Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 53

Casting Call

You’ve done the impossible - sold your book/series for the screen. Who would you choose (living or dead) to play your protagonist? Why?

Brenda here.

A thought-provoking question and one that I've honestly not considered before for my new Hunter and Tate series. I have several reoccurring characters, but the three main protagonists are true crime podcaster/freelance reporter Ella Tate, Detective Liam Hunter and hairdresser/all-around-great guy Tony Venditto.

Ella Tate is in her late twenties. Her ma...

Five Simple Rules for Better Writing by Josh Stallings

 Q: What are the ten most important things you’ve learned in your time as a writer? Both useful and useless?

RULE #1 This is a business. Don’t spend hundreds of dollars to sell a few copies of your book. 

Two weeks ago I drove 1,300 miles to Austin Texas to read at Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar where Scott Montgomery was hosting a Noir At The Bar event. I sold three copies, two to my niece. On a ledger sheet this made no sense. Clearly I’m no good at following rules, even my own. 

Intangible va...

A Hook and a Slab Come to Harm, by Catriona

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

I certainly have. It was the first thing I ever wrote (apart from short stories for competitions that I didn't win and radio sitcom scripts that went into development and are still there, as far as I know).

And my God was it ever a typical first effort! No detail of physical setting, character appearance, back story or portentous weather went undescribed; no metaphor went unnail...

...with a little help from my friends... by Cathy Ace

What are the ten most importantthings you’ve learned in your time as a writer? Both useful and useless?

MOST IMPORTANT: Mum must love my books!
Mum with my latest book - LOVE that the
cover for her phone (knitted by my sister)
matches the book cover colors!

In no specific order my Top Five (not capableof a top ten, sorry!):

I was once told to stopdoing it when it stops being fun: THIS WAS NOT HELPFUL.

Why?However much you love doing something, and however ultimately satisfying doingit might...

Ten Pieces of Silver Advice from Gabriel Valjan

 

What are the ten mostimportant things you’ve learned in your time as a writer? Both useful anduseless?

 

10. Readers are abetter judge of your work than agents or the interns manning the Slush Pile.Publishing is a business, and the majority of agents are looking at your workrelative to their business model, so submit your best work, follow directionsfor submissions, and carry on. What sells is not necessarily Quality.

 

09. Write whatyou want. Nobody knows what wil...

Ask Aunt Susan: How to Become Rich and Famous

 Q: What are the ten most important thing you’ve learned in your time as a writer? Both useful and useless?

-from Susan

 

Why waste time on useless advice, especially because one person’s moment of total clarity is another’s blank wall? Suffice it to say, you’ll hear lots of “tips” as you do seminars, attend panels, etc. No one’s going to mislead you deliberately, but your writing is unique to you. I do counsel you to listen and weigh anything you hear, because no one’s writing is perfect. Don’t re...

Dinner For the Damned

By Abir

 

This week’s question:  You’re hosting a dinner party. Which six characters from crime fiction are you inviting and why?

 

Dinner parties aren’t my forte, at least not preparing for them. Truth is, my culinary repertoire is limited to only a few dishes (though I do a mean salmon linguine and a also lamb curry which tastes good but isn’t going to win any prizes for presentation). Fortunately my wife is a fantastic host, so she does 97% of all the preparation and the cooking while I content my...

Pass the salt

You’re hosting a dinner party. Which six characters from crime fiction are you inviting and why?

by Dietrich

For this question, I considered all the well-rounded and memorable characters from the novels that I’ve read so far this year. Then I thought why not keep it closer to home and invite the characters created by our own Criminal Minds. So, I went and got some extra chairs to make rooms.

First off, let’s start this virtual potluck party by dividing the chores between our Week One and Week ...

Who's For Dinner?

 

Terry here with the chance to host a dinner part. The catch? You have to invite six characters from crime fiction. 
The reason this question is so interesting is that I had trouble coming up with six. Not that I don’t have characters I find fascinating in crime fiction, but crime novels that are well-written seem so complete. I feel like to pluck characters out of their world and try to have a conversation with them would be taking them into a world (mine) that they aren’t familiar with, and tha...

Look Who's Coming to Dinner

You’re hosting a dinner party. Which six characters from crime fiction are you inviting and why?

Brenda here.

A twist on the dinner party question and slightly tougher, but I'm up for the challenge.

It might be tougher to come up with a menu though. Allergies, gluten intolerance, vegetarians, vegans, likes, dislikes ... I'm going to leave this fictional meal to my fictional sidekick Tony who lives downstairs from journalist Ella Tate in Blind Date and When Last Seen. He's constantly throwing gourme...