Month: May 2017

Reading Aloud

~ Amber Foxx ~ 5 Comments

I had no idea how revealing this would be. A lot of authors say they read their works in progress aloud to find typos and missing words, and it does bring those up, but the real discovery for me was the emotional content. That sounds odd, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t I know? I felt it while I was writing, but after a few revisions, I started to doubt the book, to wonder if it was sufficiently compelling even though my critique partners said it was. When I read the dialogue aloud, I discovered the full intensity of the conflicts.

Another revelation was the excess detail in a number of scenes. When I’m revising silently, I tend to debate whether or not a line needs cutting. Does it give depth and flavor, or does it slow things down? When I was reading aloud, there was no question. I did this as if I were the voice actor for an audiobook, and if I couldn’t bring energy into certain material, if I couldn’t act it, it was interrupting the scene, not adding to it. I cut about 900 words that didn’t seem excessive when I did my “cut revision.” From now on, the “audio revision” goes into my writing process toolbox.

5th Week Frenzy

~ patyjag ~ 11 Comments

I just noticed that there are 5 weeks in May and we only have 4 weeks scheduled with our regular bloggers so…. any mystery writer so sees this, post your latest release or a book you have at a reduced price.

Please follow this format.

  1. Title
  2. Author
  3. Tagline of book
  4. Price
  5. buy link

I’ll start here to show you:

  • Fatal Fall
  • Paty Jager
  • Shandra Higheagle becomes wrapped up in another murder when the doctor is a no-show for her appointment and his elderly aunt has a fatal fall.
  • $0.99 till May 29th.
  • https://www.books2read.com/u/bQZ5d7

 

 

 

Solving a Puzzle to Escape

~ marilynm ~ 1 Comment

Fun and something we’d never heard of before.

On a recent trip to visit our eldest daughter and family, she arranged for us to visit, Get a Clue, an escape room in Temecula.

Everyone said, “Oh, Mom will be good at this being a mystery writer.” I certainly hope I would and I started out great guns. We had one hour to solve the puzzle. I immediately found several pieces to a large cardboard puzzle, and spotted what I thought were clues.

The other rushed around doing other things. There was a great variety of objects that could be clues, or maybe not. I won’t tell much more in case you have the opportunity to go to this one. What I will tell you was that I wasn’t nearly as smart as I thought I was. The younger brains did much better than hubby and I.

We had one hour to solve the puzzle–and we went one minute over.  We also had extra help from the owner of the Get a Clue. Despite not finishing in time. we had lots of fun.

If you love mysteries, especially the puzzle kinds, try one of these escape rooms, they are popping up all over. If you are in Temecula, try Get a Clue with a few of your friends.

In the photo left to right, is middle daughter Lisa (our faithful driver), me, eldest daughter, Dana, Mike, Dana’s hubby, and Hap, my hubby.

 

Escape Room 2017

Did You Like It?

~ janegorman ~ 1 Comment

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If you follow many authors on social media or through their newsletters, then you’ve probably seen a request for readers to post reviews. These days, for whatever reason, reviews are king!

ThankAnAuthorReview

It’s not a new concept. Even before the internet (remember that time?), I valued getting opinions from friends or family about books, movies, new exhibitions, whatever form of entertainment I might be considering. Who wouldn’t want to know if an experience would be worth the time and money you put into it?

These days, those reviews tend to come from anonymous strangers. The concept is the same, the implementation is quite different.

Does it matter if you’re taking the advice of a stranger as opposed to someone you know? Yes, I believe it does.

StarTrek Review Meme

I had an uplifting conversation yesterday with someone who is a fan of my books. She told me how much she enjoyed the level of detail I included — just enough to paint a picture, to draw her into the story. She related on a personal level to my characters and couldn’t wait to find out what happened to them in future books. You won’t be surprised to hear, I enjoyed getting her comments!

But I couldn’t help but remember, even as she spoke, that just that day I’d noticed a negative review posted to one of my books on Amazon. The reviewer found the characters to be flat. The level of description slowed the story down. Hmph.

Two different readers. The same details. Two completely different reviews. Reading, like so many other things, is subjective. What works for one reader will fail for another.

There’s not much we as writers can do about that. We write the books we want to read. We write the books we think readers will enjoy. Then we sit back and take the lumps with the praise.

Review Meme

None of which changes that fact that reviews are — still — king. A growing number of marketing opportunities are limited to books with X number of reviews or a certain rating level. So we writers keep asking our readers to post reviews! Share your thoughts! One sentence or a few paragraphs! Good or bad, every review helps!

Then we step back, grit our teeth, and get ready to take our lumps.

Adam-Kaminski-Mystery-Series

To learn more about Jane Gorman and the Adam Kaminski mystery series — and to leave a review — visit her website at JaneGorman.com, her Amazon page or follow her on Goodreads, Facebook , Instagram and Bookbub.

A Blind Eye, the first book in the Adam Kaminski mystery series, is now on sale for 99 cents.

Christmas is Coming

~ janispattersonmysteries ~ 6 Comments

by Janis Patterson

For once I’m way ahead of a deadline. It’s a situation that doesn’t happen very often, and I’m going to enjoy every bit of it!

A couple of months ago a couple of mystery writer friends and I were having lunch and somehow the subject of holiday anthologies came up. They seem to be a popular genre and – as all of us are always interested in upping our sales – the idea of us doing a Christmas anthology of murder mystery stories appeared (sorry, gang – I don’t remember whose idea it originally was) and everyone loved it.

My mind – like most writer’s – is a strange and fearsome place. Immediately a story began forming in the swirling and dangerous depths of my imagination and in spite of a looming book deadline, a much-looked-forward-to and lengthy trip to Atlanta to the NRA convention coming up and a vicious case of food poisoning (the worst I’ve ever had) I started writing immediately, much to the detriment of my current work in progress. Some stories just need to be told immediately.

Christmas is supposed to be such a happy time of family and presents and religious devotion, but it seems like I remember reading somewhere that more people commit suicide at Christmas than any other time of the year, which is horrifically sad. Even though I can’t call up the statistics, it seems I also remember there is always a jump in murders and assaults during the holidays as well – which is sad too, but it makes the season a natural for tales of murder and dark deeds.

I have always believed that stories should be just as long as they need be to tell the story. Our group had decided on novellas rather than full novels, and as novellas go, mine is short – truly a novelette (does anyone use that term any more?) at just over 15,000 words. But the story is a very small slice of time and a very concentrated tale with a sparse cast of characters, so that’s all it needed. I could of course pad the word count, but that would dilute the story.
The story? It’s a delicious mix of a family Christmas in a snowbound mansion and a horrible relative who is found dead on Christmas morning. He has been stabbed… and garroted… and poisoned. I have always believed in overkill. The title is, appropriately enough, KILLING HARVEY.

Anyway, the story was finished before we left for the NRA convention – for which I’m glad, as the convention gave me so much information and so many story ideas that my head is about to explode.

If all goes as planned, our anthology should be for sale online sometime mid to late November. If the project falls apart, I’ll release the story by myself. So – be warned : either way KILLING HARVEY will be available, so please plan to buy lots of copies. It will be the perfect virtual stocking-stuffer.

Now as my original deadline approaches with the speed and grace of a runaway train, I must get back to my work in process.