writing Archives - Blackbird Writers

Jacqueline Vick asks Why Does Everyone Hate my Character?

Post author:Jacqueline Vick
Post published:October 18, 2021
Post comments:15 Comments

Jacqueline Vick is the author of the Frankie Chandler Pet Psychic and the Harlow Brothers mystery series. You can find out more about her here and see her books here. This is her first post on the Blackbirds site. The first time I disliked a character in a mystery novel, it wasn’t the character’s fault. Halfway through the story, the author made it known the detective was a figment of the real protagonist’s imagination, who would now take over the story. That far into a book, I didn’t have the energy to invest in a new protagonist, and we parted…

Laurie Stevens asks Do You Write Weather?

Post author:Laurie Stevens
Post published:October 11, 2021
Post comments:22 Comments

Laurie Stevens is the author of the Gabriel McRae series. You can find out more about her here, buy her books here, and read her last post here. As I write this, thunder rolls through a warm night. For some of you, this is no big deal. For a Southern California native like me, it’s unusual. It brings to mind the wet thickness of a summer night in Louisiana (I’m a fan of New Orleans). The sky usually doesn’t talk like this where I live, and I like it, so I have to pay homage in this blog to the…

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Rick Treon says it takes a village to finance a writer

Post author:Guest
Post published:October 4, 2021
Post comments:19 Comments

My third and fourth novels were released earlier this year by small, traditional presses. And yet, as I type this, I have no fixed address.

Donna Rewolinksi Asks Where Do You Get Story Ideas?

Post author:Guest
Post published:September 27, 2021
Post comments:12 Comments

Donna Rewolinksi is the author of the Novice mystery series, featuring husband and wife team Dan and Karen Novice. You can find out more about her here, see her books here, and read her last post here. When my first novel was published, I donated a copy to a small local library. The librarian told me she had never met an author before, but that the Friends of the Library Committee were working on a new event for patrons named, “An Author Walks into a Library”. It would be an evening event where an author would talk about their book,…

Sherrill Joseph asks, “Mystery or . . . Suspense?”

Post author:Sherrill Joseph
Post published:September 13, 2021
Post comments:28 Comments

Sherill Joseph is the author of the Botanic Hill Detectives Mystery series for middle grades readers. You can find out more about her here, see her books here, or read her last post here. The famous film director Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (1899-1980) proudly bore the title the “Master of Suspense.” Suspense surpasses mystery in making my stomach lurch and my heart pound. Interestingly, suspense can be both terrifying and exhilarating. "Sacramento, California, USA - March 21, 2012: A 1998 USA postage stamp with a portrait of movie director and producer Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). Suspense is defined as “a…

Anne Louise Bannon Asks How Do You Use Your Past?

Post author:Anne Louise Bannon
Post published:August 23, 2021
Post comments:23 Comments

Anne Louise Bannon is the author of the Old Los Angeles series, the Freddie and Kathy 1920s series, and the Operation Quickline series. You can find out more about her here, see her books here, and read her latest post here. Way back in my errant youth, I was going to be an actor. I majored in theatre as an undergrad, then went on to get my master's degree in the same subject. After graduating (and producing a child), I took acting classes and met a young woman who produced plays in what was then called an Equity-waiver house. Actor's…

Jeff Nania on Early Writing Advice

Post author:Jeff Nania
Post published:August 16, 2021
Post comments:7 Comments

Jeff Nania is the author of the Northern Lakes Mystery Series. You can find out more about him here, see his books here, and read his last post here. I really don’t think I am the best choice to tell anyone how to write a book or even how to get started. There are lots of well-written blogs and articles that describe various writing processes in detail. They should be very helpful to anyone trying to write anything. But people ask me anyway. Last week I met a young writer and her mom visiting from Wyoming. Her name was Taylor,…

Maggie Smith on Writer’s Block

Post author:Guest
Post published:March 15, 2021
Post comments:13 Comments

Maggie Smith hosts the Hear Us Roar podcast for WFWA (70+ episodes available on major streaming services). Her debut novel, Truth & Other Lies, was a finalist in the WFWA 2019 Rising Star competition. You can find out more about her here. The email arrived at ten o’clock last night. It was from my best writing buddy with the subject line HELP! A week had gone by and she hadn’t produced any new work. Not a single chapter, not a single paragraph, not a single sentence. But she was a pro—she knew what to do. So she walked her dog. She…

Musical Moment

Post author:Tracey S. Phillips
Post published:November 1, 2020
Post comments:4 Comments

by Tracey S. Phillips Instruments play a chord. You know this music, the feeling it evokes draws on your emotions. The rhythm moves you and you don’t think about it, your feet just tap the beat. You sway with the chord changes and let the notes fill you. After a few bars, a single instrument sings above the rest. It’s telling the story, a familiar story, but you stop everything and listen because you need to hear it again. You hum along with the quavering high note of a bowed violin, or the low and sultry oboe. Perhaps an acoustic…