Judging Writing Contests

I’ve been a judge a number of times for writingcontests. In 2013 I was a judge for the Mary Higgins Clark award for MysteryWriters of America. I received over 130 books to judge. The criteria were a suspensenovel in the tradition of Mary Higgins Clark:

·      "The protagonistis a nice young woman whose life is suddenly invaded.

·      "She’s self-madeand independent, with primarily good family relationships.

·      "She has aninteresting job.

·      "She is notlooking for trouble–she is doing exactly what she should be doing and somethingcuts across her bow.

·      "She solves herproblem by her own courage and intelligence.

·      "The story has noon-scene violence.

 

Of the books I received to read approximately one hundredwere cozy mysteries with a female protagonist, not a suspense novel. Afterreading a few pages, I could determine that these were not consistent with theguidelines. Over the next year, my wife and I read all the cozy mysteries andstarted chuckling about the cozy tropes. This inspired me to write A MysteryYarn that will be published later in April and is now available for pre-ordering.It’s a parody that includes these tropes:

·      The protagonist is awoman who runs a craft store

·      She had a bad previousrelationship

·      She has a sort-ofrelationship with a man in law enforcement

·      She finds a dead bodyand becomes a suspect

·      She has a dog

·      She has a cat

·      There’s a ghost in herstore

·      Her best friend is agay guy

·      There are recipes atthe end of the book

Itwas an enjoyable exercise to write a humorous cozy. As an example, the protagonistcan’t cook. Her recipes include toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese,scrambled eggs, and s’mores.