Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 51

Bouchercon Rocks!

 

Week of October 1. Mea Culpa! I answered the wrong question this week. This is next week's question, but I like it, so I'm keeping it! 
 Bouchercon San Diego is in the rearview mirror. What is your favorite Bouchercon memory, past or present, and what advice would you give to writers interested in attending Bouchercon, so they could get the most out of their experience? 
 Before I get to the business of answering the question, I want to do a bit of crowing: Today is launch day for Samuel Cr...

Spooky Tales to Raise the Hairs on the Back of Your Neck

It’s that time of year. What is the scariest short story or novel you read? The scariest that you wrote and why?

Brenda here.

This might be hard to believe seeing as how I write crime fiction, but I don't do well with scary when I'm watching tv and movies or reading other people's work. Maybe my imagination takes me places it shouldn't, but creepy stuff keeps me up at night and makes me mighty uncomfortable, particularly if based on a true story.

I think I'm okay with writing scary scenes because I...

Orphan Thoughts and Great Openings, by Josh Stallings

Q: Have you had success taking an old, perhaps previously abandoned, manuscript and breathed in new life before selling it?

A: No… That is true, but maybe I can dig a little deeper. I was talking to my son Jared about his song writing. His current project is a band called Sprinkler Boiz. The process is working with a fellow musician who is creating instrumental tracks. Jared then creates lyrics and vocal tracks and they bounce back and forth until a song emerges. He said he scours his notebooks f...

A Writer Reads, by Catriona

When you’re on vacation (aka holiday), do you take a break from reading crime fiction, never mind writing it? Do you read at all?

Take a break . . . from reading? As part of a treat-like experience? Um, no. I hear other writers saying they read differently now, or can't read while writing, or have to avoid their own genre, and I'm forced to conclude that either I have a rare talent for compartmentalisation, or I'm dead lucky, or I'm not a real writer.

Let me talk you through my last and next holid...

I've got nothing...but there is news!! by Cathy Ace

Have youhad success taking an old, perhaps previously abandoned, manuscript andbreathed in new life before selling it?

Sorry, but the honest response to thisquestion is: no. Which is a bit of a short answer.

So I’ll explain why…

I don’t write anything at all unless Iknow the whole story/book will work. I am an “in my head” plotter, so I knowthe entire story – or have seen the whole film – in my head before I even startto make notes…which means that there aren’t any discarded notes for b...

Adjusted for Inflation by Gabriel Valjan

Have you had success taking an old, perhapspreviously abandoned, manuscript and breathed in new life before selling it?

 

Alot has changed in writing mysteries since Poe penned the first detective storyin 1841, and the ante to please and entertain readers is high. Publishers seekfresh voices, though murder is as old as Cain and Abel.

 

Murderis murder, and it’s my trade.

 

We’vebecome desensitized to sex and violence, thanks to cinema and media. It’s hard forWords to c...

Holiday Fiction

By Abir

When you’re on vacation, do you take a break from reading crime fiction, never mind writing it? Do you read at all?

 

Holidays are tricky times for our family. Our elder son is autistic and often finds it difficult to adjust to changes in his daily routine, therefore holidays need to be planned with the precision of a military operation. We need to make sure that wherever we go, he has a room or space where he can chill out, without too many sensory pressures upon him; that he has enough of...

Read, Write, Revise, or Hatch a Story from James W. Ziskin

When you’re on vacation, do you take a break from reading crime fiction, never mind writing it? Do you read at all?

I mostly read when I’m driving. That is to say I like to listen to audiobooks when I’m in the car. It’s the only multitasking I’m able to do since I usually can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Listening while driving is the exception.

I also listen to audiobooks when I’m cooking, but only if I’m not following a recipe. In that case I need to pay attention to the words, and t...

It never stops

When you’re on vacation, do you take a break from reading crime fiction, never mind writing it? Do you read at all?

by Dietrich

As much as I love to read crime fiction anytime, I don’t limit myself to it. Any well-written book interests me. There’s always conflict of one kind or another in a book, but for me, it doesn’t have to be crime fiction, per say. Right now, I’m reading The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. It’s been described as a murder mystery wrapped inside a Great Ameri...

Vacation Reading!

 

Terry here, with our question of the week: When you’re on vacation, do you take a break from reading crime fiction, never mind writing it? Do you read at all? 
 Funny this question comes up right now. I’m on vacation in Iceland. Or at least I will be by the time this is posted. I’m actually writing it in advance.The answer to the question is that I read, read, read on vacation. And, as usual, I read most everything. As much as I love several different variations of crime fiction, I don’t read ...