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Notes on Passion Driven Writing
The Word and Syntax Writer Wake Up Nothing is perfect, especially when it comes to writing. You can always tweak for better wording. The time to tweak most is before publishing. Yes, it seems self-evident but searching for the mot juste that isn’t quite yet or refining the language of a sentence are part of…
What Readers Love
The Best Sleuths Have Character Beginning mystery writers work hard to get their clues lined up, create suspicious characters, and overall construct a puzzle for the sleuth and readers to solve. It’s easy to forget that readers fall in love with characters. The most important character in your mystery is your sleuth. You want your…
Unpack Your Story’s Supporting Characters
Individual Characters and the Story In a mystery, supporting characters provide conflict for the detective. Their role in the story is to confound, confuse, lie and make trouble for your protagonist. They enhance the story context and color how your story is revealed. The Character Bible A character bible is the place where you…
Use Moral Choices to Deepen Your Story
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Beta Readers and the Story
Reader Feedback and the Story The first draft of The Peach Widow is finished. Now for edits before publishng. But along the way, when I took the next-to-the-last chapter to my Word Blenders writers group there was a hue and cry at the ending of the chapter. Readers Get Invested in the Story Spoiler Alert…
How to Introduce Your Detective to Devoted Mystery Readers
Without an immediate connection with your sleuth, a reader is not motivated to follow them solving the puzzle in the rest of your novel.