Author: Guest

Carlene O'Neil is the author of the Cypress Cove cozy series. You can find out more about her on her website, www.carleneoneil.com, or by clicking here, read her last post here, and buy her books here. What’s most important in a novel? What pushes the story forward? If you look at the golden age of mystery writing you will see the emphasis was on plot. More recently character development is what readers are looking for. If you were to ask me, though, I would say of equal importance is the location. The location, the setting where the story takes place,…

Carlene O'Neil is the author of the Cypress Cove Mystery series of cozies. This is her debut post for the Blackbird Writers. You can find out more about her on her website www.carleneoneil.com, or by clicking here and buy her books here. “My sister’s having babies. She married the guy she lost her virginity to. I’m glad she’s having babies. Now I can breathe a little.” I listen to these few sentences, pure gold to an author. I move closer to hear better. So does half the coffee shop, but the speaker’s done. I’m disappointed, wanting more. Then, before I…

Jacqueline Vick is the author of the Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic mystery series and the Harlow Brothers mystery series. You can find out more about her on her website, www.jacquelinevick.com, or by clicking here. See her last post here, and buy her books here. Writers. Readers. Moms and Dads. Singletons. We’re all in the same boat when it comes to sorting priorities, meeting the needs of loved ones and bosses (even if that boss is a toddler or a terrier), and finding time to regenerate bodies and brain cells. Fiction authors have additional hurdles. My daily duties include writing, naturally.…

Jacqueline Vick is the author of the Harlow Brothers series and the Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic series of cozy mysteries. You can find out more about her on her website, www.jacquelinevick.com, or by clicking here, read her last post here, and buy her books here. When I first came to Los Angeles, I was privileged to take a screenwriting course with Danny Simon, the older brother of Neil Simon. Danny spent his writing career in television and had wisdom galore on how to keep your scripts clean. One of his rules was to “cut the orange juice” from the dialogue.…

While readers get excited and turn pages for plot, they fall in love with characters. And when they’ve done that, they review, recommend, and commit to your next novel.

Donna Rewolinski is the author of the Novice Mystery series. You can find out more about her on her website www.donnarewolinski.com, or by clicking here, read her last post here, and buy her books here. What’s in a name? Everything to an author. We spend a great deal of time crafting a character’s name and their attributes. Are they male or female? Hair color, eye color, height, weight, past profession, current profession, and so on.  But there is so much more. Authors draw their characters on previous experiences with people or people they’d like to meet. They may choose one…

John Hoda is the author of the Marcia O'Shea police/FBI procedural series, and the new Gwendolyn Strong cozy mystery series. You can find out more about him on his website at www.johnhoda.com, or by clicking here, and see his books here. This is his debut post. I’ve been an investigator for over forty-six years. I still have two open files on my desk, even though my son and a part-timer do all the heavy lifting for Hoda Investigations, LLC these days. This year marks my twenty-fifth anniversary owning my own PI business. During all this time and in college, I…

Jacqueline Vick is the author of the Harlow Brothers mysteries and the Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic mysteries. You can find out more about her at her website, www.jacquelinevick.com, or by clicking here, see her last post here, and buy her books here. Mystery writers are told to get that murder on the page as soon as possible. Readers won’t wait. The multiple sources I checked agreed death should occur within the first chapter or two. I had that in mind as I finished rereading a favorite Robert Barnard mystery. In Death of a Literary Widow, forty percent of the book…

For those who haven’t yet found their preferred pre-writing strategy, I suggest finding a middle ground between plotting and pantsing.

Donna Rewolinski is the author of the Novice Mystery series. You can find out more about her on her website, www.donnarewolinksi.com, or by clicking here, read her last post here, and see her books here. Years ago, when I first started working as a hospital social worker, a doctor from the Philippines asked, “I get that Memorial Day commemorates those that gave their lives to protect America but, why else does everyone in Wisconsin get excited for the end of May?” My answer involved ideas of no more struggling through the harshness of winter, putting away of hats, gloves and…