Weaving History into Contemporary Novels
by Lea Wait To begin with, I love history. I was a fourth-generation antiques dealer, love historical novels, and I’ve written five set in nineteenth-century Maine. Although my most recent…
Fiction Writing
Changing Up the Plot of Writing the Same Old Story
by C. Hope Clark Read the one about the amateur sleuth dating a police detective in order to solve the crime? Or the one about the girl losing her career…
On Writing Fiction and the Art of Observing
by Mandy Jackson-Beverly The definition of the word observe: to see, to watch, to perceive, and to notice. A couple of examples: I see a red light and stop my…
TV OR NOT TV?
by Ellen Byron Before I was a television writer-producer (and an author), I was a playwright. I can tell you the exact moment I decided to transition from writing for…
Creating Cozy Worlds: Karen MacInerney and Gray Whale Press
Hi! I’m Karen MacInerney, and I’m the author of several mystery series, including the Agatha-nominated Gray Whale Inn mysteries and the Dewberry Farm mysteries. I’ve been writing for many years.…
The Writing Life
by Rick Helms A great writer named Jerry Healy, who sadly left us a couple of years back, once said something that resonated strongly with me. It’s probably a quote…
Truth in Fiction—How One Author Keeps It Real
by Patricia Fry Every hopeful author and freelance writer has heard this important credo: write about what you know. For years, I wrote nonfiction. Still do. But five years ago,…
Retired Professor Turns to Crime (writing)
by Alessandra Comini “You absolutely cannot enter. Important government papers are stored inside.” These were the words an Austrian government bureaucrat used to bar me from entering the provincial Neulengbach…
Writing What I Don’t Know
by Kaye George Sure, I write what I know. Sometimes. For the Fat Cat series, which I write as Janet Cantrell, I model the tubby tabby after one of my…
Writing What You Know—the Hard Way
by Barb Goffman We’ve all heard this advice: write what you know. I’ve had editing clients take this advice the wrong way, thinking that if they haven’t experienced something themselves,…