Twitterific Writing Links

Twitterific

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engineBlog (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

7 Of The Worst Tropes About Creativity:  http://ow.ly/SAvlH @Jonwestenberg

13 Ways to Be a Successful Guest Post Author:  http://ow.ly/SAvDy @ShelleySturgeon

Script To Screen: “Alien”:  http://ow.ly/SAven @gointothestory

Is New York publishing: a dream or the big lie?  http://ow.ly/SAv5M @calebpirtle      Continue reading

Writing the Cozy Mystery–Whodunit?

Mystery Writing Tips

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigquestion mark

One of the most important aspects of the cozy mystery is the puzzle itself.  Aside from character development, the puzzle is the most important part of the mystery.  Mystery readers tend to be avid readers who are practiced at looking for clues to the killer.  Here are some thoughts about how to make sure the readers don’t solve our puzzle before we want them to.

Red herrings: To keep readers guessing, we need to provide some false leads for our sleuth. These leads frequently come from other suspects, but they can come from some of the physical (usually not forensic in a cozy) evidence surrounding the crime (something out of place, something missing, something there that shouldn’t be there).Continue reading

Overcoming Snags and Blocks. And a Few Updates

Business of Writing

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A favorite blog topic among writers is writer’s block.  I can’t imfile7521243186318agine how many articles I’ve seen on the topic…from the debate over whether it actually exists, to how to combat it if it does.

I believe that sometimes I’m experiencing more of writer’s hesitation than a writer’s block. My hesitation usually results from one of a couple of reasons.

One common reason for my hesitation is that my story has hit a snag of some kind.  I’m reluctant to work on the story because there’s something wrong with it.  Since I don’t allow myself to avoid writing, it means I have to immediately diagnose what’s wrong.  Usually I’m finding the scene boring or redundant in some way, or else I realize something is off with my character motivations.  During first drafts, I don’t fix problems.  So I flag the part in the story where I’ve realized things were going wrong, make a note of the change(s) that I’m making going forward, and pick up with the story as if the problem had been fixed in the previous pages.Continue reading

Twitterific Writing Links

Twitterific

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engineBlog (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Searching for a Better Way to Write The End:  http://ow.ly/Srig6 @calebpirtle

Explore the Layers of Conflict in Your Story:  http://ow.ly/SrikI @piperbayard

Is print triumphing over the “digital threat”?: http://ow.ly/SEtcg @philipdsjones @Porter_Anderson

TV Series Binge Watching: A Study in Character Development:  http://ow.ly/Srilr  @SurfCityJames               Continue reading

Writing the Cozy Mystery: the Setting and the Sidekick

Mystery Writing Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigfile611236549064

This is the fourth part in my series on writing cozy mysteries. Today, I’m covering two important elements of our story: the setting and our sidekick.

Most cozy mysteries shoot for a very closed environment and a closed group of suspects from which to choose from.

You can still maintain a closed environment in a large city or bigger town (I did in my Memphis series), but it’s a little harder, I think.  Although I’ve got a city as a backdrop for the story, I center much of the story action around a barbeque restaurant.  This doesn’t mean we can’t stray from these central locations, but they serve to make the setting seem more intimate (yes, cozy) and create a home base for the sleuths.  Sleuths can interview suspects from there, use it as a place to discuss the case with their sidekicks, and generally interact with the other characters.Continue reading

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