Protect Your Inner Life
by Michael Bracken, Reacting to Lan Samantha Chang’s essay on LitHub.com, “Writers, Protect Your Inner Life,” Trey R. Barker (my Guns + Tacos co-creator/co-editor) posted on Facebook: “[The essay] at…
Fiction Writing
How We Hit the USA Today Bestseller List with a Multi-Author Anthology
by Sierra Simone, Joanna Shupe, Eva Leigh, Nicola Davidson, and Adriana Herrera (reprinted with permission) We are a group of romance authors—Sierra Simone, Joanna Shupe, Eva Leigh, Nicola Davidson, and…
Pay It Forward
by Michael Bracken Originally published at sleuthsayers.org on 10 August 2021 I owe the existence of one of my recurring characters to the kindness of a famous mystery writer. Dennis…
Sisters in Crime (SinC)
On June 1, 2021, Sisters in Crime (SinC) announced that the winner of the inaugural Pride Award for emerging LGBTQIA+ writers is C.J. Prince (she/hers) of West Orange, New Jersey.…
Finding Success in a Cozy Mystery
by Patricia Fry Writing about animals is nothing new to me. Throughout my forty-year career as a freelance article writer, I often wrote about two of my favorite animals: cats…
Dear Character, I hope this finds you . . .
by Molly MacRae First published on May 2, 2021 in Writers Who Kill, reprinted with permission Interruptions happen. To anyone, in any job. There you are, at home or at…
Why Do I Write Diverse Stories?
by Delia Pitts Recently a reader asked me if I write #ownvoices crime fiction to instruct, to share my experiences as a woman of color in America, or to improve…
Killing Dreams One Rejection at a Time
by Michael Bracken At the time I wrote “Rejected!” in 2018, I had received 2,552 rejections. I have no idea how many more I’ve added since then, and I don’t…
The Pride Award— Legacy Project of Sherry Harris, Past President of Sisters in Crime
This is a reprint of an article from the Wicked Authors blog by Sherry Harris. The contest closed for this year, but will reopen again next year. There aren’t many…
CPR for Dead or Lifeless Fiction: A Writer’s Guide to Deep and Multi-faceted Development and Progression of Characters, Plots, and Relationships
by Karen S. Wiesner Characters: Do your characters have no obvious signs of life, nothing that gives them unique personality, perspective, and passion? Does it seem like their conflicts are…