I recommend an excellent book called ‘Crime Fiction’ by John Scaggs. It is a comprehensive reference of the history of mystery and detective fiction. There is a chapter where I have come across Father Knox’s ‘Detective Story Decalogue’ from 1929. Now, for all you experts out there, I’m sure this is old news but it […]
Category / Writing skills
1. Crime authors work incredibly hard: At every panel, I am astounded by their dedication and productivity. When someone says their 21st novel is out next month, you have to be impressed. Where do these people find the time and dedication? To be an author, you need to be committed – literally! 2. Everything has […]
#CrimeFest17 here we come! Yes, I’m looking forward to the annual pilgrimage to attend www.crimefest.com. The inspiration will be fantastic, the buzz of new crime fiction, the atmosphere of tension and the creation of a reading list that will last me all year. A highlight will be hearing from Ann Cleeves. I wonder if she’ll […]
(Image courtesy link here – I daren’t use a real Hockney ☺ ) Back in 2012 I visited the big David Hockney exhibition in London at the time and wrote a blog piece about it. Looking back at the statistics, it was the most popular page so I thought it would be good to revisit […]
My blog has suffered over the last three weeks. I hit a wall at Easter, travelled, drifted, lost confidence, rested, and did a whole pile of other stuff that meant the blog posts and twittering dried up. So now it’s Friday 27th April and I’m back and trying harder than ever. Friday posts are about […]
Photo credit I set too many scenes in a coffee bar or a wine bar. I suppose it is familiar and easy and a place where I can set people to meet and talk. But it’s lazy of me and quite boring for the reader. So where should scenes be? I mean the average, everyday […]
Continuing with some techniques from a good book called: ‘Self-Editing for Fiction Writers’ by Renni Browne and Dave King. http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2280 I always thought that internal thought was called interior dialogue, but that’s probably because I like to have a conversation with myself! So, I guess it’s more properly described as Interior Monologue. It’s very important […]
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Other_Leisure_Activi_g229-Plant__p30268.html I’m a new author. I’ve never completed a novel, though I have started many. I’ve written and published dozens of short stories, but a novel, well that is hard work. Why is it so different? Well, I think it is down to plot and structure. Short stories have characters, good characterisation, dialogue, descriptive passages, […]
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2280 It’s spring, the daffodils are starting to peek and golf is in the air. I have dusted off my golf clubs and given them a clean, paying particular attention to the seldom-used sweet spots. I’m not a good golfer, but it gets me out the house and is sociable. I play about a dozen […]
Continuing my Friday theme of posting fiction writing techniques, here is some more about the art and science of dialogue. 1. Dialogue is the first thing readers look for.When I am browsing in a bookstore and pick up a novel I am considering, I flick through the pages and see the pattern and density on […]