harini Nagendra

 It's Halloween week. Do you read horror? Have you written any? Why or why are you not a fan?

It's Diwali week in India - festival of lights, which we call Deepawali in the south of India, where I am. We stopped bursting crackers several decades back, when my nephew was in primary school, and got us to sign an anti-pollution petition after reading about child labour in some of the manufacturing factories. But we do light lamps with oil and cotton wicks and set them out in the garden, and enjoy ho...

It’s Opera—Everybody Dies from Erica Miner

As we head into a rather big news week, do you ever get stories “ripped from the headlines”? How much do you rely on current events to fuel your stories?

Jim: I take full responsibility for the premature appearance of week’s question, which was supposed to be next week’s question. I miscalculated the date. So, apologies to all. But I feel this topic fits our guest poster’s book better anyway. 

Erica Miner writes a thrilling series of mysteries set in the world of opera. I’ve had the privilege and ...

The Goosebump Genre

It's Halloween week. Do you read horror? Have you written any? Why or why are you not a fan?

by Dietrich

While I’ve written some dark stuff, I haven’t attempted to write a horror novel. I don’t possess the macabre fascination that would be needed, and there’s no draw to explore that line between what’s real and what’s hiding under the stairs. 

"The tale of monstrosity and terror is a basket loosely packed with phobias; when the writer passes you by, you take one of his imaginary horrors out of ...

The Goosebump genre

It's Halloween week. Do you read horror? Have you written any? Why or why are you not a fan?

by Dietrich

While I’ve written some dark stuff, I haven’t attempted to write a horror novel. I don’t possess the macabre fascination that would be needed, and there’s no draw to explore that line between what’s real and what’s hiding under the stairs. 

"The tale of monstrosity and terror is a basket loosely packed with phobias; when the writer passes you by, you take one of his imaginary horrors out of ...

Over the Top

 

Terry here: It’s Halloween week. The question: Do you read horror? Have you written any? Why or why are you not a fan?Here’s a Halloween scene. Bet you can’t guess where it is. It’s Athens! We were there for three weeks, and the last day, October 11, we went to a lively part of Athens where there were a lot of outdoor cafes and a general air of merriment. Here, we ran into a street decorated for Halloween that surpassed anything I’ve seen in other cities. 
 When we were in Florence, years ...

Things that Scream in the Dark

It’s Halloween week. Do you read horror? Have you written any? Why or why are you not a fan?

Spooky Spice ...er... Brenda here.

I have always loved Halloween and all that goes with it. Jack 'o lanterns, trick or treating, ghosts and goblins. But don't ask me to watch a horror movie or read a horror book. These are not some of my favourite things.

I write about murder and yet, I do not read true crime or watch shows like Criminal Minds. It's not the actual murder that interests me, more the puzzle a...

Booooo, by Josh Stallings

 

Q: It’s Halloween week. Do you read horror? Have you written any? Why or why are you not a fan?

A: Firstly, I have avoided horror since I was ten-years-old and watched Hitchcock’s The Birds. In the last couple of years, I started reading some Horror. 

Coyote Songs, by Gabino Iglesias, was my gateway into horror. It seamlessly blends crime fiction and horror. But when it gets scary, it becomes terrifying.

Next came Cynthia Pelayo’s Children of Chicago. It starts as a police procedural, a Chicago de...

The book was thus gaily dressed in English, by Catriona

Do books get lost in translation? What are some non-English novels you love and are there any that didn’t work over the cultural divide?

Includes the line "the knight
was thus gaily dressed in green"

This question turns me back into a linguist again. I'm almost entirely mono-lingual (although you'd be surrised how any people think a linguist speaks a lot of languages) so when I read a book in translation, I never feel confident about where the writer ends and the translator begins, much less who t...