John Grisham is a believer in the Elevator Pitch. You know, the one where you get on a lift with an editor or agent and hook the unsuspecting soul with a summary of your story that makes the “This is my floor” ding coincide with the light bulb appearing over his or her head. Assuming we all might learn something from […]
A few years back, an acquaintance confessed to me that he was a closet poet. Since I had spent some of my youth nursing dreams of being the next e.e. cummings, Dorothy Parker, or Ogden Nash, I asked him who his influences were. “The only person I read is Charles Bukowski,” he said. After reading his work I understood —
A now a word from the Guest of Honor at our Revels on December 7. Click here for more information and to register. For years I’ve gotten into hot water with my peers and aspiring writers at “how to” conferences and workshops for my liberal use of an apparently taboo word: talent. It took me a while to figure out
If someone is looking for inspiration to write mystery or crime fiction, New York City is a good place to find it. It’s impossible to live in the city and not at some point be the victim of a crime, witness a crime, or hear about a crime that happened to someone you know. Then of course, there is also
It took me two-and-a-half painstaking years to write my first murder mystery, and since publishing it in 2002, I’ve tried to discover as much as possible about making the process easier and improving at the craft as well. I’ve learned some good stuff through trial and error (lots of error!), but I’ve also gained a ton from listening to other
Over the years, people have frequently asked me if the time I spent in the magazine business — I ran five national magazines, including Cosmopolitan, for 14 years — was good preparation for my career as a mystery and thriller writer. My guess is that being a former prosecutor, cop, or private eye would have served me better, but overall
…It crooks your back, it dims your sight, it twists your stomach and your sides. In other words, as if we didn’t already know it, the writing life has always been hard. But the MWA-NY Mentor Program does what it can to help, by pairing writers in any stage of their career with a mentor from among our Active members.
Laura K. Curtis discusses why you need to be at least as picky about the writing of your cover copy as you are about the writing of your book.
You may recognize Ken Levine as a popular culture commentator on CNN’s recent series The Eighties. His expertise comes from decades as a writer for shows like MASH, Cheers, Frasier, and The Simpsons, just to name a few. Levine also writes a daily blog laced with insight, wit, and a refreshing bit of snark that focuses mainly (although not exclusively) on the entertainment
Broadly speaking, there are two types of mystery stories: whodunnits and whydunnits. We read a mystery story to find out who committed the crime (with the why, the motive, often serving to help the investigator find the culprit), or we read knowing from early on who the guilty party is as the story lays out the reasons, psychological and otherwise,
