Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 43

The Joy of Lex, by Catriona

It's blogger's choice (Why does that make me thing of Rapper's Delight? Who knows.) and first up I need to credit Prof Katie Wales for the title. She was my boss at the University of Leeds in the late nineties and she was one of the bright spots in a grim few years. As soon as I saw her Mickey Mouse earrings and heard what she had called her book on lexicography, I knew she was a good'un.

Anyway, words were in my mind for two reasons over the last few days. First, I found out that the chemotherap...

Well, it’s “bloggers choice” week here and to avoid the ...

 Well, it’s “bloggers choice” week here and to avoid the pitfalls of wallowing in my own fears and insecurities over book sales (as I approach a new release at the end of Feb) I wanted to talk about old books. As writers, we’re readers, and to ignite the flame of inspiration as I head into any new project, and the renew my love fo the craft strictly from a readers perspective, I think long and hard about what I’m going to read next. 

I read quite a bit of work published in the mid-1900s. Classic ...

And Now for Something Completely Different by Gabriel Valjan

 

In yesterday’s Blogger’s Choice, Susan discussed theobstacles authors face in what I call The Quest for Eyeballs. I know thatsounds like a gory treasure hunt, and it often is. Here, on Criminal Minds wehave discussed the business side of writing, the artsy mechanics of how we dowhat we do, and, when we can, the joy that accompanies creation andthe pains of frustrations or criticism from critics and readers.

 

Writers have heard the two extremes: that either writing is...

An Author's Conundrum

 It’s a “blogger’s choice” week on 7CriminalMinds. I’ve been thinking about the obstacles authors face in getting our books in front of readers. In my case, six books – the seventh out in early March – have been published in just about every format by a handful of traditional publishers, but my observations include so many good crime fiction writers whose novels slip under the radar for reasons I can't quite fathom.

 

What holds bigger success at bay? Who can provide a credible spotlight? What do ...

Mining the archives for book ideas - by Harini

Where do you get your ideas? No but seriously what do you use for inspiration: art, music, landscape, the news, dreams, family stories . . . ? 

Whenever I'm stumped for ideas, I go to my favourite place - the archives, where I stumble across the strangest things. 

For example, the case of William Edward James, a Mysore surveyor who only wanted to do his job. But in 1873, he had to contend with farmers who threw stones at him, absentee bullock cart drivers who preferred to drive their bullocks into...

The Secret Place Where Writers Find Their Ideas from James W. Ziskin

Where do you get your ideas? No but seriously what do you use for inspiration: art, music, landscape, the news, dreams, family stories . . . ?

This is a trade secret. All writers know the answer but refuse to tell. We’re required to sign a pact never to divulge where we get our ideas. Oh, we’ll lie and say we find them in news stories, family histories, and dreams and such. Just read the posts from Brenda, Terry, and Dietrich this week. Lies. All lies. We do it to prevent our ranks from swelling ...

All of the above

Where do you get your ideas? No but seriously what do you use for inspiration: art, music, landscape, the news, dreams, family stories . . . ?

by Dietrich

I’ve drawn from all of those — most more than once. An idea can drift in when I’m out walking, having a conversation, listening to the news, watching something on the screen, flipping through a magazine — or from observing the mistakes of others, and certainly from the ones I’ve made myself. 

Family stories and reflecting on dreams have als...

Treasure Trove

 

Terry Here answering our weekly question: Where do you get your ideas? What do you use for inspiration: art, music, landscape, the news, dreams, family stories . . . ? 
 When people ask where writers get their ideas, there’s usually some glib answer, but it’s a real question. I’m not one of those authors who sprouts endless plots and twists. I have to have a reason for the book, i.e. What is the book about? Bottom line, though, my ideas come from all of the above except dreams. And most of them ...

Chasing Inspiration

Where do you get your ideas? No but seriously what do you use for inspiration: art, music, landscape, the news, dreams, family stories . . . ?  

Brenda at the keyboard.

Inspiration. Something intangible that sparks an idea and gets the creative juices flowing. We can't bottle or fully explain it.

When I start writing a crime fiction book or short story, I open my mind to possibilities, trying to find that nugget of an idea on which to hang a plot. Generally, I seek a crime, its motivation and the p...

Finding Your Reason to Be, by Josh Stallings

 

Settling into my office chair I spoke my environment into being, “Blue sky, mountains, crisp air, hint of ponderosa pine.” Closing my eyes I took three slow settling breaths. Without looking I knew my desk now sat in the middle of a Sierra meadow. It was virtual, a fiction, but so were my stories and that made it a perfect place to write. For a while I wrote in a simulated Starbucks on Hollywood and Sunset. It gave me a nostalgic edge, a place I’d written when I was young and broke and driven a...