Dirt and Stuff

Between us, I had the hardest time coming up with my expected Friday blog post for Crime Fiction Collective. A commitment is a commitment, so I plowed ahead…


It's all better with friends.

Publicly Private

After all of the things that violently threaten our security as individuals, I take a look on Friday at some of the ways we can be "out there" and stay safe as writers at Crime Ficiton Collective. I'd love to hear your ideas.

It's all better with friends.

Love is A Choice

Have you ever had someone in your life—probably your family—who you had a hard time loving? I'm talking a little about it beginning Thursday at the Indie Chicks Cafe. I'd love it if you'd stop by and assure me I'm not alone.

It's all better with friends.

Developing a Mean Spirit

One of the hardest things for most writers to develop is a mean spirit. It doesn't matter if you write grizzly horror stories, intense thrillers, cozy mysteries, romances or any other genre, you have to be willing to make your protagonist's life far worse than you could initially imagine.

If every problem is solvable, how interesting is your story?

• What is your protagonist's external problem? How can you make it bigger? 

• What is your protagonist's internal problem? How can you make it worse?

• Can you make the effects of these problems worse for other people in your protagonist's life as well? Repercussions are lovely bits to build on.

• Do these problems make people behave in ways they wouldn't normally? Are more problems created? A bigger one? More dangerous?

• How can you make it more difficult for your protagonist to solve these problems? How can you raise the stakes to an entirely new level? What more can you put at risk?

There must be a gorilla in the phone booth, even if the reader is the only one who knows he's there—and that might even be better.

A safe, well-adjusted protagonist might be the kind of guy you'd like to live next door, but he isn't the kind of guy you want to spend hours reading about in your spare time.

As a reader, have you ever experienced this kind of boredom?

As a writer, how do you harness your mean genes?



It's all better with friends.

Planning with Purpose

Are you doing some planning for 2013? Then you might be interested in my Friday post at Crime Fiction Collective.

It's all better with friends.

The Speed of Things

I'm talking a little about how our culture has changed in the last several decades today over at Crime Fiction Collective, and how as authors, we might be able to figure out how to be around a little longer.

It's all better with friends.

Magic

I'm talking a little bit about the magic of Christmas while sipping a wonderful cup of coffee at the Indie Chics Cafe. Come by and spend a few minutes.