Let Your Senses Run Wild As a suspense and thriller author, I write a lot of murder scenes. It’s a hazard of the job. Sometimes I write them in the moment, as the blade is being swung or the trigger is pulled; sometimes it’s the seconds that immediately follow. And other times, the scenes […]
Category Archives: Writing Tips
Five Ways to Begin Your Book
Five Ways to Begin Your Book My favorite part of writing is the beginning of a book. It’s exciting because I feel free to do anything I want. I haven’t painted myself into a corner yet. Or questioned who came up with this stupid plot? Or slogged through the middle where I’m looking around for […]
Going Deep: Five Tips for Getting Into the Mind of Your Villain
Going Deep: Five Tips for Getting Into the Mind of Your Villain Suspense has always been one of my favorite genres. There’s not much I like more than spending a quiet evening sipping tea and reading a good suspense novel. If there’s a thunderstorm outside and rain pattering on the roof, a little scene-setting […]
What’s at Stake? Creating Conflict in your Books
What’s at Stake? Creating a serious edge-of-the-seat conflict in books… There’s a tongue-in-cheek saying in higher education circles that academic politics are so nasty because the stakes are so low. It’s another way of saying that the intensity of a conflict should match what’s at stake. This is particularly true in thrillers. Who’d want […]
Top 10 Writing Tips for a Killer Novel
Top 10 Writing Tips for a Killer Novel Nail the opening. Grab the reader by the throat from the first page, the first paragraph, even the first sentence. Instead of dumping a bunch of backstory into the opening chapter or setting the stage for action that takes place in the second or third […]
Is Research That Important?
Is Research That Important? The need to be a savvy, entertaining, visionary, imaginative, and riveting storyteller aside, research for me is a main and even essential ingredient of being an author who is taken seriously. It is an imperative element, without which any given book would lack authenticity, believability, and that organic quality (fantasy aside, […]
The Not-So Mysterious Mystery Of Creativity
The Not-So Mysterious Mystery Of Creativity I’m continually asked how did you come up with this? Where do I get the ideas for my stories? People genuinely seem confounded by it. I think the key thing is to be open to the world and the possibilities around you. Most people aren’t; they lumber through […]
Why I Left My Day Job With One Unsold Manuscript Under My Belt
Why I Left My Day Job With One Unsold Manuscript Under My Belt It sounds crazy, right? Like something you’d read on one of those self-help blogs about the twenty-something who ditches his life and takes his laptop to some paradise island to be its social media manager. Except I was a forty-something with a […]
Top Ten Gifts to Give a Suspense Writer…
Top Ten Gifts to Give a Suspense Writer… With Christmas approaching, let the angst begin. What should you get the mystery or suspense writer on your list? You know, the one who’s perpetually late because the voices in her head speak over the buzzing of the alarm. Or the one who has ink stains […]
“And the winner is…”
“And the winner is…” A reflection on writing success I was pretty sure I’d win. After all, I’d been writing for six years—mostly for curriculum publishers and magazines, and I was confident that I really had my act together. The writers’ conference I was attending had a short-story-writing contest and, thankfully for me, although […]
From Covering Crime to Writing Crime
From Covering Crime to Writing Crime Author of Desert Remains (Seventh Street Books) “Hello. I’d like to see the menu. Thank you. Now if you wouldn’t mind listing the specials and telling me about the crime du jour.” That was me, as a cocky young reporter, walking into the newsroom every morning, anticipating whatever […]
Top Five Places to Find Writing Inspiration
Top Five Places to Find Writing Inspiration One of my favorite parts of writing is the noodling. I love the mulling that comes before I’ve committed to what a story will be. I love choosing the tiniest grain of an idea and then going off to look for the things that will transform it into […]