Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 25

Classics in the Key of See

 

Name crime fictionclassics/authors you think everybody should read.

 

This is the type of question I know invites regret. I’llcouch my response with one caveat and one suggestion. The caveat here is that,while literary taste is not static, I discuss titles here that I return toagain and again, albeit for different reasons. The suggestion is to decide for yourself whether to visit them as a writer, as a reader, or both.

 

It’s impossible not to acknowledge the Trinity ...

Writers are the Best Teachers

 Q: We keep writing new books, but there are so many classics out there. What are the crime fiction classics you think every writer should read?

from Susan

 

What a good question! Note the focus is on what writers should be sure and read, not what readers may relish most, and that’s a distinction with a difference. As readers, we sometimes settle into books that may not be great as examples of elegant, articulate, and brilliant, but which give us immense pleasure anyway. 

 

For me, one example of ple...

It's (lit) festival time! - By Harini Nagendra

As we face the last few months of 2024, any events, projects or releases planned to end the year?

Why yes! I'm absolutely thrilled to be doing not one or two, but three events this year to celebrate the Bangalore Detectives Club series, in particular the latest book (book 3), A Nest of Vipers

First, the Surrey International Writer's Conference, where I'm joining online from Bangalore, to teach three workshops

Building a Strong Sense of Place |  5:30-8:30pm Wednesday Oct 23, 2024Research for Histori...

What’s on the Horizon? from James W. Ziskin

As we face the last few months of 2024, any events, projects or releases planned to end the year?

I’ll be attending two conferences before the end of the year, the Concord Festival of Authors — October 28 — then New England Crime Bake — November 8-10. I’m also going to talk (via Zoom) with Art Taylor’s short story students at George Mason University in November. We’re going to take a dive into strategies and challenges of writing Sherlock Holmes pastiches. In particular I want to discuss anachron...

Tooting my horn

As we face the last few months of 2024, any events, projects or releases planned to end the year?

by Dietrich

This week question’s just the perfect chance for some shameless self promotion. My new novel, Crooked, was just released by ECW Press on the 24th, and like any writer with a new book, I’m pretty jazzed about it. The story’s based on the real life misadventures of Alvin Karpis and his connection to the infamous Barker family, so it’s a work of fiction that follows actual events. 

I firs...

Busy, Busy, Busy

 

Terry here, with this week's project: 
 As we face the last few months of 2024, any events, projects or releases planned to end the year? 
 Oh my goodness, yes. I have two short stories to write, a book to publish (yes! Venturing into the self-publishing world), a book to promote (The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson comes out October 2) from Severn House) and a book to get started writing (the next Samuel Craddock, which is due February 28). Not to mention doing edits from the notes my publisher ...

Foot on the Gas

As we face the last few months of 2024, any events, projects or releases planned to end the year?

Brenda

Gah, we're almost into October. Anyone else think the clock is speeding up?

I had a busy spring into summer, took some time off events, and somehow have booked enough to keep me busy through autumn on the publicity front. Two store signings and three Christmas fairs are on my agenda. I've never gone the fair route before and am interested to see how sales go and whether they are worthwhile. At t...

What’s So Funny, Writing Humor 101, by Josh Stallings

 

Q:  Action, comedy, dialogue, sex, or violence - which of these do you find the most difficult to write and why?

A: Disclaimer, none of these are easy when you start out, or they weren’t for me. 

My first book was the beginning of the Moses trilogy, those books were set in the sex as commerce world, starting with strip clubs and legal brothels, then dealing with international sex trafficking, not a subject widely discussed at the time. The final book dealt with underage American citizens being tr...

Let's talk about sex, baybee, by Catriona

Action, comedy, dialogue, sex, or violence - which of these do you find the most difficult to write and why?

Sorry for the earwom, by the way. First, I present the quotes I picked out for my latest bookmark:

Next, let me say that these five options - action, comedy, dialogue, sex and violence - are probably the easiest bunch of all for me, compared with what the QotW doesn't address: back story, description and passage of time to name but three. Passage of time is unbelievably pesky: you never wan...

Yes, yes, yes, yes... NO! by Eric Beetner

 Action, comedy, dialogue, sex, or violence - which of these do you find the most difficult to write and why?

I love writing dialogue. I love writing violence. I've been told I write comedy very well, and action is my wheelhouse. I love all of it. Sex scenes....well...

I've tried them, sparingly. Sometimes it's needed for the story. After all, it's a huge part of human existence. You can't ignore it. But to get too detailed about it, for me, feels icky. Maybe it's because those just aren't the boo...