Terry Odell's Blog, page 66

Mystery in the Midlands Recap

Mystery in the Midlands Recap

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending Mystery in the Midlands, an online writer’s conference, sponsored by the Southeast Region of Mystery Writers of America and the Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Given that none of the other conferences I’d planned to attend this year were being held live, this was a way to attend from my office. No travel, no hotel expenses, and the sponsors offered this virtual meeting for free. That there were almost 900 attendees ...

A Stay At Home Giveaway

With everything being cancelled or switched to virtual, the personal appearances I had on my schedule have disappeared. I’d planned to participate in book signings, which are no longer happening, but I still have books.

Staying home also means I’ve done more shopping on line instead of in person, which results in having a bunch of boxes lying around.

Books. Boxes. Anyone see a connection?

So, this week, I’m offering a lucky winner a random assortment of autographed books.

All you have to do is c...

Johnny Carson and Fiction

What do Johnny Carson and writing fiction have in common?

On Monday, I talked about leaving breadcrumbs in your books. Today, I’m doing a more in-depth look at foreshadowing over at The Kill Zone.

I hope you’ll pop over and join the discussion.

The post Johnny Carson and Fiction appeared first on Terry Odell.

Breadcrumbs in Writing

Breadcrumbs in Writing

On Friday, I mentioned I’d be having a phone call with my new editor to discuss the comments she left on my manuscript for Heather’s Chase.

Her process is to do a broad overview of the story first, looking at characterization, plot holes, overall pacing—the ‘developmental’ stuff.

Then, once her authors have addressed those points, she does a second “line by line” edit where she’ll check for grammar, spelling, flow, and all the copy edit type stuff. For me, it was a new pro...

When and Where Does It Belong?

When and Where Does It Belong?

I liked your protagonists. Once t...

Customer Service Rant Follow Up

Customer Service Rant Follow Up

For those who read my post last week about trying to undo the damage an ill-informed (okay, incompetent) employee created with my mother’s phone account, it didn’t end there.

According to the company, all was well last Friday. There were some internet issues, but a tech was scheduled to come out today to deal with them.

To my surprise, on Sunday night, I get a call from my brother saying Mom called him, and Caller ID said she was calling from the new account numb...

Watch the Names

Watch the Names

I’ve written about this before—probably numerous times—but I was a contest judge recently, reading books that I probably wouldn’t have chosen otherwise, and I was reading more critically than I normally would.

The judging guidelines included the usual—book starting in the right place, well-written characters, pacing, etc.

If I were designing a contest scoresheet, I think I’d add a section for character names. Often, there’s a question about whether you can tell characters apart b...

Apologies For This Customer Service Rant

Apologies For This Customer Service Rant

Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay

Not a writing post today (although drawing on emotions such as anger and frustration are things to bank away for use by a character some day). Today, it’s about customer service, or lack thereof.

Recently, my 94-year old mother wanted to change her phone/internet account from my dad’s name to hers. He died 3 years ago. The company in question insisted she show up in person with a death certificate. Pandemic? Scanning and ...

Roaming Body Parts

I recently read a blog with a firm stance on how to deal with body parts. I don’t entirely agree. I don’t have trouble with figures of speech, and if I’m reading that a character ‘flew down the block to John’s house’ I don’t see her mid-air. If someone writes “a lump of ice settled in her belly” I’m not seeing actual ice.

How do you react when you read things like this?

Their eyes met from across the room.

His eyes raked her body from head to toe.

That’s my topic for discussion today at The Kill...

Where NOT to Stop Writing for the Day.

Where NOT to Stop Writing for the Day.

Now that my manuscript is with my editor, and I’ve taken some time off, it’s time to start a new manuscript. After some thought, I’ve begun a new Mapleton Mystery. Somehow, it seemed “easier” because it’s a familiar cast of characters, and Deadly Fun ended with the potential to follow through with some secondary plot threads.

As anyone familiar with this blog knows, I don’t plot a book in advance, so a lot of the time I don’t know what’s happening next.

At ...