Mystery
How to be A Rock Star Author: Five Things Playing in Bands Taught Me About Writing
Can being a real rock star help you become a rock star author? Novelist (and bass player) Clea Simon reveals how “on stage” can go onto the page.
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6 Twisty Ways to Trick Your Reader
Bestseller lists are chock full of novelists who have mastered the art of misdirection. Editor Dana Isaacson reveals 6 twisty tricks of the trade.
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The Art of the Twist – How to Shock, Surprise & Satisfy Your Readers
The key to pulling off an epic twist is three-fold: (1) understanding exactly what kind of twist you’re trying to pull off, (2) properly controlling the flow of critical information to the reader, (3) not disappointing the reader by failing to deliver the goods.
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How to Write a Book Series that Pleases Readers Old and New
Bestselling writer Marty Wingate offers reader-pleasing tips on creativity and continuity for ambitious novelists writing a book series.
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What is Your Why? Finding Your Character’s Motivation
In a novel, of any genre, the engine is the character’s decision making. Our job as authors is to understand why they do what they do–and allow it to reveal who they are. Hank Phillippi Ryan has some reasons you might use for a character’s motivation.
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Career Authors Exclusive: Interview with Paula Munier
As fate would have it, Paula and Brian have new books releasing on the same day (November 5th) and so they’ve decided to interview each other in a Career Authors exclusive double feature. This week, Paula is up first, answering questions about BLIND SEARCH, a mystery inspired by the true search-and-rescue case of an autistic boy who got lost in the Vermont wilderness
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Writing Book #2: A Post-Mortem
Writing your second novel can be surprisingly tough slog of rewriting and reimagining and rewriting again. Here are the lessons I learned writing my Book #2, lessons I hope will facilitate the writing of Book #3.
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Writing Real News vs. Mystery Fiction: When a Reporter Gets to Make Stuff Up
When reporter RG Belsky gets to make stuff up as a mystery writer, he finds similarities between fiction writing and journalism — starting with these 6 lessons.
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What You Can Learn about Writing Cozy Mysteries from Hallmark Christmas Movies
Christmas movies are the cozies of the TV movie world. Here are 6 things you can learn from them about writing cozy mysteries.
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An Interview with Paula Munier on Her Launch Day
Paula Munier—agent, writing teacher, and debut novelist—talks to Career Authors about the challenges of writing a series featuring a dog as a main characters, the challenges of tackling the second book, and how life as a military brat affects the way she writes setting.
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Formula for Writing a Cozy Mystery, Part 7: Pets
Cozies and cats go together like peanut butter and jelly or Bert and Ernie. That might make it seem as if you can toss a tabby randomly into your cozy manuscript and your work is done. Not so fast. You have a few decisions to make before plunking a Pekingese into the first paragraph.
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Available Now!
Available Now!
Available now!
COMING 10/17: PRE-ORDER NOW!
